This is my first post so go easy.
I was watching the super league show the other day and realised although im a wire fan and i happily used to watch us get hammered on a weekly and guided round the park by the great aussi half back wilson. that i am know falling out of love with the game.
I feel there are no true half backs left in the game. When the did the ball players become replaced by runners? or is this just a result of alot of emphasis being put on tactics to slow the play the ball down meaning with defensive lines being correctly set it is much more difficult to pass through a gap.
Your thoughts please

Agree with you about the lack of quality ball players in today's game.

Luckily one the best in the business wears our number 6 jersey. So there are exceptions, although not too many in Super League I have to say.

In the NRL see the likes of Thurston, Scott Prince and Benji Marshall (who is also a magnificent ball runner).

It's the way the game has move on sadly. Kicking on the last tackle has become tedious and predictable. When a half-back trys a little chip over on the last, it's now deemed to be exciting and original, when only a few years back, it was the norm. Paul Cooke at Hull was proberley the last decent ball handling hb in superleague.

The basic point is a decent one, but the choice of forum is an odd one. We have the one 'true' halfback playing in Super League at the moment, and two lads just behind in Myler and Ratchford who have the potential to grow into classy creative halfbacks or fullbacks.

On the other hand, the team that everyone is wetting themselves about on the other thread, St Helens, have Lomax (can't pass to his right), Hohaia (God knows what he is) and their one promising stand-off sits it out in the stands.

The biggest problem is that the game in general has become obsessed with quick play the balls (the majority of time the ball is not played with the foot) and dummy half scoots. It's easy to make ground that way, so there is little need for crafty half backs and hookers.

I'd say it was more of an evolution of the half back. Focus now seems to be on the team getting the ball to the half back quickly and then them firing a pass for whichever runner he deems is making the best looking run or most likely to get the attack into the second phase.

IMO I prefer to watch halfbacks who have a great passing game, rather than ones who try the spectacular and end up coughing up possession. The game is so fast these days that territorial advantage is the biggest it's ever been.

Running fast is not the evolution of the half back. I think it goes back to junior coaches picking big/fast players over smaller/slower skilled players.

A case in point was our U20s game against Saints yesterday. AS a side Saints had a physical advantage across the board, fortunately, our skill set saw us home.

From over ten years of experience I can tell you it is due to the lack of quality associated to junior and youth coaching and the mindset of said individuals. Even when part of an aacdemy set-up the expectation seems to be that unless you are a world beater from day one you will be discarded and players drafted in from elsehwere.

Guarantee it will only get worse.

Lee Briers
Scott Dereu

Benji Marshall
Jonathan Thurston

Best two traditional half backs in both the SL and NRL.

They are there, there may not be many of them, but there are some.

Halfbacks have evolved, there are good halfbacks in many different forms. Sometimes its just nostalgia when people say they don't make halfbacks like they used to.

Andrew Johns was the best halfback of my lifetime watching RL, and he was hardly a traditional halfback. He was like a loose forward in many ways, doing a lot of tackling, dominating people in defence, when he had the ball close to the line he would hold people off and force his way over through physical strength like someone like Scully would. And of course he had the best kicking game in the world and was a great passer/distributer. But there is no way you would say Johns was a traditional halfback at all.

I was a Five-Eighth back in the day.

Job was easy; all I had to do was find the two forwards that smoked 30 woodbines a day whilst necking their Newky Brown and slip a quick pass through the gap.

Things have moved on a bit since then.

I would very much, call Johns a traditional half back. His game was about passing and kicking, not running. The fact he could tackle, and take it in as a forward, merely serves to highlight that he was a bit of a freak!

After looking through the previous posts, I find myself nodding my head over what's been said.

Either for good or bad, our game has evolved into (Rogues Gallery) re scooting runs and territory, and Sally Cinnamon (halves being a new loose forward)

The game is played at breakneck speed, now. No-one has anytime on the ball, despite 10m being between the sides at the play the ball, and only 5m, pre Super League.

I'm not an old stick-in-the-mud, but I do crave a half, that will actually keep hold of the ball, and run across the line to find his second-rower/centre with a beautifully timed pass (potentially the greatest sight known to man, apart from Susanna Reid emerging from the shower). Andy Gregory to Mark Roberts/Bobbie Goulding to Chris Joynt, anyone.
This is my one issue with Richie Myler. He's definately a very good player, BUT, at times, he's trying to get rid of the ball, quicker than a prostitute getting rid of a dose.

As good a player Sean Long was (plenty of pots to prove it), he wasn't what you'd call a traditional half-back. Yes, he created, but his game was hugely based on support play (and he was bloody good at it).

Is the half-back dead. Nah. It's merely "moved on".

Good post. Or should I say it mirrors my views.


Has Myler been 'coached out' of hanging on to the ball and making a break ? For me he looks as close to a classical halfback as we are likely to see these days. Fast off the mark, instinctive in his reactions. Dwyer by contrast looks to be the product of a v good coaching school. He is quick, elusive, changes direction quickly and dangerous near the line. But, but, I can practically hear him thinking ' I'll have a scoot now'. The old halfbacks simply 'reacted' to an opening: the defender hesitated, slipped slightly or was standing a little too far away. The halfback was immediately through the gap and looking for a support player.

Am I talking rubbish here ? Perhaps nostalgia is getting in the way of common sense.

I'm paraphrasing sally here, but I don't think I am too far off; Long before his knee problem (Costin) relied on his pace to create gap. When he returned, his pace had diminished, so he taught himself to see the gaps. Playing with Tommy Martyn in the early part of his Saints career, probably helped him in that respect.