Your comments about Whatmough, help me prove my point. You call Whatmough 'top class' yet he is relatively poor defensively. How can someone be a top class forward and not be able to tackle effectively?

Australia do not have a scrum-half at the moment who would have been a Kangaroo tourist between mid-70s and early noughties. Not a chance. I would also question whether any of the props, centres, second-rowers and hookers would either. If you think this squad stands up to squads, even from the mid-90s...


I think you are on the wrong-track, trying to convince me of how the game has changed. I am not making reference to loose-forwards and stand-offs in todays game. I would take you up on your point though. I watched a fair bit of junior RL in Australia, and you could see that the players lacked creativity with ball in hand. The players can off-load, to an excellent standard too, but there was a real lack of spark, creativity and off-the-cuff play. And these games I watched were in areas in which junior talent is very good - Sutherlandshire and south and east Sydney. However, I will say that all of them were athletes, powerful and could defend.

Why don't the ball-playing loose-fowards exist? IMO it's because they don't have any. I can think of a not so long ago retired loose-forward, who played for the Roosters, that the NRL would love to have in their touring party. He was a ball-player, he was also very mobile and athletic.

I've seen a lot of Great Loose Forwards in over fifty years of watching the game, players such as;Karalius,Raper,Price,Coote,Pearce,Reilly,Laughton,Turner,Sculthorpe,
Linder etc........ this list is endless! There is no one I would rather have a the back of my pack than Hanley!

Its funny how you Poms think your loser players are super humans.


Ask Terry Lamb how good Hanley was!

Oh yes, of course. Another case of a Pom woulda, shoulda, coulda....but he got belted early by an Aussie and never did!

Terry Lamb, produced brilliant results over an amazing career against the worlds best.

As opposed to Hanley who messed around in a pub comp in England and never managed to beat the worlds best players when he played against them.


Terry Lamb hardly played any Test football, but I bet he won more Ashes games then Hanley ever did!

Why are you attacking me, its Hanleys record against the worlds best that is pathetic!

Mr Lamb was the 'little big man,let's the opposition kind of guy'.eh?

Whereas..Mr Hanley was the 'Black Pearl who oozed class'.. correct?

What a triangle they would of been with a certain Mister 'here's my head my is coming'.. Stuart.....

Except when they won the World Club Challenge Games against Australian teams.

Nothing better than watching a dejected Darren Lockyer being comforted by Uncle Wayne in the dressing room.