Once in a generation player

[whiskers3614]

I have read/heard this term bandied about quite a lot and I struggle to understand what is meant by it.
Kosi actually used it in relation to Riewoldt, and this confuses me somewhat.
After all isn't Riewoldt in the same generation as Ablett, Judd, Goodes and Franklin?
Not arguing as to who is best out of that group, but find it hard to nominate one as so superior as to be considered "once in a generation"
The only recent sportsmen I think it could be fairly applied to would be Tiger Woods prior to his troubles. Maybe also Sampras, even though
Federer is statistically better I don't reckon he can be considered "once in a generation" as his time coincided with Nadal.
Similarly Shane Warne would have qualified but for Murali, surely you can't have multiple simultaneous "once in a generation" players?

Can somebody please explain to me if I am misunderstanding what is meant by this concept.

[ausfatcat]

once in a generation for the club not the game

[plugger66]

once in a generation for the club not the game

Or even the position.

[BelfastSaint]

Similarly Shane Warne would have qualified but for Murali.

Unlike Murali,Warnie wasn't a chucker ... I was going to use the word "cheat" but then I remembered Warnies Mums diet pills : )

[st.byron]

Similarly Shane Warne would have qualified but for Murali.

Unlike Murali,Warnie wasn't a chucker ... I was going to use the word "cheat" but then I remembered Warnies Mums diet pills : )

Perhaps 'once in a generation player can apply to numerous players in any generation. It could refer to a particular type of player (ie forward with supreme athleticism as in Roo's case, mid-fielder etc).

And yep please don't put Murali in the same basket as Warne.

He shouldn't even have been playing test cricket and wouldn't have been but for the sub-continental block getting the laws changed to allow the chucker to play.
22% of his 800 wickets taken against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, 15% of them against those countries on pitches doctored for him at home.

Warnie - 2% of his wickets against minnows. He never played a home test against either of them.

Murali - nice bloke. But an out and out chucker. Warne - one of the five cricketers of the century.

No comparison.

[St Ick]

Warnie was a leggie, Murali an offie, both once in a generation players.

Roo competes with Brown, Pav, Buddy, while he has the honours over them, I wouldn't call him once in a generation as one eyed as I am. Perhaps if his goal kicking accuracy was at an elite level, then yes, but unfortunately that brings him back to the pack a bit.

[st.byron]

Warnie was a leggie, Murali an offie, both once in a generation players.

Roo competes with Brown, Pav, Buddy, while he has the honours over them, I wouldn't call him once in a generation as one eyed as I am. Perhaps if his goal kicking accuracy was at an elite level, then yes, but unfortunately that brings him back to the pack a bit.

Murali was a cheat. Shouldn't even be in the record books.

[st.byron]

Warnie was a leggie, Murali an offie, both once in a generation players.

Roo competes with Brown, Pav, Buddy, while he has the honours over them, I wouldn't call him once in a generation as one eyed as I am. Perhaps if his goal kicking accuracy was at an elite level, then yes, but unfortunately that brings him back to the pack a bit.

Players I've seen in my lifetime that I'd call once in a generation. Guys with something so unique they have the ability to win a game off their own boot by their individual brilliance.

Matthews
Plugger
Ablett Senior
Carey

[FQF]

Warnie was a leggie, Murali an offie, both once in a generation players.

Roo competes with Brown, Pav, Buddy, while he has the honours over them, I wouldn't call him once in a generation as one eyed as I am. Perhaps if his goal kicking accuracy was at an elite level, then yes, but unfortunately that brings him back to the pack a bit.

Agree, Roo is exceptional, elite, club champion. But not once in a generation.

[BigMart]

Yes, because Murali has far better figures,.... And is a far better bloke

[plugger66]

Yes, because Murali has far better figures,.... And is a far better bloke

You know both of them?

[BigMart]

Oh,

And I would consider T.Lockett a once in a generation player.... Playing in the same generation as Dunstall and Ablett...

It's a throw away line for a guy witha special skill set thatcomes along very rarely...

