In the dinner i went to with him he kept on saying that his philosophy was 'dont worry about them let them worry about you'! It was something his dad told him when he was 8.

Thats how you could sum the two of them up, Oppositions would be worried about facing Schoey and try and devise plans to stop him. Edwards not so much.

Dont get me wrong I am not saying Edwards was a bad player far from it, if he was Wigan would have replaced just because they could back then.

Had Edwards spent 10 years at Leeds and Schoey 10years at Wigan, Schoey would be probably be known as the greatest player ever. Thats how much winning stuff inflates your ability in the eyes of others. Edwards would be another RL player capped by his country.

Its certainly worthy of another thread as to why Farrell and Edwards are treated with kid gloves despite throwing in their lot with RU. I personally found the whole Tomkins to Saracens thing even more distasteful given who their coach is.

I suspect even Shaun Edwards would be embarrassed by claims he was as good as Schofield (who let us not forget was at international level easily the best British centre of the last 30 years before moving to stand off, and playing for Hull most of that time).

So would anyone like to argue as to why Edwards was a better player than Schofield? Can't see too many people actually putting an argument forward.

The only argument I've seen so far is that he was a better 'team player' than Schofield.
By which reckoning I reckon Ian Kirke must be a much better player than Schofield ever was.

A bit harsh that. Sinfield and Edwards may not have (had) amazing individual flair but to say either of them lack(ed) natural ability is IMO a bit of an overstatement.

I'm with Keith on this one, Sinfield does posses any real speed, strength or power that is to a standard greater than his counterparts. However he does have one of the best kicking games in the world, aswell as an ability to organise his team which is something you can't really be taught. Sinfield has a different skill set in the sense of an outstanding ball carrier or defender, which he is neither. Leeds would be nothing without him as everything goes through him, however as at international level he is never given the same responsibility his main skill sets are not utilized, meaning most of the time he looks average as he is not played to his strengths.

Why would that be the case in the 2008 World Cup when he was surrounded by team mates and his old Club Coach was the England Coach?

Surely Tony Smith would know and respect his game and play him to his strengths?
England has not had many decent tactical kickers in many years, if Kevin is one of the best in the World why has that never been showcased at Test Level.

I agree with most of this(apart from the 'does' that should have read 'doesn't). For me Sinfield doesn't excel at most aspects of the game but is very good at virtually all of them. This IMO makes him( if not a brilliant player) at least one of the most complete players.

Surely though, that which 'can't be taught' has to be pretty akin to 'natural ability'

Yeah just a typo. And I agree, I wasn't really trying to argue whether Sinfield had natural ability or not, it was more a go at his playing level. At club level a Sinfield type player is far more valuable than at international level, as most of his teammates internationally are established, whereas at club level there is usually a few rookies and less established players who need the guidance. As I say it depends on what aspects you look at to define who is the better rugby player. Sinfield's skill set in some areas dwarfs many others in aspects that are not easy to judge against others. The most notable aspects of the game such as taking the ball in and tackling he is not up there with the best, however that does not mean he is not a good rugby player.

You're only partly agreeing with me on this.

Sinfield does not possess one of the best kicking games in the world - not in open play anyway. He's got a kicking game which is more than adequate at Super League level given the extra time and space in which to operate but which translates into being ordinary at international level against the best in world. He's an excellent and methodical goalkicker but that's not the same as possessing an excellent kicking game.

The ability to organise a team is something that can be learnt via an ethic of hard work, attention to detail and a professional attitude and that's what Sinfield excels at. That's also what Edwards excelled at. Sinfield has worked extremely hard at his game (just like Edwards did) and become proficient at most things without being particularly brilliant an any. What cannot be taught or learnt is natural ability - skill, pace, speed off the mark, speed of thought, an acute eye for an opening, an x-factor, etc.

Sinfield's organisational game of taking full responsibility for making the team tick will never work or excel at international level because his core skills aren't good enough. His game resides at the top end of Super League class but that doesn't, and will not come close to pulling up any trees against world class opposition. Sinfield looks average at international level because that's exactly what he is at that level, just like Shaun Edwards was.

Schofield OTOH was international class and possessed the natural ability and core skills to stand out as a world class player at that level.

Regarding Schoey v Edwards

No contest IMO and Schoey wins it by a country mile

The best two British players i have seen in my lifetime are
1st Ellery Hanley
2nd Garry Schofield

Both of these two players could have got into any club or international side and in almost any era, sadly Edwards wasn't even a close second to Schoey i'm afraid

Schoey is a bit of a Kn0b in his media articles but i believe that if he had played in that flat track bully Wigan side that he would have been deemed possibly our finest ever player

You only have to look how good Edwards was whilst he was at Bradford, London and Balmain

yet edwards is still winning in the pole which suggests more people think edwards was the better player. your not telling me there is more wigan fans on this website than all the other teams fans from this website?