Careful there Jeff , your mask is slipping .

Leeds might not have had the out and out thugs like a Fairbank or Skerret, but there wasn't really a lack of bottle - which is exactly what Medley had. Big Roy Powell for instance, while he is fondly remembered, he wasn't a typical hard man, and tended to avoid a scuffle, I certainly don't remember him starting any - but he didn't shirk taking the ball up when it got tasty - he just quietly got on with his job. Medley was a hider....

On Powell, his lack of a nasty streak was probably the thing that stopped him being one of the best in his era. He's another that would have gone very well in the modern day.

Medley "a hider"? I think you're overdoing it a bit there. He was a back being played in the forwards IMO. Take your point about Powell. Used as a sub Medley was a gamechanger and shouldn't be dismissed.

I do think Leeds lacked "bottle" at times. Northern used to regularly come out on top back in the late 80s and early 90s principally due to our pack getting on top - we had very few decent backs at that time. I happened to be watching a few you tube videos recently of Leeds versus Widnes during that era and the Widnes pack invariably got on top of Leeds too. That 37-4 and the 24-0 not to mention the 0-38 game at Headingley being obvious examples. All long after Medley had gone.

I agree. Medley was nowhere near the softy some people thought. What he was was one of the most talented running forwards of his generation. I have not seen another forward score tries from running back a kickoff, Medley did it multiple times. I don't know what people are talking about regarding his tackling, I saw him put huge hits in. With Roy Powell alongside him in the ack row you had a perfect partnership.
Was glad when we signed Dixon, but gutted it was at the expense of Medley. I seem to remember he had a bad neck injury on the GB tour and ended up coming home. Reilly didn't like his attitude to some biff in PPN and that was the death of his Leeds career.
In reality it was another example of a club that couldn't develop talent and thought you just bought it with a cheque book.

Like I said, he was an athlete, and ran great lines... And absolutely provided some great impact off the bench for Northern, scored some great tries and often played well against Leeds.

But I'll stand by my call that he was soft - certainly compared to the forwards of his era. Nowadays that wouldn't be the case.

Depends wether you like watching forwards smash down the pitch scoring 80 metre tries or sticking an elbow in someone 's face after the ball has gone.