Rubbish.

Different types of player, did different things for their clubs. For what Sinfield has done for "Leeds" he would get my vote ahead of Hanley.

Go away.

sinfield for me but i'm sick of the numerous hospital passes he gives every week

Hanley was the better RL player, Sinfield has accomplished more for Leeds. Tough call, but Sinfield gets my vote.

These things are never going to be straightforward but if greater accomplishment is the top criteria the final selection is going to have a pretty familiar look to it.

Sinfield could make my mythical bench (even though he's started there only 27 times out of 394 Appearances for the club) as he's started: 222 at loose, 15 in the 2nd row, 7 at hooker and 123 in the halves.

Unknowns aren't going to make the "greatest" team in reality.

Is that a euphemism?

Hanley was a phenomenal player, an amazing athlete and ahead of his time. He was a teetotaller and a gym rat in the days when he competed against part time players who trained twice weekly and consumed a fair amount of shandy. Sinfield has played in a very different era against a very different specimen of opposition.

I watched the Invincibles DVD at the weekend (highlights of Wigan's 8 successive CC wins) and the things Hanley did in those Wigan teams was jaw dropping. However, lets forget everything Hanley achieved at Wigan and GB. The poll is asking about Leeds best ever 13.

Hanley at Leeds was a shadow of the Hanley at Wigan version and some years past his best but he was still head and shoulders above everyone else in the team, regularly topping the try scoring charts and the tackle count. However, I don't recall him winning a Lance Todd in Blue and Amber. I don't recall him winning a Harry Sunderland in Blue and Amber. I don't recall him winning man of the match in a world Club Challenge.

SInfield's Leeds achievement's simply drip off the tongue and it's not just that he was part of Leeds greatest ever teams (which he was). He led those teams. Not only did he lead those teams but he delivered inspired performances on the biggest of stages for Leeds. Did Hanley? Reel off your Hanley highlights from the four finals Leeds reached under his captaincy. Go on, think about it. The first thing that comes to my mind is that with Leeds 2 points down in the 1994 Challenge Cup Final, having staged a remarkable fightback, we were pressing the Wigan line to take the lead when Hanley lost the ball and they scored on next set. I'm honestly desperately struggling to think of any other moment from any of those big games.

Hanley is a legend of the game and one of the greatest players I have ever seen play. However, the discussion is about Leeds greatest ever 13 and when it comes to THAT discussion then Hanley simply isn't in the same galaxy as Sinfield. That there has been a single other vote for any other player emphasises to me that Leeds fans these days do not understand the greatness we have been watching these last seven years in context of Leeds RLs history.

In my mind, great player as he was, Hanley was perhaps the ultimate symbol of an era of under-achieving, inefficient extravagance, where we produced teams full of star names in flash zig-zaggy kits and achieved very little. Probably not really his fault, but there it is.

Sinfield is, in my mind, the ultimate symbol of an era where we brought unprecedented levels of young talent through our academy and enjoyed the most sustained spell of success the club has seen. He was more than just part of those successes, he was the leader, talisman and, overall, our best player over those 6 years.

That, together with him having amassed over 1000 points, lifted almost all the trophies we've won in my lifetime and won the Lance Todd and Harry Sunderland along the way, is a good reason to vote for him.

*party election broadcast for the Sir Kevin Sinfield part ends*

Hanley and Sinfield are similar in their approach to the game and that is the greatest compliment anyone could pay to Sinfield.

Calling Hanley dedicated and single-minded is to do a disservice to the term. Where Hanley comes out on top is that he had the awe factor. The capacity to do things other players could only dream of and that stayed with him until he retired from playing. To contribute 41 tries from loose forward in his final Leeds season was an immense achievement and I made sure I was on hand to see them all. Nothing bar habit would persuade me to go see a Sinfield performance as dedicated and professional as he is.

How are we to define 'Greatest' ?

I don't necessarily disagree though I do wonder if that aw factor would be as pronounced if we were in an era where all the players were athletically gifted.

I have no wish to denegrate a legend like Hanley but I still challenge you to articulate how that awe factor translated itself into performance in big games, for Leeds. There's plenty of it on the Invincibles DVD of him in Cherry and White

It's a team game and all players will benefit when the collective performs well together. Neither Hanley or Sinfield (or any other player) ever won a game all on their own.

Running Wigan fairly close on occasions was as good as it got for Leeds when Hanley was around the club but I wouldn't downgrade his personal input because there was a better team in the competition.

As eluded to earlier there was IMO a cancer within the club which Hanley had to fight to overcome. Ironically the cancer was caused by Hanley's arrival.