Hanley was an unbelievable player though, personally I think he's comfortably in the top 5 or even top 3 players to ever play the game.

Completely get the point about most players not transitioning between eras at the same level, although they would have access to better quality training methods some would still end up down t'pub.

Hanley was a standour because of his physical ability more than his passing or kicking, and that would transfer to any era. He was simply a beast of a player, someone that would be a legend no matter when they played.

Agree fully with the 2 previous posts. Can the modern game produce another Ellery Hanley or is the wrestle and the three man tackle king?

You're saying players from the 2000's (which ended 10 years ago) were not as fit as the players today? There is no magic wand waved now to make players "fitter" than they were 10/20 years ago. The game went pretty much full pro back in the mid 90's and full pro when SL started - over 20 years ago. The game today is littered with defensive errors, so much so that attacking play consists of hitting it one up, kicking it and seeing if someone makes a mistake. Nobody offloads and skillful passing is on the wane so defending is easy. I watched the Leeds/Saints league game from '07 last night. It was played at a pace I haven't seen in a SL game for years. The key tries had to be scored by brilliant offloading, support and passing. Defence was outstanding and attack had to be better. A lot of that Leeds team were still playing 10 years later when their legs had gone and were coping perfectly well with the "pace" of the modern game.

My guess is that the training and player development focus shifted to big lumps like we have trudging around today who can do an extra couple of laps in a bleep test rather than those who have genuine pace can pass, kick or read a game.

I hate wrestling by the way.

Ellery Hanley would have gone straight to Union and earned 500 grand a year.

Without a doubt. Imagine how many tries he would have scored if he'd been wearing one of the skin tight shirts they wear today? Did nobody work out that baggy shirts were easy to grab hold of? I think Bradford were the first team to tighten things up as I remember.

The only time Ive heard anyone accusing Bradford of cutting their cloth...

Agree with that Christopher

Hed have gone to NRL for more.

He got the best of both worlds by playing in Oz during the off season and was fantastic there

Watching Leeds v Warrington in challenge Cup.
So sad to watch Burrow at his prime....
Danny Ward at prop, died anyone know why he fell out with Tony Smith? Looked a good player.

Wasn’t it some kind of drinking escapade in Perpignan before the game v London?
I’m sure it was something to do with that game.
You’re right I always rated Ward. Maybe not as an amazing world class prop but as a good solid top end of SL prop who you need as your 2nd or 3rd prop in your squad. Kind of like Ava now.

Ward was sacked just before the start of the 2006 season, wasn't he? That would mean he was kept on for quite a while after the perpignan trip.

Hmmm interesting, I wonder what went on....

got drunk at the airport by all accounts. as Barrie mac once said he liked a drink but often at the wrong time