Too much is being made of this "world class" tag. Personally and with all due respect I couldn't give a damn whether Wigan fans think he is or not. He is the best prop in the comp by a distance and his metres made stats are insane. I do think he has weaknesses in his game particularly his footwork in defence and he is still untidy with his ptb, maybe that's due to his size.

SOL was an incredible player, unfortunately at the end of his career his injuries really hampered him in terms of games played. Funnily enough he always seemed to be fit for the Saints games.

I watched Warrington vs Wigan from 2010 the other day.

Warringtons pack was Morley, Monaghan, Carvell, L. Anderson, Westwood, Harrison. They had Solomona and Wood on the bench. I thought they looked like monsters compared to the current Super League standard.

Wigan had Fielden, Leuluai, Coley, Hansen, Joel, Lockers, young Faz and McIlorum.

Leeds at the time had Peacock, Buderus, Leuluai, Eastwood, Ablett, JJB.

I think Walmsley is world class but I did wonder how he would get on against more opposition like that.

What happened in 2015? I've heard people mention something before

Fielden was great in 2010. He didn't have the meters stats some of these guys have but he always seemed to take on the oppositions best prop and win, probably with the exception of Warrington and Morley.

I'd be surprised if many people think Walmsley has overtaken Morley. Fielden I can see because of the Noble years at Wigan but I don't think he's particularly close to Peacock and Morley. It will be tough for him without going to the NRL and dominating, there's no one to measure him against here.

Absolutely mate, no reason for Saints fans to really care. He is comfortably the best prop in the league, in fact I’m not sure I can remember a time when a player in one position was so far clear of his peers.

It’s an interesting debate though to just look at where that leaves the game over here at the moment. Why is he so far clear? It’s not a good thing for the league as a whole that it’s the case. I suppose a lot of it comes down to the fact that his nearest challengers as the best prop in Superleague have been picked off by Australian clubs, such as Tom Burgess, Luke Thompson and to a lesser degree Ryan Sutton (the modern day Sutton is a far better player than the one who left us).

There are some decent props still though, its not all poor quality. Just off the top of my head I can think of Satae at Hull, Watts (not so much now but certainly over the last 2 years), Oledzki- young and raw but has a great engine. Cooper at Warrington is a good prop too.

I have to agree with Peacock and Morley though, even as a Saints fan Walmsley is not at their level. Peacock could play 80 mins and his all round leadership skills makes him a standout and obviously Morley ripped it up at NRL and International level.

Yeah there are a few (not Watts though, his last good season was in 2019) good ones but a there is a real lack of quality and depth in comparison to that era of Fielden, Peacock, Morley, Graham etc.

I’ve just randomly googled the 2005 Grand Final and Bradfords 4 props that day were Jamie Peacock, Stuart Fielden, Adrian Morley and Joe Vagana

Saints 2006 GF props-Paul Anderson, Jason Cayless, James Graham and Maurie Fa’asavalu.

That was the sort of quality the top teams were throwing at each other back then and then when you compare it to the second best group of front rowers in superleague now and you get Dudson, Napa, Bousquet and Kasiano thrown at you, it doesn’t half highlight where we’re at currently.

It doesn’t mean Walmsley isn’t world class by any means but it makes it difficult to really evidence it.

That Bradford 4 is frightening by today's standards. Walmsley possibly gets into that starting 4 but who else in Superleague currently?

I hate sensible discussions.

btw I see Angry Dave has resurfaced/re-morphed on Red Vee

Absolute madness isn’t it?! The unbelievable thing about that is Morley was on loan from the Roosters IIRC (or a short term deal until he went to Wire maybe). Imagine being in a position of having Fielden, Peacock and Vagana in your side and going ‘I think we need more, let’s get Adrian Morley’

Walmsley gets in for Vagana at that stage I reckon but I’m struggling to think of anybody else. Maybe Oledzki at his very best for Vagana. The only other I can think of being close is Chris Satae but Vagana was some player (he wasn’t at his absolute peak at that point though iirc).

He’s already had a great WCC performance in a weakened saints team against the roosters (honestly - I think you should go back and watch his spells in that game). The other two since have been cancelled.

His problem for the WC is that he won’t be in a pack alongside fearsome players like the pack you are mentioning who all played together. He’ll be the only one with any intimidation factor/impact bar maybe tom burgess.

If he’s fit he will be heavily targeted (as he is every week) but will still end up being England’s best prop by a distance I’m sure.

I'm also not sure I ever saw Fielden/Peacock/Morley dominate an Aussie pack. They certainly held their own at times but having followed England/GB both here and down under when those guys were playing, I don't really recall any dominance up front (we certainly talked about it a lot leading into series but unfortunately it never quite happened!!). Maybe the 2004 Tri-Nations - excluding the final of course (which is still probably the most gutting result in my lifetime).

I think all three had huge games against the Aussies and not just one game either but unfortunately we’ve been too far behind them in the backs and pivot positions to take advantage of that. Fielden certainly terrorised them in the WCC games (producing probably the best performance I’ve ever seen from a prop against Wests) and Morley was unbelievable in the NRL.

I’m not knocking Walmsley and you rightfully point out he’s been robbed of a couple of opportunities to show what he’s made of against what would’ve been Penrith and Melbourne these past two years. I can’t buy that he’ll be lacking in support in the World Cup though tbh and that’ll be no excuse not to show exactly how good he is. You speak as though the Aussies (or whoever) will think ‘Stop Walmsley, stop England’ but I doubt they hold him in that esteem tbh. There certainly won’t be any of them feeling intimidated because they face that class/size most weeks. He’ll have Luke Thompson (who has been excellent for England to date), Tom Burgess, Oledzki, Sutton etc alongside him and they’re all high class. He’ll also have Morgan Knowles in the middle and I sense he’ll really make his name outside of superleague in that World Cup. He’ll also have a backline with some big bodies/big metre makers in it via the likes of Farnworth, Makinson, Davies, Young etc, so he certainly doesn’t have the excuse that he’ll have been marked out the game because of a lack of metre makers/threat elsewhere.

I hope they do focus on him that heavily mind. There will be plenty of room for other players then.

your right, he will have him and one of the Burgess's thats it really

A brilliant player aye. I always remember Keith Senior picking a fight with him at the Reebok during a heavy defeat in the 2000 World Cup and Vagana pasted him. He came to Superleague after that and was superb.

It highlights the difference to today’s superleague. Guys like Vagana, Craig Smith, Cayless etc could’ve easily continued to get a place in top NRL teams. The lads that come here now are guys like Satae, Ellis, Mago, Prior Paasi etc who are all looking like ‘good’ players but were either fringe NRL players or forced out from clubs and were unlikely to pick up a regular start at anything other than the bottom sides.

Salary cap/exchange rate was in our favour then