[8856brother]

There are a couple of " once in a gereration" posters on this site

[Con Gorozidis]

Warnie was a leggie, Murali an offie, both once in a generation players.

Roo competes with Brown, Pav, Buddy, while he has the honours over them, I wouldn't call him once in a generation as one eyed as I am. Perhaps if his goal kicking accuracy was at an elite level, then yes, but unfortunately that brings him back to the pack a bit.

Players I've seen in my lifetime that I'd call once in a generation. Guys with something so unique they have the ability to win a game off their own boot by their individual brilliance.

Matthews
Plugger
Ablett Senior
Carey

Agree with that.
Roo is a club all time champion but we tend to exaggerate big time in the AFL.

My English mate always laughs at this - his line is that in all of a word soccer there are probably two 'superstars' - Messi and Ronaldo. That's in the whole world.
Yet you watch Channel 7 on any given game coverage and there is a 'superstar' most weeks - just in the one comp.

[st.byron]

Yes, because Murali has far better figures,.... And is a far better bloke

No idea what you mean. And Murali has far better figures? Nope.

[White Winmar]

Yes, because Murali has far better figures,.... And is a far better bloke

Murali is also a blatant cheat. As Bishen Bedi said, "He should be a champion in the Olympics. In the javelin."

[st.byron]

Yes, because Murali has far better figures,.... And is a far better bloke

Murali is also a blatant cheat. As Bishen Bedi said, "He should be a champion in the Olympics. In the javelin."

Or as Arjuna Ranatunga said last year when it became apparent that there were a lot of slow bowlers coming through on the continent with dodgy actions, "What have we done?". Too late now.

[whiskers3614]

Yes, because Murali has far better figures,.... And is a far better bloke

Murali is also a blatant cheat. As Bishen Bedi said, "He should be a champion in the Olympics. In the javelin."

In a 100 years the record books will show his figures not his bowling action.
Our argument needs to be with the officials who allowed him to continue not with the player himself.

[st.byron]

Yes, because Murali has far better figures,.... And is a far better bloke

Murali is also a blatant cheat. As Bishen Bedi said, "He should be a champion in the Olympics. In the javelin."

In a 100 years the record books will show his figures not his bowling action.
Our argument needs to be with the officials who allowed him to continue not with the player himself.

Agree. Seems like a nice fella. And the fact that the record books will show that and his action will be a side note is a travesty. The rules of the game blatantly manipulated for cricket political reasons. Should really be a discussion in the other sports forum I guess.

[St Ick]

Warnie was a leggie, Murali an offie, both once in a generation players.

Roo competes with Brown, Pav, Buddy, while he has the honours over them, I wouldn't call him once in a generation as one eyed as I am. Perhaps if his goal kicking accuracy was at an elite level, then yes, but unfortunately that brings him back to the pack a bit.

Murali was a cheat. Shouldn't even be in the record books.

Warnie was a leggie, Murali an offie, both once in a generation players.

Roo competes with Brown, Pav, Buddy, while he has the honours over them, I wouldn't call him once in a generation as one eyed as I am. Perhaps if his goal kicking accuracy was at an elite level, then yes, but unfortunately that brings him back to the pack a bit.

Murali was a cheat. Shouldn't even be in the record books.

Yet he played til he retired and inspired a generation of kids from the the subcontinent to bowl offspin. Yes, he took a lot of wickets against the minnows like Bangladesh, but if he was an Aussie he'd have superstar status. It was ok for Shaun Tait to chuck his 160km 'effort ball', but not for Murali considering he went through a million tests and was passed. Nice...

[plugger66]

Warnie was a leggie, Murali an offie, both once in a generation players.

Roo competes with Brown, Pav, Buddy, while he has the honours over them, I wouldn't call him once in a generation as one eyed as I am. Perhaps if his goal kicking accuracy was at an elite level, then yes, but unfortunately that brings him back to the pack a bit.

Murali was a cheat. Shouldn't even be in the record books.

Warnie was a leggie, Murali an offie, both once in a generation players.

