Central West Rugby Union top 50: The best players to play over the last 25 years | Players 10-1

Why each of these players has made the top 10 is fairly self explanatory, they're all champions.

Tell us your thoughts by commenting on our story below. Check out the very best of the best:

Arguably the most damaging ball runner of the last 25 years.

Tidswell was a mammoth for the Dogs at the back of the scrum and was largely used as a battering ram during his stint in blue and gold. Was a key member of the Dogs' 2010 premiership winning side.

A regular at whatever representative level he was available to play, Tidswell was hugely skillful and was more than just a monster with ball in hand.

His position on this list dictates he may be the best Bulldogs to run out at Ashwood Park in the last 25 years - he'd be first picked in just about any honorary Dogs side imaginable.

Lightning fast. Quick decision-maker. Great with the ball. Brilliant defender. A proven winner.

Everywhere Leader went, victory followed.

Was undoubtedly part of the best one-two punch the Central West has seen - probably ever - and his combination with Mark Daley at both Emus and Roos netted plenty of success over a decade.

After winning premierships with Emus throughout the late 90s and then early 2000s, Leader tried his hand in Sydney at played a bit of first grade there. The club already had Brent Sheahan (future Wallabies halfback) and Josh Holmes (played multiple Super Rugby games) on the books, but Leader worked his way into the Rats' side.

Scored every point for Emus in a 21-15 grand final win over Bathurst in 2002, which marked the club's fourth straight premiership triumph.

Could Pete Nau be best Dubbo Kangaroo of all time?

He's much-loved at No.1 Oval and co-captained the club's last premiership win in 2014 alongside Shaun McHugh.

A dynamic ball runner and the most destructive hooker the competition has probably seen since his Roos counterpart Geoff Koerstz.

Transformed the Dubbo boys every time he took the field for them. A true leader and gun front-rower.

Pulled handy teams from nowhere and turned them into premiership threats.

Fangupo helped Parkes to its first Blowes Clothing Cup premiership win in 2011 - that incredible, extra-time win at Narromine will go down as one of the great grand finals - while his efforts in leading Forbes to the 2017 title were also instrumental.

A mercurial half with a laser like pass and a kicking game that's near unrivalled, Fangupo has easily been the best No.9 in not only the Central West but all of Country rugby in the last 10 years.

He'd just about be the best player in any position he chooses to play in the backline. An absolute freak.

Has any player owned the big moments more than Nigel Staniforth in the last 25 years?

The best player in Emus' run of seven straight grand final appearances from 2014, Staniforth nailed big conversion after big conversion, and clutch penalty goal after clutch penalty goal at almost every opportunity. From just about anywhere on the field too. His right boot was a threat from anywhere inside the opposition's territory.

A gun with Sydney Uni for a long time too, after stints playing in New Zealand, France and then a year in Japan, Staniforth landed at Endeavour Oval as a 30-year-old at the height of his powers and didn't disappoint.

Helped transform the club from whipping boys to competition big guns, and then maintained the rage for around a decade as Emus won crowns in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2020.

Narromine remains the only town to compete in the Blowes Clothing Cup that doesn't have a McDonald's - which was a running joke for many Gorillas boys for a long time.

Lachie McCutcheon, though, was no joke.

Owned the 2009 season after returning home to play for Narromine. In fact, he didn't lose a game that season. The only two games the Gorillas dropped were games McCutcheon was overseas for.

His first game back for the club was at CSU Bathurst, and Narromine hadn't won there in years. Twice, McCutcheon picked the ball up off the back of the ruck and tore down field 60-odd metres to score - the Gorillas won 32-26.

Big, rangy, ball running backrower, the former Sydney Uni lock was Narromine's best player during an incredible run from 2009 to 2011 that resulted in three grand final appearances. One of the best in the west.

Word from back at Endeavour Oval in the early 2000s had this tough, kiwi just standing around the ground watching Emus train one day.

Coaches at the time went up to the rugged-looking shearer and, then 19, Carberry indicated he was keen for a game.

