Yes you are right but and I know it’s been said before but did the players years ago not work and play rugby league and more games then now so maybe it’s the speed and training that’s to blame it should be looked at to see

Exactly what the reserve teams are for. Rotation.

To be fair, I just think that the game is quicker and more physical and with the higher number of rotations/ substitutions in the game, it's just unrelenting.
Back in the day, it was a tough sport but, the gain line was 6 yards away and not 10 metres and although players can run from deep (regardless of how far the defensive line is set), there is absolutely no doubt that, generally, players are bigger, faster, stronger and the game much, much quicker - notwithstanding the wrestling and laying on that didn't exist all those years ago.

Easter fixtures have changed haven't they?

About time as well but, the point still stands, the game is so much quicker.
When I first started watching seriously in the late 80's Fev had a huge prop, Brendan Hill, who I believe was 18-19 stone.
If you compare his physique to that of Walmsley or Hill or perhaps the Burges boy's, you can see the difference in fitness instantly.

Back then,a typical centre was 12/13 stone but nowadays, they will be 14 1/2 - 15 stone.

And the rest! Absolutely filthy as well. One of the last of his kind thank god. I saw him towards the end of his career on a sloped pitch, they played him downhill but sensibly didn't bring him out for the second half.

Did Brendan Hill play for Featherstone?

I remember him at Bradford, Halifax and latterly Keighley.

No he didn't but there were plenty of fat 20 plus stone props in the 80s and 90s.

Maybe getting mixed with Jeff Grayshon?

Although Grayshon (and many other of those big blokes) had more ball playing skills than the vast majority of today's halfbacks....

Jeff Grayshon had a long career at the top as a top class muscular International forward, his son entered the game but didn't quite have the muscular physique of his dad and was more a Brendan Hill shape. Ian Van Bellen was a large barrrel of a man. His son Gary didn't quite do as well.

Somehow Number 8's were of a kind, huge but immobile. Les Tonks was another one at Fev. I never got what he brought to the team....

When Les played at Wakefield the in joke was how many shirts he would get through in the season, many a time players would end up ripping the shirt of his back due not being able get a good hold on him, what he did bring to the game is weight in the contested scrum and a virtually unstoppable lump on the attacking line, it did come at a cost as he was slow and struggled to keep up with play similar to pauli at the beginning of last season who came back from the break in worst condition for a professional modern rugby player

Quite right, my mistake
He was akin to the bad guy in wrestling, like Giant Haystacks, the pantomime villian.

And so it comes to pass. The inability of Radford to halt a turn around poor performances costs him a job. It all started so well in round one, but he simply doesn’t know what to do when his team loses a game.

Dave chisnall was another , sidestep like brett kenny, throw a dummy like thurston and a belly like jocky wilson but a great player

Very light on his feet was Dave.