Roo competes with Brown, Pav, Buddy, while he has the honours over them, I wouldn't call him once in a generation as one eyed as I am. Perhaps if his goal kicking accuracy was at an elite level, then yes, but unfortunately that brings him back to the pack a bit.

Murali was a cheat. Shouldn't even be in the record books.

Yet he played til he retired and inspired a generation of kids from the the subcontinent to bowl offspin. Yes, he took a lot of wickets against the minnows like Bangladesh, but if he was an Aussie he'd have superstar status. It was ok for Shaun Tait to chuck his 160km 'effort ball', but not for Murali considering he went through a million tests and was passed. Nice...

I dont care that he inspired anyone or passed a million tests or that you think Tait chucked it. I just watch the way he bowls and know he chucked it. Not his fault he was allowed to continue bowling but still a chucker.

[St Ick]

I dont care that he inspired anyone or passed a million tests or that you think Tait chucked it. I just watch the way he bowls and know he chucked it. Not his fault he was allowed to continue bowling but still a chucker.

See he has a double jointed elbow from what I can remember. He never threw a game or took money off a bookie to bowl a wide, he was passed as having a legal bowling action despite numerous tests, so I find it difficult to call the bloke a cheat. He has been put through the pressure cooker that many times yet always smiles, and never spat the dummy.

As for my argument, he inspired a generation of kids, he changed the way many off spinners operate, he has an unbelievable record and did something no one else did at that level - hence why the once in a generation tag is a deserved one.

[st.byron]

Yet he played til he retired and inspired a generation of kids from the the subcontinent to bowl offspin. Yes, he took a lot of wickets against the minnows like Bangladesh, but if he was an Aussie he'd have superstar status. It was ok for Shaun Tait to chuck his 160km 'effort ball', but not for Murali considering he went through a million tests and was passed. Nice...

Nah mate. Aussie or not he'd still be a cheat.
Yep he went through a million tests - before and after they changed the rules.

The amount of flexion allowed used to be 10 degrees.

When it was found Murali regularly had flexion of 14 or 15 degrees and for the doosra up to 18 degrees, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and a couple of others forced a change in the rules through a committee process.
Tait, Lee and various others were found to have flexion of more than 10 degrees and up to 14 degrees on occasion, but not regularly.

So the rules of the game, established in 1774, were changed at the behest of the sub-continental block so chucker could play. Every ball was a no-ball and then all of a sudden they were legal.

Yes he's inspired a generation of kids, many of whom as Ranatunga has noted, are themselves chuckers.

[St Ick]

Yet he played til he retired and inspired a generation of kids from the the subcontinent to bowl offspin. Yes, he took a lot of wickets against the minnows like Bangladesh, but if he was an Aussie he'd have superstar status. It was ok for Shaun Tait to chuck his 160km 'effort ball', but not for Murali considering he went through a million tests and was passed. Nice...

Nah mate. Aussie or not he'd still be a cheat.
Yep he went through a million tests - before and after they changed the rules.

The amount of flexion allowed used to be 10 degrees.

When it was found Murali regularly had flexion of 14 or 15 degrees and for the doosra up to 18 degrees, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and a couple of others forced a change in the rules through a committee process.
Tait, Lee and various others were found to have flexion of more than 10 degrees and up to 14 degrees on occasion, but not regularly.

So the rules of the game, established in 1774, were changed at the behest of the sub-continental block so chucker could play. Every ball was a no-ball and then all of a sudden they were legal.

Yes he's inspired a generation of kids, many of whom as Ranatunga has noted, are themselves chuckers.

Hard to argue with that well said post. I don't believe that we as a nation would be so against him or his record if he were Aussue and I still think Murali is unique due to his condition too, I had a feeling rules were changed. I still appreciate him for what he did and don't think he is a cheat. And if he is, so are the others like Lee, Tait, etc who have done it when striving for more pace.

[BigMart]

Should I actually put up a statistical comparison to illustrate what is meant by a better record... Without McGrath to support him

As far as blokes go
One is humble and respectful

Wasn't Warnie the one betting on games and taking banned substance whilst undergoing a body transformation

Murali a cheat... That's up to the authorities to determine