As the best season since 1982 has now finished, is it time we made a comparison and picked the best team out of both?
Here goes:-
1982 team (won the Lancashire Cup 8-3 v.Widnes and the Championship by finishing.top after winning 24 drawing 1 and losing only 5 out of 30 matches, and 2 points ahead of Widnes):- 1. Mick Hogan, 2. Des Drummond, 3. Terry Bilsbury, 4. Steve Donlan, 5. Phil Fox, 6. John Woods, 7. Ken Green, 8. Tony Cooke, 9. Ray Tabern, 10. Alf Wilkinson, 11. Mick McTigue 12.Tommy Martyn senior, 13. Ian Potter.

2023 (won Challenge cup 17-16 v. Hull KR and finished 5th winning 16 out of 27):-
1. Gareth O’Brien, 2. Tom Briscoe, 3. Zak Hardaker, 4. Ricky Leutele, 5. Josh Charnley, 6. Ben Reynolds, 7. Lachlan Lam, 8. Tom Amone, 9.Edwin Ipape, 10. Robbie Mulhearn, 11. Kai O’Donnell, 12. Jack Hughes, 13.John Asiata

My Hybrid team would be:-
1. Mock Hogan, 2. Des Drummond, 3. Ricky Leutele, 4. Steve Donlan, 5. Josh Charnley, 6. John Woods, 7. Lachlan Lam, 8.Tom Amone, 9. Edwin Ipape, 10. Alf Wilkinson, 11. Mick Mc Tigue, 12 Tommy Martyn, 13. John Asiata.

Difficult to compare due to part time versus full time and the relative conditioning/size of the players.

My hybrid team would be.
1. Gareth O’Brien, 2. Des Drummond, 3. Zak Hardaker, 4. Ricky Leutele, 5. Josh Charnley, 6. John Woods, 7. Lachlan Lam, 8. Tom Amone, 9.Edwin Ipape, 10. Robbie Mulhearn, 11. Kai O’Donnell, 12. Tommy Martyn, 13.John Asiata: Interchange, Alf Wilkinson, Tony Cooke, Ray Tabern, Ian Potter.

I'm a tad too young to know much about the 1982 squad so I'll just be cheeky and say any hybrid side would be coached by 2023 coach of the Year Adrian Lam (over Murphy)