My dream 17: David Shillington

David Shillington played with and against some brilliant players across a 12-season career in the NRL, which included being part of a golden generation of Queenslanders who dominated State of Origin. 

A 14-Test veteran with the Kangaroos, Shillington was judged the Telstra Premiership's best prop in 2010, and played for the Roosters, Raiders and Titans at club level. 

NRL.com caught up with the former enforcer to talk about the greatest 17 he shared a field with. 

David Shillington's dream 17

1. Darren Lockyer

"A wonderful support player who made others around him look good. I remember he passed me a beautiful ball in Origin one year, I bumped someone off and then he popped up again for the offload and ran away to score a try, and that play kind of summed him up. Locky captained me in the Maroons and for the Kangaroos and when he spoke we all listened."

2. Billy Slater

"Billy does have a bit of history on the wing, so hopefully he doesn’t feel too out of place here. Being a front-rower, when I had my head in a tackle or was running back to the defensive line, he would be looking right at me saying ‘Shillo, go there, go here’ and be pointing to which side of the ruck he wanted me in. He would organise very well and was nice and direct. I loved playing with him for those reasons."

3. Greg Inglis

"I remember in my debut for Australia in 2009 against England, with one run of the ball Greg palmed off about five different players. He looked like a man playing against boys at different times and had freakish abilities. Thankfully I never encountered him too much as an opponent because he was out on the edge!"

4. Brent Tate 

"Tatey had a lot of intensity about him when he played and would never give you a half-arsed run. When you understand all of the injuries he had, they would have made many lesser men quit the game for sure, and not only did he not quit the game, but he returned to play at the highest level time and time again."

5. Anthony Minichiello

"When I first moved to the Roosters in ’02, he was incredible. His ability to stay on his feet and ricochet out of a tackle, to spin and keep going forward, plus his support play up the middle, he was exceptional. The last couple of decades we have just been blessed with fullbacks in our game and Mini was right up there."

6. Johnathan Thurston

"I always loved playing alongside him and even just watching him play, because he looked like he was doing it for the fun of it. He was ultra-competitive, which is a good character trait, but always played what was in front of him, whether it be a kick and chase or something else, and he wasn’t afraid to try things. He was a very different to a player like Cooper Cronk in that regard."

7. Andrew Johns

"The first ever time I let in an NRL try was due to Andrew. He was attacking the line, he double pumped to a back-rower, I went for it, and it was an iconic Andrew Johns moment where he went straight past me as I put a hand out. I was devastated, but later I thought ‘if I’m ever going to let one in, to do it against Andrew Johns is OK.’"   

8. Petero Civoniceva

"Petero was hands down one of the best blokes to play footy with. He was selfless and a huge role model for the next generation of Queensland forwards at the time, which was myself, Benny Hannant and Matt Scott. I feel very lucky to have played alongside him."

9. Cameron Smith

"It’s hard to pick the greatest you ever played with, but it’d be hard not to say Cameron. Yes, he was talented and could break the line and do all that himself, but most of all he made other people around him look good, which was what separated him from others in my mind. Gave impeccable service from dummy-half, he’d engage markers to give you more room to run and he was so strategic with his kicks."

10. Adrian Morley

"The nicest bloke to play with, but incredibly feared by the opposition, which I found out when I played against him in 2009 for Australia against England. He loved to shoot out of the line and smash someone or run over the top of you, and he played a very aggressive style of footy. I tried to emulate a lot of what he did on the field."  

11. Craig Fitzgibbon

"The ultimate professional type of player and a through-and-through winner. He’d do stuff like watch professional soccer games to see what those players did to prepare and perform. I kind of knew when the Sharks signed him to be their coach that he would do a wonderful job because of his traits as a player."

12. Sam Burgess

"A beast on the field who dominated the NRL from the start of his time in the competition. The way he ran the ball, he had so much intensity and would accelerate into contact, almost saying ‘bring it on’. I remember playing against England when he was coming onto the scene before he came to the NRL and I knew he’d be one to watch. Playing the Burgess brothers was hard because if you took on one of them, you took on all of them."

13. Luke Lewis

"We go way back to our days in the Junior Kangaroos, so it was really cool to play with him in the senior Kangaroos side later in our career. I reckon I gave him my players’ player vote three quarters of the time I played with him for Australia. He wore his heart on his sleeve and left nothing in the tank."

14. Nathan Hindmarsh

"He played such consistent footy for so many years, including plenty in some pretty ordinary Parramatta teams. He just kept plugging away and maintained his professionalism. He deserves some credit for the way he went about his work."

15. Matthew Scott

"A soldier for the Maroons over the years who would just continually hit the ball up and get you going forward, and Queensland built that period of dominance in the mid-2000s through guys like him. He was good with his shoulders too and could put on some big shots – including trying to get me a couple of times."

16. Cooper Cronk

"So meticulous in the way he prepared for games, whether that was at training or on his own. He’d spend so long with players getting ready, that by the time he got on the field and the pressure came on, there was no guess work with Cooper and he could execute at a high level. I always remember him practicing field goals on a day off in Origin camp in 2012 and come that Wednesday night he kicked the winning field goal for us. Nothing he did was luck or good fortune, it was all planned for and trained for."

17. Greg Bird

"He had no care for what he was doing to his body and just put it on the line every time. I played against him when he was with the Blues and with him for Australia and the Titans. In 2009 when I made my Origin debut against Greg, it was a chaotic game and Locky (Darren Lockyer) ended up putting up a bomb so we could go down and try and smash someone in the dying minutes of the game. I remember later that year going into Kangaroos camp and not even wanting to shake Greg’s hand. But I found out he was a legend when you were on his side."