IMO there's no doubt that Hanley is a true rugby league great.
To back that up, The Bulldogs (Terry Lamb I believe) took him out of the Grand Final when he played for Balmain in the late 80s. They recognised that he stood between them & victory so made sure that he wouldn't be on the pitch long enough to harm them.
Ray Warren described Hanley as seeing more stars than in Hollywood after being flattened off the ball. It made my TV judder he was hit so hard & late.

I've even got a clip of Ray Warren calling him "the great Ellery Hanly".... An Aussie calling a Pom great! I repeat....

They can fly as well

Or at least one of the ones we had could fly

Well, that is, it flew 20 feet across the kitchen once when it bit my wife on the finger and wouldn't let go.

I am picturing Buddy and the racoon in elf.


Had to give one of them (hamsters) a full state burial in the garden and say a few words a couple of years back.

christ,after biting her did it have a tetanus?

No but it did have a bad headache after it hit the wall at the opposite end of the room in full flight.

We used to breed them. They shag more than rabbits! A couple of days after giving birth and she was pregnant again!

...The male wasn't above trying it on with the kids either. Regardless of their sex!

No.

The hamsters are a bit smarter!

You're not very good at thinking laterally are you?

I was not using his nomination for the Golden boot as the sole basis for considering him a great. just another achievement on a long list of achievements.

I also never claimed he was going to win the award, I simply offered his nomination as further evidence of his greatness. Of course the winner can claim greatness because they have been voted the worlds' best player. However, does that exclude anyone who doesn't win it?

Hanley was undoubtedly a great of the game. El Diablo can't admit that though because Hanley achieved even less success in internationals than Sinfield has.

Well actually, I seem to be the only one answering questions for some reason! Do you think he passes the 'Wally Lewis' test I posted earlier? Do you think he would need to be universally accepted as an RL great, rather than just by Leeds fans, to become one? Do you think his game and a half of quality at International level is sufficient to be regarded as a great? Do you think the fact that he, himself, considered his International career over after never having made an impact on the Interational stage and a disasterous WC counts against him or is it superceded by a good game and a half? In fact, feel free to answer any of the points I've made (I mean actually answer them as opposed to posting a further question) as I'm genuinely interested to know how someone who appears to make reasoned posts is happy to ignore all these things. Moreover, would you be prepared to ignore them if the player in question was from, say, Saints?

As for the Golden boot/international 13 post, there was no lateral thinking involved. You asked a specific question to which I posted a specific answer. In fact I even addressed the 'cumulative' aspect of all the individual achievements if you care to read my post. Please feel free to tell me where 'lateral thinkng' comes into it. I'm intrigued. Just in case you're confused:

Lateral thinking: •Attempting to solve a problem by using non-traditional methods in order to create and identify new concepts and ideas.

How are you quantifying this? This is exactly what I'm referring to in our other posts. What exactly has Sinfield achieved at International level. More so, what has he achieved that Hanley did not? This is more revisionist history based on Sinfield playing a starring role in 1 win against NZ (interestingly something even the much derided on this board Sean O'Loughlin has done!) and playing well in 1 half in a loss to the Aussies! Not exactly an 'achievement' in International terms and certainly not sufficient (IMO obvioulsy) to put him in the bracket of 'World greats'.

He has played in a series win for his country. I don't think Henley ever did, though I stand to be corrected. Thus I don't think results achieved at international level are an accurate barometer for British players, given the antipodean era of dominance.

IU do not intend to discuss the issue any further with you because you have a clear agenda. I do not accept your proposition that Sinfield has only played well in the last "game and a half" and therefore there's no further basis for discussion.

If his international career has been such a failure to this point (it hasn't) ask yourself why every international coach since 2000 has continually selected him?

You should read JJB's interview with him in this months RLWorld magazine which explains that for the first time at international level he's been asked to run the show like he does at Leeds with the same results. Previously, he was not given this role because of the presence of Farrell and Sculthorpe etc. Now they're gone he can be the pivot (from 6, 13 or 9) and we're seeing the results.