Some would say it's premature. Some would say an openside flanker couldn't claim the mantle ahead of the great playmakers or great captains who've gone before.
However, as he prepares to play his 100th game, it is time to consider George Smith's place among the greatest Wallabies and whether he will ultimately lay claim to being the best Australian Test player of all time.
Humble yet quietly proud of his achievements, the ACT Brumbies stalwart will run on for his century Test in the Bledisloe Cup clash with New Zealand in Auckland tonight.
He will be just the fourth Australian and 10th internationally to reach the milestone.
Smith still has the best part of three seasons ahead of him. Given the amazing durability that has seen him miss only five Tests through injury, he could retire with more Test caps than his former teammate George Gregan.
But to judge Smith you must look beyond the numbers.
In some astute judges' eyes he's the complete player, a pioneer for flankers all over the world.
This week The Canberra Times spoke to some of Australian rugby's most influential figures to ask them the question: will Smith one day be rated the greatest of all?
The first time 1999 World Cup-winning Wallabies coach Rod Macqueen got to work with Smith, he knew he was on to something special.
Smith was first drafted into the national squad in 2000, making his debut on the Wallabies' European spring tour against France.
''He was very quiet, only asked a few questions and did all of his work on the field, that's George Smith he does his talking on the field.
''It's difficult to compare players across different eras, but if you were going to say who's the best ever player, you'd have to say George because he's fitter, faster and stronger than anyone, because of the professional era.''
Smith has been compared to top Wallaby flankers of the past Simon Poidevin, David Wilson and Colin Windon as well as legends in other positions John Eales, George Gregan, Mark Ella and Stephen Larkham.
Just looking at his resume, it's easy to get bogged down in the statistics of Smith's career.
He's got 120 Brumbies caps and 99 for his country. He's won eight Brumbies Brett Robinson players' player awards, four Australian Super14 player of the year titles, has captained at Test and Super rugby level and he's twice won the John Eales medal for being the Wallabies player of the year.
Eales, himself, played 86 Tests and captained the Wallabies to their 1999 World Cup victory. Regarded by many as Australia's greatest player, Eales said he had no doubt Smith would rival him in the pantheon of the great.
''George Smith has been the most consistent of all players in world rugby over the last decade,'' Eales said.
''To have played 100 Tests of a possible 105 in the toughest position is extraordinary.
''He was a great player to play with and is a great player to watch.''
Smith played his debut in Paris on the spring tour of 2000, just after the retirement of veteran flanker Wilson.
Wilson said of his dealings with Smith, ''He was very young, absorbing everything and I don't think I could have ever taught him anything.
''You could just tell there was something special about him.
''He has proven he has been Australia's best flanker and you would put him up there as potentially Australia's best forward.
''He's already going down as one of the greats and if he continues he could well be Australia's all-time greatest Wallaby.''
Wilson wasn't the only senior Brumbies and Wallabies forward to admire Smith from day one. Owen Finegan, one of the Brumbies and Wallabies greats, has said Smith, the player eight years his junior, had been his role model during their five years playing together.
And Brumbies foundation captain Brett Robinson said the emergence of Smith hurried him into retirement.
Smith has won Robinson's Brumbies players' player award the past seven years straight, prompting Robinson to joke he only turns up to the club's presentation night to make sure the award isn't renamed.
''He just had incredible talent, athleticism and gifts,'' Robinson said. ''I certainly worked to the best of my natural ability, but I was not operating at his level.
''George is almost at the peak of his powers in terms of his performance.
''Watching some things he does, it's almost like he's operating on a completely different level to his competition.
''At a time where some players are starting to slide and be a bit more 'old ball' in their approach, George is competing on all dimensions with more space and time than I've ever seen him.''
Earlier this year Smith turned down lucrative offers from Europe to sign a contract to remain in Canberra and with the Wallabies until the end of the 2011 World Cup.
His trophy cabinet is bulging, but it's not complete.
The one thing that some still think separates Smith from Gregan, Eales, Larkham, Poidevin and Wilson is rugby's holy grail the William Webb Ellis Cup.
Smith was still a teenager when Eales led the Wallabies to their 1999 triumph.
He was shattered when Australia lost in 2003 and was there again when the Wallabies stumbled in 2007.
Former Wallabies captain Nick Farr-Jones took Australia to the top of world rugby in 1991. And he said victory in the 2011 tournament could put the finishing touches on an otherwise untarnished career.
''That is the Everest, irrespective of how many Tests you play and your winning record,'' Farr-Jones said.
''If you haven't got one of those on your belt and you're a great player playing in great teams, yes you'd probably have a few regrets when you finish.
''But what Smith does at the breakdown is as good as anyone has ever done.''
It's fitting Smith will line up tonight opposite a player who many regard as the world's best flanker, Richie McCaw.
The pair have been locked in battle for individual supremacy since they first played against each other as teenagers.
McCaw paid tribute to Smith on reaching the 100-Test milestone, saying he was his biggest international rival.
''Consistently, he has been the best [I have played against],'' McCaw said.
''Every time I've marked him, you know he's out there and you know you are in for a good battle.''
While internationally Smith and McCaw have gone head-to-head, on the domestic front Smith has been measured against NSW's Phil Waugh.
Their rivalry added spice the ACT versus NSW clash every year as they competed for the right to be Australia's No1 flanker.
''The most pleasing thing for me is that he [Smith] is identified as the benchmark, Waugh and [David] Pocock now have to catch up,'' Robinson said.
Robinson was hopeful his successor could finish his career on a high at the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand.
''I think for him that would be a fitting way to finish.
''Independently you can be a brilliant individual, but if you're not surrounded by combinations of other quality players you may miss out.
''I'm optimistic for George and the Wallabies ... He's playing the best I have ever seen him and I think for George to lay claim to being the Wallabies' best ever flanker I'd like to see him win a World Cup.''
If he's going to do that, it'll be at Eden Park in two years' time. Tonight he gets a dress rehearsal.
Email a friend