Anthony Minichiello

Roosters’ winger took his place in the club’s 14-6 loss to Brisbane in the 2000 grand final during his debut season before shifting to fullback. In 2002 Minichiello proved himself as the best broken play runner in the game and opposition players learned at their peril not to kick to him – his ability to run the ball back had the potential to turn a match in the Roosters’ favour. In 2002, the year the Roosters defeated the Warriors in the grand final, Minichiello scored 16 tries from the fullback position. He made his State of Origin debut the following year before grabbing the fullback role (in the absence of Darren Lockyer) in Australia’s 48-6 Test win against NZ in July. Following the grand final loss to Penrith, Minichiello shifted to the wing in the Australian team beaten by the Kiwis 30-16 before and played in that position in three Ashes Tests on the 2003 Kangaroo Tour. When Australian captain Darren Lockyer moved to pivot in 2004, Minichiello moved to fullback and played all six Tests that year (3 v NZ and 3 v Great Britain) as Test team ‘custodian’. While the Roosters’ lost a close grand final clash against the Bulldogs in 2004 (Minichiello’s third grand final loss with the club), the talented fullback confirmed his standing as the best fullback in the world when he was named Adidas ‘Golden Boot’ Award winner in 2005. A leg injury early in the 2006 seasons limited Minichiello to just 6 games in 2006 and ruled him out of the representative matches.