This is probably the most pertinent sentence.

Watching us get pumped through the late 80's through to the late 90's you wouldn't believe how much this team has turned round. From having a team that can compete, to having a team ACTUALLY making finals, to winning finals and becoming so dominant. If you had told me then what we would go on to achieve I would have you committed!

I think all the 8 inductees so far are worthy ,but as Caplan said at present there are 126 or so illegible .So do they discuss all 126 or just pull a bunch out of a hat ? this year I think decided on 1980s -90s 1960s , 1950s and 1920s -30s .Next I wonder if we will see a player from the start of the golden era ?

No reason why not, and I understand why they particularly want to include some more recent players - because they are still alive for one thing, but also because for younger fans its names they know. I suspect if you said the 4 were Eric Harris, Dinny Campbell, Frank O'Rourke and Jim Brough (or similar) for a few years a lot of people would lose interest.

OTOH just 4 a year means it will take a very long time to get close to clearing the backlog of players amongst the 130 or so, and even when you do hopefully in the meantime a whole bunch more players qualify for consideration. Maybe they should just bite the bullet and name a bunch of the older players in one hit so they can focus on more recent players.

I know here in the NRL that choices for the Hall of Fame get a lot of publicity because they announce a shortlist of players, all of whom are recent enough for fans to have their say.

I think they have hinted that they may do what you said and name more than just four once the development is officially opened

Without a doubt the likes of John Atkinson Alan Smith Les Dyl and various others will be added in time.
I think people sometimes get hung up on who players when and how many medals they won. Dave heron was on of the best footballers i ever saw, and if he had played for a more successful club would have had a sack full of medals and plaudits and probably a dozen or more GB caps rather than just 2, he carried the side until Schofield arrived.
Powell and Gibson were both regular GB players Powell has 19 caps and played in Gb sides that came within a whisker of winning the ashes. Gibbo one of the few players who could keep Mal Meninga in check despite the size difference. these players won naff all but achieved so much playing in what was a mid table at best side. and with the exception of RL hall of fame-er Schofield
where 3 of the only truly international class players we had from about 1984 until 92 ish. they were shining lights in an awful era for the club when we had the likes of the Rayne twins, andy Mason, Mark Conway, Colin Maskill, and quite a few crap aussie imports (a few good ones from time to time) and if we have had 4-5 other players of a higher standard pretty sure we would have had some success, but we did not, but lack of medals does not rule them out off being greats. The likes of Lee Smith and Ryan bailey all qualify for our hall of fame and have sacks full of medals. but i would not put either of these ahead of Carl Gibson and Roy Powell. and heron a gifted footballer just in the wrong team wrong era at the wrong time.

there are obvious show ins from the golden era,Sinfield, peacock mcguire, burrow, JJb, Hall possibly Ablett. The rest are good players in a great team were the sum of the parts where greater than the individual parts, but some parts where more integral than others. players like matt Diskin, francis cummings, lee smith Bailey all eligible but would not make it in for me.

That in the main is true, although i can't get the image of poor Gibbo getting steam rolled like a helpless child in the last seconds of the OT test by big Mal out of my mind whilst reading that.

The infamous grid iron block. Would be disallowed now. The image of Ricky stuart breaking through Lee Jacksons touch rugby attempted tackle that led to that try haunts me more.

Lee Smith who won MoM as a last minute full back in a GF, and played a major role in both other GFs he played in (in different positions) would be behind Carl Gibson or Dave Heron? Heron maybe, but not Gibson for me. As someone who started watching in 1981 I'm well aware of how good and how ordinary both Heron and Gibbo could be.

I hear what you're saying about not ignoring players from unsuccessful eras - Bert Cook, Arthur Clues and Drew Turnbull won sweet FA but all should be in the HoF eventually. But you also can't and shouldn't ignore success, because in the end that's why the club exists. There are players who are unlikely to be considered from the Golden Era - Bailey, Kirke etc, who played in a few GFs but were bit part players, plus a whole host who played in one or two GFs. But as a whole for me the Golden era should be overepresented numerically in a Hall of Fame - just as the previous 60s/70s era should be as well.

For me from the Golden era I'd say eventual 'must haves' for the HoF are Sinfield, McGuire, Burrow, Peacock, JJB, Ablett, Leuluai, Lauti'iti, Hall, Senior, Diskin. On top of them you could make strong cases for Webb, Lee Smith and Hardaker.

there are now former players from the golden era who have been retired 5 years ,but I think they will wait till 2020 for Sinfield and Peacock to be the first of that era to be inducted . When I mentioned former players I would include Barrie McDermott too because one of the criteria is ' must have made a contribution to rugby in Leeds' whatever that means ? Barrie was youth development officer coach and he had the job of helping players adjust to life when their playing career finished

Barrie should be in no doubt. Adrien Morley no doubt.

One thing is for sure Ferres wont be in it.

This is taken from the front page of SouthstanderAfter running this site since 1996 (in its various guises first as an independent site and then within Rivals.net before finding a permanent home on RLFANS.COM) I decided to call it a day at the end of the 2014 season. The reasons for this were my move to a new life in northern Spain and the increased pressure of other demands on my time. It was a fantastic trip and I was privileged to meet a load of great people along the way, attend some major events at the pinnacle of the sport, and experience hundreds of ups an downs associated with following Leeds Rugby and then Leeds Rhinos. My only regret was pulling the plug just one year short of the 'all conquering' treble. If anyone wants to take over the site, or contribute in a regular manner with articles and/or match reports then please get in touch with me at It is incredibly hard work running a fan site and Paul went the extra mile more than anybody else. Supporters of this site even sponsored players at one point. Hopefully a group will be up for contributing to the front page in future so the Hall of Fame can be updated!

This is taken from the front page of SouthstanderAfter running this site since 1996 (in its various guises first as an independent site and then within Rivals.net before finding a permanent home on RLFANS.COM) I decided to call it a day at the end of the 2014 season. The reasons for this were my move to a new life in northern Spain and the increased pressure of other demands on my time. It was a fantastic trip and I was privileged to meet a load of great people along the way, attend some major events at the pinnacle of the sport, and experience hundreds of ups an downs associated with following Leeds Rugby and then Leeds Rhinos. My only regret was pulling the plug just one year short of the 'all conquering' treble. If anyone wants to take over the site, or contribute in a regular manner with articles and/or match reports then please get in touch with me at It is incredibly hard work running a fan site and Paul went the extra mile more than anybody else. Supporters of this site even sponsored players at one point. Hopefully a group will be up for contributing to the front page in future so the Hall of Fame can be updated!

I don't know. Another few full length tries in his undies like after half time & he could be a shoe in.