I went to a party once in Halifax where Hobson was there, his party piece was to down a can of ale then throw himself head first down a flight of stairs. He did it two or three times that night.

Who says rugby league players aren't very bright?

Man, that has got to be one of the funniest things ever in R.l.

As for dirty players,Terry Newton for me,no contest.Any player who breaks a mates cheek bone and eye socket is an Rse in my book.
Willie Mason in Oz,another thug.

There wasn't much wrong with the Gilmour tackle, a bit lazy and Gilmour was unlucky to be hurt. It is only ever remembered because it happened in the same match as that fantastic tackle on Sean Long.

Harry Beverley

That says a lot about yourself does'nt it.

I heard this tale a while back, Fearless Frankie Foster was out shopping in Barrow a few yrs back when some lads tried to mug him ( he must be in his mid/late 60's by now ) he knocked them both out and held them until the police arrived

Terry Newton hands down.
Calmed down a bit for the last couple of years, paving the way for Ryan Bailey as the new hate figure.

I can only really comment on the SL era though.

Single worst incident I can remember was an elbow by David Bradbury of Oldham, breaking Lee Harland's jaw. As for dirty I remember Bruce McGuire having a bit of a reputation in the mid 90's.

From a Saints perspective we once had:

Arkwright, Round, Forber, Evans and Haggerty in the pack which would have made for interesting viewing. I recall Steve Peters being around slightly earlier, although Peters was just a hardman for a smaller player.

The 1980's to early 90's was a period (probably like earlier generations) laden with 'enforcers,' 'hitmen' and 'no nonsense' type players.

David Hobbs, Ron Wileman and Steve O`Neill.

The late Joe Price, who played for Warrington from the late sixties until the early seventies was an absolute animal on the pitch and made Make Nicholas look like a Saint.

Can't believe no one has mentioned Nick 'lead with the elbow' Fozzard?

Ryan Bailey
Terry Newton
Willie Mason

You just have

Shane Cooper, a sly coward.

can't believe nobody has mentioned Keith Senior (the man with the cheap shot on BJ Mather)

Shaun Edwards was a niggly bastward

Tommy Bishop, when he played for Sin Tellins.

He was alright for GB however.

My Dad says Jim Mills, some of the stories on that site aout him are hilarious though.

"Went to a dinner last month that had Andy Gregory as a guest speaker. He was asked to describe JIm Mills (who he had played with early in his career). He said that he was 'Tempermental - 50% temper, 50% mental'.

He talked about a game when he was on the bench. Mike Nicholas (spelling) hit Jim Mills with a high tackle early in the game, leaving him on the floor. The ref (Billy Thompson) called Nicholas out. As he did, Mills shouted "Leave him on Billy". Nicholas gets to the ref, who gives him a caution. He says "Am i not going off then?". The ref replied "Not yet, but very likely in the foreseeable future". He left on a stretcher soon after."

At the moment Cockayne is one of the nastiest players in the game. Not hard, not even niggly. Just a nasty person/player who wishes he wasn't as distinctly average as he is. HATE him!

Agree. But to be fair to him few players attracted as much 'attention' as he did, yet he never went awol during games.

Was he ever, I remeber him punching Karl Fairbank then standing behind Sonny Nickle when it all kicked off.
He also did ones of the worst things on the rugby field in his last game for Saints in a bad temperered clash with Halifax. Martin Ketteridge left the field with a badly broken nose and Saints substituted Cooper as he'd lost the plot.

Remember Lee Penny (Wire full-back in 90's) making some bad tackles in the early days of SL, though he may have just been a bit clumsy rather then dirty.

But an angel compared with the likes of Tim Street.