Ernest Hanleyway...

And his great work, [iFor Whom the Bell Tolls[/i, with a special introduction by Terry Lamb.

1. Keith Mumby - best defensive player ever, quality goalkicker and excellent in attack
2. Ellery Hanley
3. Gary Schofield
4. Martin Offiah
5. Paul Sculthorpe

Cunningham possibly should be in there ahead of Sculthorpe due to longevity. Howevr, I felt that in their prime Sculthorpe was the better player.

Mentions should also go to Kevin Ward, Andy Platt and Adrian Morley but like most people I've gone for the flair players rather than the workhourses

Suprised Henderson Gill has been overlooked and Paul Harkin the only player I ever saw who never made or took a tackle in his entire career

So... to extend the question - how many of your top 5 Brit players would get into your all time top 5?

My 5 Brits were

1. Ellery Hanley
2. Keiron Cunningham
3. Martin Offiah
4. Kevin Ward
5. Paul Newlove

The top 5 players I have seen play (in no order)

Ellery Hanley
Wally Lewis
Brett Kenny
Mark Graham
Andrew Johns

Why don't you people ask some easy questions...

My top 5 Brits were

Keiron Cunningham
Ellery Hanley
Martin Offiah
Jonathan Davies
Jason Robinson

My top 5 i've seen are

Ellery Hanley
Martin Offiah
Mal Meninga
Greg Inglis
Gordon Tallis

None.......

Top 5 All Time

Andrew Johns
Wally Lewis
Darren Lockyer
Mal Meninga
Brett Kenny

Rubbish,the Black Pearl is better than any of them.IMO just shading Brett Kenny.

In no particular order.
Ellery Hanley
Roger Milward
Alex Murphy
Billy Boston
Malcolm Reily
Martin Offiah
& probably about five others would be up with them.

It's difficult to pick a top 5, but i would say Jason Robinson has to be one of the top GB backs of all time?

I think that's a good side but the numbers 6 and 13 are nowhere near the best, even in their own eras.

Ellery Hanley (by a country mile)
Jonathon Davies
John Holmes
Johnny Wolford
Garry Schofield

Might change my mind tomorrow

Yeah I am convinced.

Millward was a rare genius.

As was, Reilly.

Go ahead and argue your case, boy.

I'll be waiting to rip it to shreds if you have the cojones.

The views of trolls don't count...

Ditto.

Fine player that Keith Mumby was he was not as good in any of those respects as Mick Burke and their careers overlapped.

David Bolton (from earlier days) and Alan Hardisty were better than Roger the Dodger. Dennis O'Neill left him standing (although only had a couple a years at the top before injury ruined his career). The statistical record demonstrates Hardisty was a better standoff if you don't go for subjectivity.

As to Reilly, whilst not all from the same era I think most people would consider Johnny Whitelely, Rocky Turner and Vince Karalius (who I think you had) as a cut above. Personally, I think there are cases for others eg Doug Laughton, Mick Adams, Andy Farrell and Paul Sculthorpe among others to be considered as much better all round players than Reilly. Apart from one or two hard man moments and the shrugging off of a Salford player at Wembley I never recall Reilly being a threat.

Bobby Fulton could play too and he was BRITISH!

Who played 35 times for Australia...

With the rich history of British Rugby League, it is hard enough picking the top 5 without introducing Australian representatives into the mix (this isn't tennis where we have to borrow other nationalities!)

Well... he's certainly not in my all time top 5 British players

We'll have to agree to disagree here cj........I'd have Hanley as my top Brit of all time, but just outside my top 5 World all time.

1) Billy Boston
2) Alex Murphy
3) Brian McTigue
4) Shaun Edwards
5) Ellery Hanley

only being watch rugby since 2000
1. Andrew Farrell
2. Barrie McDermott
3. Kris Radlinski
4. Paul Sculthorpe
5. Keith Senior

Not a bad try, I'll give you that.

Points for the cojones.

Bolton is not in the English Hall of Fame. Millward is.

I still have Millward in front of the other two mentioned - as do most experts.

Millward destroyed Australia in the 1970 series. Nearly single handedly in game 2.

The brilliance of Hardisty - another favourite I will admit - didn't get GB over the line in 1966. Mainly because of the absence of Murphy I would venture.

Reilly made his name in Australia as well - which was the hardest competition in the world at the time (at least partly because of the drain of high quality forwards from the UK to OZ). Manly never looked like winning a premiership until he came along; then they won plenty.

Reilly was almost unstoppable circa 1969 for Castleford and it is this play you were deprived of in the 1970s (including at rep level).

To give you your due, Whiteley and Turner - both of whom I considered in the 30 secs it took me to devise my team

- were outstanding players.

Rocky would go closest to pushing Reilly and you may nearly have convinced me there....

But....NAH.

I will stick with my side. Thanks for the comments though.