Re: Withdrawal symptoms. : Mon Mar 23, 2020 7:39 am  

hatty wrote:

Today’s rugby is all done on a lap top or flip chart, a players natural ability is governed by the need by constantly having to follow a script. Off the cuff stuff nowadays is deemed to risky.

Correct, with the result that the game today is not as attractive as it use to be at the time of the games being shown.

Re: Withdrawal symptoms. : Mon Mar 23, 2020 10:42 am  

Ruddy Duck wrote:

Correct, with the result that the game today is not as attractive as it use to be at the time of the games being shown.

Agree, we seem to be developing utility robots. Play anywhere players. Any individuality gates drummed out of players who MUST adhere to the game plan.

Re: Withdrawal symptoms. : Mon Mar 23, 2020 3:47 pm  

As Bill Shankly said about footballers and it applies to rugby, "a good player then would be a good player now, and a good player now would have been a good player then".

Re: Withdrawal symptoms. : Mon Mar 23, 2020 6:02 pm  

MorePlaymakersNeeded wrote:

Is that the year Leeds were accused of having more than their permitted quota of Vikings, imported from York?

Damned fat fingers.

Re: Withdrawal symptoms. : Mon Mar 23, 2020 6:31 pm  

twosevenzero wrote:

As Bill Shankly said about footballers and it applies to rugby, "a good player then would be a good player now, and a good player now would have been a good player then".

What did he ever achieve in the game?

Re: Withdrawal symptoms. : Mon Mar 23, 2020 8:17 pm  

Perhaps it is just that we do not attract the same quality of players that we once did or just that the difference between ordinary and good has been narrowed by improvements in training techniques but the best players in the 90s were real stars compared to the rest of the team.

Re: Withdrawal symptoms. : Mon Mar 23, 2020 10:16 pm  

ChrisA wrote:

I haven't. I judge the skill level and rugby brain of players today on people like Andy Gregory. My favourite British half of all time.

He was simply sublime to watch

Re: Withdrawal symptoms. : Tue Mar 24, 2020 1:43 am  

He was indeed. Watching Andy Gregory made me fall in love with the game.

Re: Withdrawal symptoms. : Tue Mar 24, 2020 11:17 am  

moto748 wrote:

He was indeed. Watching Andy Gregory made me fall in love with the game.

Was there ever a player who you were less likely to look at and to say "that is what a superstar rugby league player looks like", unless it was Rob Burrows?

Re: Withdrawal symptoms. : Tue Mar 24, 2020 3:48 pm  

moto748 wrote:

He was indeed. Watching Andy Gregory made me fall in love with the game.

Great player Greg, my favourite Wigan number 7, but it gives me no pleasure to say it, Alex Murphy was the best I've seen, here, or in Australia.