I think it was Donna.

Ah yes the whacky world of RU scouting.

feels like a game of blankety blank

cheers have you suffered as long?

gary connolly another who would have been picked on deeds elsewhere

In my days as a Chairman/Director of Rugby I came very close to signing him for a national league side. Also took junior teams to Cleckheaton.

very imature post. pointless when you have mainly teenagers posting.

Well I saw plenty of these legends play and no way do their deeds pale. My understanding of "Greatest" in the thread title is with regard to their rugby skills.

If your sole criteria for judging greatness of a player is according to the number of cups they won then I prefer to stay misty eyed. By your criteria of Greatest you will have to include the likes of Kirke & Bailey.

Memories of Sinny lifting a Cup for me will fade but not the many great rugby moments that those legends provided - they are there for ever!

That would be very close to my team only Godden for Carroll and not Peacock twice.

Very good post.

Always dissapoints me how many people form opinions based purely on cups, medals, or even number of try's scored.

Player contributions and skills can be defined a lot more than those labels. Some of the best players ever, never got to play in a cup final or for a "big club" to give them that a chance.

The thread is on the players you have seen play, so any poster can only relate to that. It appears we have a very young majority of posters on southstander.com.

You don't think the present generation possess sublime rugby skills? I've seen moments of sublime skill from McGuire, Burrow, Sinfield, Ali, Webb, Donald, Hall, Harris, Lyons , Ettinghausen, Schofield, Hanley etc etc that I will look back on with the same justified rose tintedness that you look back upon older generations of players.

My "sole criteria" is not cups won. However, I think older generations do look back through rose tinted glasses. I posted a couple of months ago about the season Leeds were enduring under Hynes in 1978 when they won the cup against Saints. It was worse than this season. But as time passes so does the memory of the mundane displays and all that we remember are the great ones.

That is why many of this team doesn't get the recognition it deserves because it's still playing. In fifteen years time I suspect my generation will be waxing lyrical just like older generations do about the players they watched.

Of course it's subjective but there is one inalienable truth. This is a team sport when they aim is success for the team. In terms of championships this generation of players have surpassed anything that generations past have managed and that has to be recognised. This is not tennis.

You can't pick a team until you have picked a coach and know how you want them to play.

In a team sport, the way the coach wants the team to play determines which players get the gig...

So in 20 years you will be waxing lyrical about how great Ian Kirke and Lee Smith were?

No you won't will you. You hit the nail on the head in that final paragraph, it's a team sport. We have had a fair few individuals over the last 7 years that have been extremely lucky to play in such a very good squad of players. And just because they achieved the same honours, this does not mean to say that we will look back on them individually as one of the greats.

Just like many true greats have not even had the opportunity of playing in matches where honours can be won. Not by there own doing, but by chance of playing for the team they did.

No, but then again I haven't named them in my 17 have I? That said, I might wax lyrical about Smith as the years progress, forgetting the indifferent form this year and remembering him as a big match player in 3 GFs in 3 different positions. His display in the 2008 game, given the circumstances, should become stuff of legends. Which kind of proves my point about the passage of time affecting the memory.

I agree. I didn't name Kirke in my 17 did i?

I'm not sure what your point is (again). You've invented what you think I am saying and you're arguing with it. I named my greatest 17. It didn't contain Kirke etc.

An interesting thought comes to mind... I wonder what Tony Smith would have done with Garry Schofield. He got shut of Gleeson ASAP from the Wire but on the other hand he helped focus and revitalise Lee Briers.

Good point. Everyone assumed Briers would be out when Smith got the job. I am guessing Briers made a commitment to be more of a professional. It shows, IMO, in his physique and defensive application under Smith.

I'm not sure Schoey would have made the same commitment. I suspect he'd have focused his energies on undermining Smith at every opportunity. I also suspect Smith would have succeeded where Dougie failed and gotten rid of him.

I could pick an all import team:

Curry
ET
Innes
Bell
Grothe
Jackson
Lyons

Leuleui
Buderus
Patterson
Ali
Furner
Glanville

Or my British version:

Harris
Senior
Holmes
Dyl
Bentley
Heron
Schofield

Powell
Ward
Peacock
Morley
Sinfield
Hanley

JJB
Dixon
Ellis
McGuire

Oh, and best foreign coach, Tony Smith, best British coach...Tony Smith