I often think of these questions when I see a great moment like we witnessed on Friday night with South Sydney's Adam Reynolds last-minute conversion from the sideline to win the game for his team.

If people are asked about the best goal they have ever seen kicked in rugby league history, opinions are generally equally divided among the obvious three.

Michael O'Connor's conversion from the sideline in the last minute of the State of Origin II in 1991 to keep the series alive for the Blues. In driving rain, on a muddy field, with a wet leather ball, O'Connor called the ball in from the right-hand side in between the posts to send the series into a decider. Big moment, big goal.

Everyone remembers Hazem El Masri kicking a sideline conversion after the final siren to win the game for the Bulldogs against Newcastle, in Newcastle. The emotion of that day was the fact that the Bulldogs were down 19-0 at one stage in that match, yet Hazem's kick secured them a 22-21 victory. The added pressure here was that if he missed, they lost.

The other big goal on this list was kicked by the great Daryl Halligan in the last minute of the preliminary final against Parramatta to level the scores and send the game into extra time. Again, if he missed, the Bulldogs' season was over. They went on to win that game and qualify for the grand final the following week.

If Johnathan Thurston's conversion attempt from the sideline after the final siren in last year's grand final had snuck inside the right-hand upright, I dare say it would have been the greatest moment in rugby league history. I could never understand why the football gods didn't give him that kick, but allowed him to land the winning field goal only five minutes later. Why didn't they just get it over with earlier and grant him that wonderful moment? Ah, they work in mysterious ways.

I think that's what we remember most about the great goals: the pressure on the kicker because of the importance of the moment.

Not only was the game on the line for young Reynolds on Friday night, but perhaps even the Rabbitohs' season. As he lined up the kick, the great Andrew Johns, commentating for Channel Nine said, "These are the kicks you live for as a kicker. All the lonely hours practising on your own in the park is all for moments like this."

That really sums up the life of the goalkicker. It can be a very rewarding yet thankless job. I know that as a coach I never blamed any loss we had on poor goalkicking, but I know that the goalkicker having a good day won us a lot of games.

Quite often the result of a match comes down to one man and his ability to steer the ball between the 5.5-metre-wide goal posts. For all those who participated in the game, their destiny really lies in his boot. It's at that time we appreciate all the hard work and practice that has gone into preparing him for this pressure moment.

When interviewed after the game, Reynolds admitted, "It's something I'd dreamed of as a kid."

To be honest, I never had any doubt that he would kick it. Adam Reynolds is among the best I have ever seen.

Mind you, goalkicking today is so much different to what it was when I first started following and playing rugby league as a kid back in the 1960s. In those days all goalkickers were what we called "toe pokers". Their run-up to the ball was in a straight line and they would kick the point of the ball with their big toe and hope that it travelled in a straight line between the posts. When you think about it, it's actually a very difficult way to kick the ball with any real consistency.

Growing up as a kid, I actually thought it was a rule that you had to kick this way because it was much more difficult than kicking around-the-corner like soccer players did.

Today's kickers have the benefit of perfect playing surfaces all year round, plastic kicking tees to ensure consistency in placing the ball, and perfectly manufactured synthetic footballs of consistent texture, shape and hardness. Today's kickers also are full-time professionals, with the benefit of kicking coaches and video analysis to eliminate faults and perfect technique.

Kickers back in the day faced a number of challenges that did not exist for their counterparts in the modern era.

Generally, the goalkicker had to practise on his own, in his own time.

The grounds were terrible. By mid-season there was no grass. The surface could be bumpy, uneven, or rock hard. Others could be very dusty and sandy. On wet days, the field was so muddy it could suck your boots off, so deep did your feet sink into the ground.

The footballs back then were made of leather and no two balls were ever alike. The balls could be of different hardness and used to get bashed out of shape. Generally, there would be a skinny end and a fat end to the ball. The seams of the ball were crooked and when you laid it on the mound, the seam never actually pointed in a direct line to the target. They also had those big, bulky, leather laces. On wet days, the old leather ball used to get as heavy as a brick. It was hard to kick any distance at all.

