Cement, The brick with eyes, Chief, Spud, Sludge, Changa, The King, Chicka, The ZIP ZIP MAN (that nickname has to be in caps), The Black Pearl, Mad Dog, Beaver, What’s-a-packet-a, The raging bull, Lurch, Mr Perpetual motion, The Falcon and my favourite, The Axe.

These are just some of the greatest nicknames ever, but I must ask where has the good nickname gone?

With Anthony ‘The Count’ Minichiello’s upcoming retirement the era of the good nickname may sadly be dead. Why is this?

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Are today’s players not just as bright as their predecessors. I mean with nicknames like G.I, SBW, JT and the uninspired Gal, a strong argument could be put forward that this is the case. The era of the great nickname is dying.

With the Count moving on, Jamie ‘Killer’ Lyon may have to carry the burden by himself – an unenviable task. The days of the great nickname could add fear to the opponent with names like Cement, The Brick with eyes the Raging Bull and The Axe. Or they could make the crowd laugh,

Phil ‘Whats-a-packet-a’ Sigsworth and Brad ‘Adolf’ Fittler brought the fans closer to the players.

Is the modern day player not as creative? Do players remove all level of personality with the media out of fear? Meaning there are no potential for nicknames? Do we just need Roy and HG to come back? The era of the great nickname must return because if I hear another interview with Paul Gallen where he is constantly called Gal I may have a stroke.

Surely this should be issue number one for the Australian Rugby League Commission to return us to the state of intelligent nicknames. It’s got to the point where players are giving others nicknames on how they play the game. I am looking at you Josh ‘Grub’ Reynolds or Sam ‘third man in’ Thaiday.

In the immortal words of Geoff Toovey, there has to be an investigation. I demand better nicknames and I refuse that Mylesy is the best that the players can come up with for Nate Myles. Off the top of my head how about ‘bread’, because he has a head like a loaf of bread. Or Moses for Cam Smith because there is no player more blessed by refs in the game.

I would like to acknowledge the nickname for James Graham of Bupa in reference to Aidan Tolman being the healthier version of James Graham. A gold star to whoever came up with that.

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