He got a crack in Emus' second grade side that weekend and "wowed" everyone.

The following week, against some protests from senior club officials, Carberry was parachuted into the Emus' First XV, wore the No.7 and then killed them against the Bulldogs.

Dominated on the side of scrum while in Orange and was later signed to play in the Shute Shield with Warringah, where he'd go on to win a Shute Shield with the Rats.

A uncompromising kiwi with a fend like a shot-gun, Carberry was an absolute nightmare running the ball wide of the ruck.

Premiership wins 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 with Emus. More premiership wins with Roos in 2006, 2007, 2008, as captain too.

Grand final appearances in 2004 and 2005. And a President's Cup win with Trangie in there too.

Nine grand final appearances, seven premiership wins: Mark Daley has the best winning record of anyone to lace up a boot in the Central West.

Played league as a kid in Canowindra and was told he was too small to make it in Sydney, but then dominated the Central West Rugby Union like no one ever has.

The beauty in Daley's game was its simplicity. A great defender, and a brilliant decision-maker, Daley was the conductor for some of the best orchestras in the west, and they were shows well worth attending.

In 2002 Daley was the mastermind behind perhaps the most dominant regular season in history, guiding Emus to 18 wins from 18 rounds with a bonus point picked up each week. Emus average 51 points per game that year, and despite a hiccup in the semis still got the chocolates on grand final day.

A true champion.

Hare Lavaka retired (the first time) from rugby in the late 1990s. After 11 Test matches for Tonga, enough was enough.

But after coming out to Australia and landing at Parkes, Lavaka decided to join a few friends and help the Boars. That was only expected to be a one-year stint.

But such was his calibre, and competitiveness, Lavaka was picked to play for Central West that season and then, the year after, played for NSW Country against the NSW Waratahs.

Head-hunted by a number of Sydney scouts over the years, Lavaka would link with Easts and go on to play 100 games at loose head for the club - a remarkable achievement considering he retired (the first time) about a decade beforehand. He'd often fly from Parkes to Sydney to play for Easts.

When his professional days eventually ended, it was back in the Central West that Lavaka would excel.

In the last 50 years across the Central West, the Blowes Clothing Cup has only been won by a team outside of Orange, Bathurst or Dubbo five times - Lavaka spearheaded two of those premiership wins.

He dominated on the field with Parkes in 2011, and then as a coach in 2017 with Forbes. A remarkable achievement for anyone.

On the field, he was a giant. When he landed at Parkes, all of a sudden every prop in the comp whinged about making the trek to Northparkes Oval. The best prop to play in the Central West in the last 25 years.

Has retired, a few more times since that first pause in the late 1990s, but you can never write off another Lavaka comeback.

'Junior' was simply a cut above everyone on the field every time he ran out.

He landed at Pride Park in 2011 and really only dabbled in rugby with City while also playing rugby league for Molong .... then, bang.

In two seasons with the club's First XV, the powerhouse, dazzling (add any superlative you can find) winger turned City from contenders to virtually unstoppable.

He scored 32 tries in the Lions breakthrough 2012 Blowes Clothing Cup premiership win, and then another 22 as the City boys made it back-to-back wins.

Over that two year stretch the Lions didn't lose a game in 39 matches. It's an incredible run.

And while the Lions had a lot of champion players in that period, few could do what Lafo'ou did, on a weekly basis.

At the start of 2012 the Lions coaching staff joked they started calling their start winger 'Bonus Point', because he'd scored four tries on his own in a couple of games. Four tries is enough to net a team a bonus point, for the uninitiated.

Fast, sparking footwork and so, so strong (he tipped the scales at around 95 kilograms while playing on the wing for the Lions), at one point there Lions head coach Steve Hamson said: "If he can square you up, he'll beat you. He has no right to score some of the tries he does."

The single more exciting player to watch this region has seen in some time, most definitely the last 25 years.

Lafo'ou was a game-changer, the likes of which we've not seen since. He's the best player to play in the Central West since, 1999.

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