Peak ABs

A little game to hopefully pass some time.

Pick an AB team based on a players peak season. So you pick a player, and you pick the year they absolutely killed it in. It may even be the only decent year they ever had playing tests, but it was unreal. So it's not based on a complete career's worth of work, just an incredible year.

My incredibly obvious and not very nuanced team would be:

Christian Cullen 1996
John Kirwan 1987
Frank Bunce 1996
Ma'a Nonu 2015
Jonah Lomu 1995
Dan Carter 2005
Justin Marshall 1996
Zinzan Brooke 1996
Michael Jones 1987
Jerome Kaino 2011
Sam Whitelock 2015
Brodie Retallic 2017
Carl Hayman 2005
Dane Coles 2016
Tony Woodcock 2010

Honourable mentions to Joe Rokocoko in 2003 and Kieran Read in 2011

Does yours differ to your all time AB XV? Mine changes at 14, 9, 7, 3, and 2 .

@mariner4life may be easier (and fairer) to run a 'professional era Peak XV'. The game changes so much it's hard to compare eras... also keeps it fresh.

You'd only hav eto change MJ and JK

@nzzp said in Peak ABs:

@mariner4life may be easier (and fairer) to run a 'professional era Peak XV'. The game changes so much it's hard to compare eras... also keeps it fresh.

You'd only hav eto change MJ and JK

i reckon 80% of us on here are all around the same age, so i doubt there are going to be many players pre-87 anyway

MJ and JK also helped to change the game, so i'm keeping them. And i really don't want to leave out 95 Jonah

@mariner4life Marshall? Hell no.

@Tim said in Peak ABs:

@mariner4life Marshall? Hell no.

1996 Justin Marshall was awesome, that running game

How amazing would it be to see that team on the field, couldn't even imagine.
Some are debatable, Read at his peak would be close, McCaw?

@mariner4life I always thought Marshall best was in 2003.

@Darren-Nicholson said in Peak ABs:

How amazing would it be to see that team on the field, couldn't even imagine.
Some are debatable, Read at his peak would be close, McCaw?

Which year of Richie? (there are a lot)

Plus that year that MJ burst on to the scene was unreal, a new type of player

@Toddy said in Peak ABs:

@mariner4life I always thought Marshall best was in 2003.

good point, losing him in that semi was very bad for us

i just think his early running game offset is weaknesses more early on (ie prior injury)

he was nearly my favourite player for a bit

Graham Bachop was a different player but an excellent HB also. He had a great 1996 iirc

@canefan said in Peak ABs:

Graham Bachop was a different player but an excellent HB also. He had a great 1996 iirc

You're one year out

1995 was his peak and also his last season

@canefan said in Peak ABs:

Graham Bachop was a different player but an excellent HB also. He had a great 1996 iirc

1995 was his peak year wasn't it? crushed it.

yea, he never played 1996. Came back in 99 for Japan, i somehow never knew that.

@Duluth said in Peak ABs:

@canefan said in Peak ABs:

Graham Bachop was a different player but an excellent HB also. He had a great 1996 iirc

You're one year out

1995 was his peak and also his last season

Oh yeah, world cup year . Now i recall Meg raising his arms in triumph on the 1996 tour of SA. So no love for peak Sean Fitzpatrick?

McCaw 2011. Winning the World Cup after 24 years after an earthquake, with a broken foot and getting up after the Frenchman tried to poke out his eye. Still made the most tackles in that game.

Never seen more courageous or defiant leadership in any sport.

@sparky said in Peak ABs:

McCaw 2011. Winning the World Cup after 24 years after an earthquake, with a broken foot and getting up after the Frenchman tried to poke out his eye. Still made the most tackles in that game.

Never seen more courageous or defiant leadership in any sport.

And he did it with four million people on his back

@nzzp gonna throw in Josh Kronfeld ( 1995 ) and Tana Umaga ( 1997 )

@MN5 said in Peak ABs:

Gonna throw in Josh Kronfeld ( 1995 ) and Tana Umaga ( 1997 )

Josh was awesome, but not as good as peak GOAT or MJ. And I loved his play -- just don't think he reached the athleticism of MJ or the mental toughness and all round play of GOAT

@nzzp said in Peak ABs:

@MN5 said in Peak ABs:

Gonna throw in Josh Kronfeld ( 1995 ) and Tana Umaga ( 1997 )

Josh was awesome, but not as good as peak GOAT or MJ. And I loved his play -- just don't think he reached the athleticism of MJ or the mental toughness and all round play of GOAT

All round no but in 95 he was pretty damn amazing.

Kronfeld in both 95 and 96 I thought was pretty phenomenal. To me he outshone MJ.
Kronfeld took openside play to a new level with the way he attacked the ball once it hit the deck. No regard for his own safety!!

@ACT-Crusader His defence was always weak. Massive penalty count. Most overrated player of the modern era