Hull KR (like several other teams back then) had a big fearsome pack of forwards which was on a similar level to Widnes in terms of being tough, hard and dirty when required.

As well as Mark Broadhurst they had Zook Ema, Chris Burton, David Watkinson, Gavin Miller, Phil Hogan, Andy Kelly, Lindsay Johnstone, Len Casey, Roy Holdstock, etc. Their backs and halfbacks were pretty damn good and well equipped with speed and ability.

Leeds always seemed to have too many playmakers up front and when it came to crunch games and would often get beaten up by teams with the more fearsome packs of forwards.

The game had its flaws back then but I do agree it was far more entertaining than what is being served up today.

Ball control was the problem. We could never hang on to the thing - especially when we played the Aussies. For me it was a hangover from contested scrums where dropping the ball didn't automatically lose you possession. Once scrums became a formality possession became critical. But we were still lobbing the ball everywhere. Great to watch though.

Agree about Leeds. For a few brief weeks when we had Crooks and Tunks together we had a big, ugly front row. Then Crooks did his shoulder and managed to double his body weight while recovering. And that was that.

Some examples of Leeds chucking it about to no avail versus Australia here, just it's a bit further on in the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-XEqRGDWa4 Also the second part has some great highlights of the 3rd test in that series. The game was much more open and entertaining then. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJGdJJNk9nc The clips of the game versus Bradford in the fog are funny, just for the commentators trying to work out what's going on. How good were the 86 Kangaroos?

Some examples of Leeds chucking it about to no avail versus Australia here, just it's a bit further on in the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-XEqRGDWa4 Also the second part has some great highlights of the 3rd test in that series. The game was much more open and entertaining then. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJGdJJNk9nc The clips of the game versus Bradford in the fog are funny, just for the commentators trying to work out what's going on. How good were the 86 Kangaroos?

Saw them against Halifax at Thrum Hall. The evening before the match, calendar or Look North had a couple of minutes on Noel "Crusher" Cleal and had filmed him running through the Aussie outback carrying a wild hog across his shoulders! Looked like Stone Age man!

Crooks increased BMI will have been due to his method of recuperation.

Spend most of you time propping up the bar in the Horse & Jockey in Cas.

A true athlete.

About that time the garden gate pub in hunslet hosted the Monday Club . A lot of the Leeds team and various members of other clubs used to participate in an all day session. Plus the usual hangers on.
Can't quite remember our hooker or hookers at that time.

It would most likely have been Colin Maskill and Richard Gunn mid to late 80's

Masky, Crooksy, Schoey and Creasser were thick as thieves back then.

Thanks, memory back on track. Great things expected from gunn when signed. Never fulfilled his potential. Maskill decent player, seem to remember him leaving Leeds for Bradford or Halifax?

Many of the Leeds players could also be seen at regular intervals in the following...

Town Hall Tavern
Richmond
Trotters

I'm sure there were other pubs frequented on a regular basis by the squad.

The Leeds team against Australia in 1986 on the youtube link above was Gill, Creasser, ET, McGaw, Francis, Holmes, Gascoigne, Grayshon, Morris, Smith, Owen, Price, Heron... Subs: T. Skerrett, Medley.

Maskill and Gunn played that season at hooker. Trevor Clark may also have done. The 1985/86 season witnessed a lot of changes in personnel throughout the season.

It was Doncaster