Well I have only been watching the game for nigh on 60 years, so I will make errors.

But more to the point is that past players like Wally Lewis, Brett Kenny and Gene Miles, had that 'something' that cannot be coached. They had supreme skills on the rugby field.

The current ozzie team are short on skills, but are super fit athletes. That's why the final looked quite boring to some.

Lewis, Kenny and Miles could 'open up' any rugby teams defence and with great flair.

No no no. There is no way you could argue that this team are "short on skills". Did you not see their tries ? The passing at full speed ? The lines which were run ? Is tackling and defensive movement not a skill, because this team were very good at it. They were up against Foran and Johnson, who are no slouches at opening up good defences, yet who couldn't find a crack. Isaac Luke ripped England to pieces down the ruck, yet was squashed. SBW has been named the best forward in the world, and has freakish skills, yet was utterly neutralised.

Yet when the Aussies had the ball, they made yards through their perfect timing, they created overlaps, they were aware of when it was best to pass and when it was best to kick, and they exercised those skills with consistent excellence. Not just the halves, or a star forward, but the whole team. And that's before we get to Thurston's kicking game !

Again, I'd suggest that the reason we remember players like Cleal, Meninga, Clyde, is because they stood out as uniquely skilful in their respective teams. That fewer stood out on Saturday seems to me to be because ALL the Aussie players were playing to an outstanding standard. Would those stars of the past have stood out as much in today's team ?

Who knows, but it is a terrible disservice to those guys to describe them as simply super-fit drones without skill. They had plenty of skill. Plenty.

Do I sense an iota of irony here ?

Your comment of 'simply super-fit drones without skill' sums the current ozzie team succintly.

Best performance since the 2004 Tri-Nations final.

What utter nonsense.

So Slater, Inglis, Thurston, Smith, Hayne etc are only good players because they are super-fit?

I haven't read the whole thread but IMO, Thurston is better than Lockyer, and Fitler

If that were the case anyone could do it.
If that were the case the Kiwi team who all play in the same comp at the same level would have been close.
So the whole problem with the Welsh team is they were not fit enough?

Slater has the odd error in him, but is a brilliant conductor from the back and is one of the better broken field players in the history of the game - but he has no skill. Cronk and Thurston can drop the ball on a dime, but that's just pushups and shuttle runs. Smith has so much time to create plays because he's super fast, not because he has great vision and reads the game probably better than anyone in the last 20 years.

Yes, they are possibly the fittest Kangaroos side ever. Yes they had an incredibly simple game plan.
But they played with precision and poise that no amount of fitness and practice could provide alone. The passing, the silky touches, the split second reaction to the unexpected - [ithat's[/i skill.

The precision of everything they did was awesome. The kicking game in particular was light years ahead of anything else seen in the tournament. I'm struggling to think of a wasted kick in the whole 80.

As others have said, there may well be better individual players in previous generations, but that's as complete a team performance as I've ever seen live.

Billy Slater, Greg Inglis and Johnathan Thurston would be rated equal to the best backs Australia has ever had (the Immortal Andrew Johns excepted).

Jarryd Hayne, having been repositioned at centre, could well turn out to be one of the best international centres Australia has ever produced (he kept Michael Jennings, Brent Tate and Josh Morris out of the team).

It was good that Tim Sheens apparently said in his half-time team talk - to run harder and tackle harder. That's what every sensible coach at every level has ever said. That's 99% of what any team, anywhere has to do to win a game of RL. The rest of it is B*****t. We seem to have lost sight of how simple RL is in Britain. As I have said umpteem times we are fixated with people who are flash rather than efficient teams and team players who work away and largely go unnoticed.

It wasn't on one game. I explicitly referenced their performances across the whole competition.

Nor did I make any assumptions. Merely offered an opinion.

Most people on this thread have managed to offer their own opinion, either in agreement or disagreement, in a civil, rasonable manner. Like adults discussing something of interest.

You decided to just go straight for the personal insults. Nicely done. Congratulations on your contribution.

The way this discussion has gone reminded me of a video clip from a popular video clip site.

Searching for something like "Jarryd Hayne's Freakish Chip" could bring something up.

Always thought Thurston was overrated,( in an all time list) very very good but not great, my opinion has changed over this World Cup I now think he is up there with the very best, 3 rd behind Johns and sterling for me now, ahead of Langer. And he still as a few years ahead of him.

2013
Australia conceded 4 tries all tournament....272-24.......45-4 average WINNERS

2008.
Australia conceded 3 tries in pool play (9 in total)186-50....37-8 average SECOND

2000
Australia 3 tries in pool play (11 in total)...308-58 over 6 games...51-10 average WINNERS

89-92
Australia conceded 11 tries over 5 games......214-54...... 43-11 average WINNERS

980-186..........44-8 average.

I'd say that based on the last 4 RLWC's the current champions are the most efficient with an average winning margin of 41 points and conceding only 1 try per game on average.....in reality, 5 games they conceded no tries! The 2000 side did score more points, but the 2013 side did face far more professional players from the NRL/SL representing Fiji/Ireland/USA than they did in 2000.

The depressing thing is that even with their loss in 2008, they are the most dominant force in International sport that I can think of....