Quote: the artist "of course it's a question that cannot be answered really as all of us never saw the great players of the latter half of the C19 and first half of last century, the evidence is all annecdotal, and records patchy in some cases. also you get the arguments over which position a player played, so maybe you are better off coming up with the greatest fullback, winger, scrum half etc. etc.
one question you could ask therefore is which position do you think the greatest player of all time would/should occupy?'"
The past is another country, they do things differently there. Early rugby league was so unlike today's game as to be unrecognisable. Have a look on the BFI website for early filmed games. To answer this question we really need to compare things that are reasonably similar. That might allow us to think about Puig Aubert versus Tuigamala(?) in the same frame.
I must admit that the first time I saw Inga the Winger in full flight the shock and awe was visceral. Technically not so much.