Quote: Bulliac "Ellery was simply unbelievable as a player. He could do things no one else ever could. Skills wise and in doing those 'impossible' plays the nearest modern equivalent was probably Rangi Chase, though he was never quite the complete player that Ellery was. That said, it was a different game in played in different times. Ellery truly was 'worth the admission money on his own'.'"
I agree. I still try to coach some of the things that Hanley did. Although of course some of it was simple physical ability learned over thousands of hours of practice.
My favourite and it's so simple; not many refs were bright enough to pick up on it. Hanley would watch the ball go say from the centre of the park out to the right say from the half way, he would track ahead, walk/jog quietly 15/20meters ahead of the ball, way offside, as the ref looks to his left and at the defence, not seeing Hanley ahead of the ball, He worked out that the breaking centre/2nd row would, on the 4th tackle on the 25ish and need an inside ball. Hanley would already be way ahead of his other players, and be there before anyone else. The Refs hardly ever picked up on it.
Brilliant, but simple. He was not just an amazing physical player, he was a brilliant, patient, thinker and tactician, like Edwards. (another we missed off the list!)