All the players you mentioned would be top stars if they played today I am sure and SL would be the richer for it.

I reckon the majority of great RL players would make it in any era. What I do think would change is the position some of them played.
I reckon Holmes, for example would have been a scrum half these days, and Atkinson may have been moved to FB, although I think of all the great players in that back line he'd have struggled the most because he wasn't the best defender or fielder of kicks... He was no Kieran Dixon, though

To be fair to Atky, by the time the last tackle "bomb" became prevalent (off the back of the 1978 Australian tour IIRC) he was coming towards the end of his career. Think he only played another couple of seasons at Leeds after that before heading off to Carlisle?

I'd imagine whether past players could've been successful in this era wouldn't so much be down to skill/ability.....but how well they'd do in terms of today's fitness/training and taking it seriously and going it right.

We still see players nowadays who don't let the fact they're full time professional RL players get in the way of a good drink. On the other side of the coin they could be guys who have disappointed in this era who would've been good in previous decades with the 'different' training/fitness regimes.

I personally cannot see us doing the treble. Especially with the super 8 format making it harder than ever to win. With the challenge cup so late in the season also makes it very difficult to peak so close together

Agree with this entirely... Risman, Smith, Hynes, Watson, Atkinson, Shoebottom, Seaborne, Clarke, Crosby, Ken Eyre, Albert Eyre, Ramsey and Batten. Redefined the sport and at times were simply jaw droppingly brilliant (CC Semi Final vs Wigan at Swinton Atkinson turning the great Billy Boston inside out comes to mind!

Current Leeds side certainly over the last 12 or so seasons the most successful we've ever had but that's not quite the same thing as being the greatest side we've ever had

I was there that afternoon in 1968 and that Leeds team broke my heart. They played a different type of rugby that was from another planet and far superior to an ageing Wigan team.
They were far and away the best team Leeds team I have ever seen and very few of the present team would have made their way into that team. Having said that Cuthbertson would fit perfectly into that style of play

Lets put even that in perspective though. That Leeds team won the CC in 68 which they could easily have lost but for Don Fox slipping. They didn't win the Championship until the following year, when they got knocked out in the CC.

I'm not trying to denigrate them, but there does tend to be a bit of rose tintedness with looking at the past.

Saying none of the current Leeds team would get into the 68 team is nonsense. If they were transported back in time today, none of the 68 team would be in, as physically current players are light years ahead. Bring the 68 team forward and you'd have the same result. Like I said, its simply not the same sport. Probably the closest you could come to that sort of comparison is the 82 Kangaroos, the first team of which genuinely were playing a different game to RL in England. They lost the scrums but smashed every team they played. The 82 Kangaroos would similarly be smashed if they played today.

I think you are missing the point.

I do not think there is a suggestion of time warping the 1968 team into 2015 complete with baggy shorts and heavy leather ball and full time job down the pit. For a start their aren't any pits now! Rather it was a comparison of skill and playing style which was streets ahead of anything in it's day.

It is impossible to compare different eras fairly for obvious reasons.

However IMO if the 1968 team were playing in SL now they would also benefit from the modern training and would be full timers. So you would have the 68's skill set and playing style v the current skill set and style with both teams having a more equal fitness if not size. Then I am sure you would see that skill and ability would trump size and power. Not that our current team lacks skill and ability it is just that the way the 68 team made the ball work with brilliant lines of running and with great pace.

The 68 CC final was the water splash final which I attended. Wakefield scored a try because the ball stopped and skidded in a huge pool of water and would otherwise have been fielded by Atkinson. So the conditions ruined the game if not the excitement so for either side to win was a lottery. On a dry ground Leeds should have won in style. But the comment was not about trophies but best side more to do with playing style and skills.

I guess had you witnessed this side play you might also have rose tinted memories as they were so good. The discussion was about skill and playing style. Had the 68 side been playing now they would have benefited from current fitness training and had you transported the current side back to 68 so they too would have been full time workers and 2 nights a week trainers. So are left with skills and physiques to compare. I prefer to say both sides are up there with the very best.

By the way if you saw the 82 Kangaroos you will have got a glimpse of how Leeds played under Francis but we had the advantage of having a good pack too! So it is not true to say these Kangaroos were the first team to play a different game to RL in England.

The 82 Kangeroos would wipe the floor with any team today.
Compare 1 to 13 with the current Aussie team and it's a no contest.
They probably can't wrestle as well as today's players but in terms of skill it is a no brainer.

It is of course impossible to compare era's.

For example would someone like schoey have knuckled down as a full time pro or would, regardless of talent he have been limited to lesser teams.

Also I think people underestimate how much the advances in fitness of conditioning of modern players. For example Inglis would literally be head and shoulders over any back from the 80s (even "big" mal) whilst also probably being quicker than most.

It's also not just GI. The likes of Watkins and Hall are also bigger than "big mal" yet in the 80s he stood out like some kind of monster.

That's the point I was making Omar. Its too easy to say a star of any era could make it in any other. Some from previous eras would simply not hack it because even with training etc they wouldn't be physically up to it. Suggesting some 13 stone forward from another era would be just as good today with an extra stone or so of muscle is plain silly. If you go back further there were 7 stone halfbacks around. Rob Burrow weighs 11 stone and is tiny.

Itchy - I disagree about skills. The 82 Roos were light years ahead of us at that time, but if you watch games from that era they were facing far weaker defences. Lewis was the only player with a long spin pass back then - now every halfback going can do it. I keep forgetting who makes this point around here, but the general skill level now is far higher than in 82 in terms of basic passing, and the defences are immeasurably better. I'd argue a fair few Roos of today would be in the 82 side - Slater, Inglis, Cam Smith and Thurston (yes I'd say he's better than Sterlo) for a start. Even from Leeds Hardaker and Watkins would be in as well, and probably both Briscoe and Hall.

Not one forward?
We will have to disagree.
A couple of points though - how would today's forwards cope with 8o minutes? I would take Maninga sterling Kenny Lewis Rogers Grothe Miles over any player in the modern era.
Just an opinion but obviously have great respect for Inglis Slater et al.
As an aside I thought Krillich (sp?) was superb and a fantastic captain and would always be in my all time 13.

As good as Krilich was as a leader, there were arguments in Australia at the time over whether he was their best hooker. Not the most mobile or the most skillful you'll ever see at the position by a distance, but the way the game was played at that time didn't demand him to be.

The likes of Wayne Pearce looked impressive because in terms of conditioning and athletic ability they were changing the template for what rugby league players looked like. Now back-rowers are expected to be like that. Similarly with Meninga and Miles redefining the physical template for centres, Grothe for wingers etc.