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When St George beat Wests in the grand final 50 years ago this year, the Magpies were accused of having a "Gasnier complex".
This Friday night, the Magpies might have morphed into the Wests Tigers and St George into St George Illawarra, but the major threat in the Dragons' backline is still named Gasnier and Wests' "complex" might have developed into a full-blown phobia.
In 1961 it was Reg Gasnier who so commanded the attention of the Magpies' defence that holes appeared inside and outside him, to the extent that he saw very little of the ball. "Wests went into the grand final yesterday with a Gasnier complex," wrote Tom Goodman in the Sun-Herald. "They concentrated on the brilliant centre as the No. 1 menace. They hung off the men with the ball and, as a result, let St George through for two of their first three tries."
On Friday night Wests Tigers will be paying plenty of attention to Reg's nephew, Mark, when they clash with St George Illawarra in a game billed as "the match of the season" at Sydney Football Stadium.
Mark Gasnier has terrorised the Tigers for the best part of a decade, crossing for an incredible 21 tries in 15 matches against them since 2001\. It is a staggering tally that represents 23 percent of his career total.
And there is little question that Tigers centre Chris Lawrence faces another massive challenge to shut his opposite man down. He'll have the high-calibre support of Englishman Gareth Ellis just as he did last September when Lawrence nullified Gasnier's threat for almost all of the preliminary final classic between the clubs at a packed ANZ Stadium.
Only once did Gasnier cut loose as he combined with winger Jason Nightingale on a break-out 10 minutes into the second half. It finished with Nightingale taking an inside pass from hooker Dean Young and scoring against a stretched defence.
When St George beat Wests in the grand final 50 years ago this year, the Magpies were accused of having a "Gasnier complex".
This Friday night, the Magpies might have morphed into the Wests Tigers and St George into St George Illawarra, but the major threat in the Dragons' backline is still named Gasnier and Wests' "complex" might have developed into a full-blown phobia.
In 1961 it was Reg Gasnier who so commanded the attention of the Magpies' defence that holes appeared inside and outside him, to the extent that he saw very little of the ball. "Wests went into the grand final yesterday with a Gasnier complex," wrote Tom Goodman in the Sun-Herald. "They concentrated on the brilliant centre as the No. 1 menace. They hung off the men with the ball and, as a result, let St George through for two of their first three tries."
On Friday night Wests Tigers will be paying plenty of attention to Reg's nephew, Mark, when they clash with St George Illawarra in a game billed as "the match of the season" at Sydney Football Stadium.
Mark Gasnier has terrorised the Tigers for the best part of a decade, crossing for an incredible 21 tries in 15 matches against them since 2001\. It is a staggering tally that represents 23 percent of his career total.
And there is little question that Tigers centre Chris Lawrence faces another massive challenge to shut his opposite man down. He'll have the high-calibre support of Englishman Gareth Ellis just as he did last September when Lawrence nullified Gasnier's threat for almost all of the preliminary final classic between the clubs at a packed ANZ Stadium.
Only once did Gasnier cut loose as he combined with winger Jason Nightingale on a break-out 10 minutes into the second half. It finished with Nightingale taking an inside pass from hooker Dean Young and scoring against a stretched defence.
