White men can't jump....

Unless you're Ryan Hall or Pat Richards

I'd have thought, to take advantage of his kick return skills and ball playing, he'd be a fullback.

Fax had two fast wingers in the nineties - John Bentley and Mark Preston. Speedster Preston would have struggled in modern day - not bulky enough and that's a shame because he was breathtaking to watch.

I'm sure your right, just meant that it wouldn't be out of the question using him as a hooker. He'd be pretty devastating around the ruck too I'd imagine.

I seem to remember Jason Robinson being a half back when he first went to Wigan. Similarly Frano Botica was a union stand off and I'm pretty sure David Myers wasn't a specialist winger either. There seemed to be a pattern of using people out of position if they were good enough for the team but not able to shift the incumbent in their own position.

Your bringing back memories there Rich, Preston was very quick and knwew his way to the line !

It would be interesting if Offiah jumped in the time machine, just to see if he would be as prolific in the modern game.

Im not sure you can really just say that it is the wingers that have become more bulky, centres are indistinguishable from second rowers and in turn second rowers have added a few pounds and moved to prop.

The small, nippy players have moved to halfback or fullback, a player like Hardaker who is taller but lacks a bit of bulk would go to fullback or stand-off whereas previously they would likely be centres or wingers but now would be a little bit out-sized by bigger players.

From looking at the other side, players like Roby. Luke and Burrow and even Smith are a lot less bulky compared to the likes of Cunningham, Buderus and Newton.

When MO first started he looked like a gazelle on the pitch. When he toured in 1988 the Aussie commentators kept urging him to "go forward, go forward", as did Kevin Ward at one point. BUT, what he lacked in power he made up for in sheer speed. That speed made everyone nervous. Projecting forwards to today, i still think he'd be a try scoring machine.

On the other hand how many Ryan Halls, Manu Vatuvia's did he face? How much of the extra work that Wingers do would Offiah be able to cope with? I can imagine him getting run ragged by a player like Uate.

Offiah had clear and obvious natural talent but how much of the grunt work on the field, and how much of the extra stuff off the field which are demanded of wingers now would he be willing to do.

You can’t argue with his natural talent, but im not sure how well he would adjust to what is expected now.

I remember him doing fairly well, running from acting half, at Wembley, against Leeds, winning the game.


Come to think of it....Robinson and the first GF, again from acting half

Not all wingers seem to do the hard stuff, giving the forwards a rest and in Offiah's case, surely less would be asked of him, so that he could convert any running opportunities that came his way.

I don’t know, wingers in general seem to do more grunt work than they did previously.

Im not trying to play down Offiah’s quality, but he played in the game played back then, not the one played now. I think he would have some alterations to make to his game to be a success now. I don’t know if he was the type of player who would do so.