There were no plastic kicking tees in those days. You had to scratch around for some dirt to build a mound on which to place the ball. They eventually allowed sand boys to bring dirt onto the field for kickers to make a mound.

Despite all these challenges, I saw some great goalkickers in these earlier eras. The great Balmain legend Keith Barnes and St George's Graham "Changa" Langlands. South Sydney's Eric Sims was a wonderful goalkicker. So silky smooth and unflappable in his approach. Newtown's Ken Wilson, Manly's Bob Batty and later, Graham Eadie. I saw a guy called Kevin Longbottom kick a goal from over halfway, from the cricket pitch in the middle of the Sydney Cricket Ground, in a grand final for South Sydney. Legendary kick.

Balmain legend Len Kileen, a winger from South Africa, used to dig a small hole in the ground with the heel of his boot, stand the ball straight up in that hole, walk back three paces, and then with two giant strides forward, toe-poke the ball with his left boot straight between the posts from all sorts of angles.

The best single goalkicking performance I ever saw from a toe-poker back in the day was from an Eastern Suburbs player called Allan McKean, playing for Australia in a Test match against Great Britain at the SCG. McKean kicked seven from seven from all angles that day to keep Australia in the match. They eventually lost 21-17.

But none of the goalkickers from this era actually rate among the best of all time, because their percentage success rates were nowhere near the accuracy of the modern day kickers.

Many will rate the great Mick Cronin as one of the best goalkickers of all time. He kicked some brilliant goals during his career. Yet history will show that Mick only kicked at around a 60-65 per cent success rate. Mind you, that was better than most during his era.

Englishman John Gray was the first rugby league player I ever saw kick the ball with the around-the-corner style. Gray came out to Australia to play for North Sydney. He was brilliant.

From this point in time, all rugby league kickers were standing the ball on its point and kicking like soccer players.

Ross Conlon was an outstanding goalkicker. I watched him kick 10 from 10 in swirling winds at Henson Park one day playing for the Bulldogs against Newtown. It was a masterful display.

Legenday kicker: Daryl Halligan. Photo: Dallas Kilponen

Mike Eden used to kick left and right footed, depending from which side of the goal posts he had to take the conversion.

I may be wrong here, but I believe the great Daryl Halligan was the first around-the-corner goalkicker I ever saw who laid the ball down flat on the mound, pointed towards the posts, in the manner we see today. I'm not sure if it was Daryl's idea or if he saw someone overseas using this method. But goalkicking changed forever from that moment on. It all seems so obvious in hindsight, because it really gives the goalkicker a bigger sweet spot in which to strike the ball and far greater margin for error.

This led to a long line of great and accurate goa kickers such as El Masri, O'Connor, Matthew Ridge, Ivan Cleary, Andrew Leeds, Greg Alexander, Jason Taylor, Ryan Girdler and Andrew Johns.

The great kickers we see today like Johnathan Thurston, Trent Hodkinson, Michael Gordon, Cameron Smith, Adam Reynolds, Jarrod Croker, Aiden Sezer and James Maloney are more like professional golfers in the way they practise and perfect their craft. They are all outstanding kickers.

So who is the greatest goalkicker of all time?

I once posed this question to Daryl Halligan himself, who is now the leading kicking coach in the NRL, if not around the world. I asked Daryl, if he had to pick one person to kick a goal from the sideline to save his life, who would you want to take the kick?

His answer?

He said he didn't necessarily want the kicker with the best technique, but the one with the strongest mind. He rated Johnathan Thurston as the mentally toughest kicker he had ever seen.

There it is from the expert. It's not just about how well you can kick, but how well-equipped you are to deal with the pressure.

South Sydney fans should be so grateful they have this young fellow called Adam Reynolds on their team.