Quote: G1 "Oh no she didn't.
Not having that. Firstly, his work rate alone puts him in a different echelon to someone like Kirke. Big Roy played in 20+ GB tests and was a cornerstone of the GB packs to record historic wins against previously unbeaten Aussie legends. He tackled all day and whatever came at him and took the ball up all day. This was in the days of 2 subs and when you were off you were off so he regularly did 80 mins.
Plus, Big Roy was hard. I once saw him punch out David Gillespie playing for Hunslet. It was so unlike Big Roy I had to ask him why he'd done it in the Loiners Guild bar afterwards. He said Gillespie called him a black b***ard.
Dougie's decision to release Roy was because he didn't hurt anyone in the tackle. One of his last games for leeds was away at Hull and he made 50+ tackles with, probably, no misses. I bet kirke will barely make 50 tackles a season.'"
You miss my point.
Not saying Roy didn't graft, achieve or wasn't hard. I originally typed 'but he adapted his game to suit his strengths and weaknesses' but thought that was over labouring the point.
What I was saying was a direct response to your comment on players whose aggression doesn't match their physical capabilities. I'd have said with Roy's physique he could have hurt people more in the tackle as well as made more yards but don't think he mentally had enough of the mongrel in him so he adapted his game to become a workhorse.
It wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that had he carried greater aggression his work rate would have fallen.
