i have stolen this from a few of the other clubs fans forums, but who would be your cougars hard men over the last 10-15 maybe even 20 years?

I can only comment from the early 90's onward, but I suppose the obvious choice would be Joe Grima. I think Powell and Fleary were pretty handy as was Stevie Hall but more in the "if you hit me you will get it back twice as hard" mould, rather than as instigator.

Joe Grima was probably the hardest man I've ever seen in a Keighley shirt.

Brendan Hill never shirked the biff either. Batley vs Keighley 1994 on a certain video site shows him getting the better of both Batley props in the middle of a 26 man brawl.

I once saw Darren Fleary give Kelvin Skerritt a good hiding at Fax. I think it was after Keith Dixon in his infinite wisdom decided to pick a fight with Skerritt and it lasted one punch.

Ian Gately would take high shot after high shot and just keep coming back for more.

I miss the good old days

which site shows brenden fighting

I think Ian Gately was the hardest in the sense that he just got on with it no matter what the opposition did as they say the quiet ones are the ones to watch out for. I saw lose his temper once against Dewsbury canot remember the player involved but something happened while Gately was tackled on the floor, he got up in the players face just smiled and said come on then or words to that effect, the look was enough to make the player back off.

Grima was good but was liability as he usually got sent off saying that he was key to firing up the team when he came on albeit briefly

I'm sure that a lot of the older end who come on this board can fail to forget John Burke.
He was a marked man before he came on the pitch.
He was in the same mould as Joe Grima.
Wonder what John is doing now.

YouTube.

Unfortunately I have heard John Burke has got Alzeimers maybe all the stick he took did not help

I suppose we forget that that's how rugby was. If you didn't have an enforcer you would literally be trampled over. Brendan certainly got a few good ones in there but what about our No 5 (Johnny Walker??). I also noticed that Gately and Hall were at second row! What a monster pack we had!



That was a great match for the Cougars. Two bobs went nose to nose with Karl Harrison and surprisingly it was Rhino that backed down.



A true gentle giant. But if they hit him he just got them back by fair means - usually a shoulder in the ribs. I was at Batley once when a Batley fan complained about him being "too rough"

The pack back then was frightening, the likes of Dave Larder and Phil Stevenson struggled to make the bench which says it all really.

You're right about the enforcers, there were plenty about then. We had Grima and Big Brendon. Then there we're the likes of Rhino, Skerritt, Barrie Mac, Kurt Sorenson and Tim Street.

It was good entertainment, there's nothing better than a mass brawl to get the crowd going. At school on the Monday. We'd talk more about the biff or why Joe Grima almost decapitating the opposition half back, usually Glen Tomlinson, wasn't a red card over the 90 yarders from Nick Pinkney or Jason Critchley.

Larder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hard???????????????????????

He's always been 'lightweight' and followed his dad!

I once saw John Burke sent off when he was nowhere near the offence! He was 'hard', but a 'gentle GIANT' also!

His reputation went before him and did him a great injustice.

Then there was Colin Evans - as hard a scrum-half (but never dirty) as you would ever see. One of Keighley's BEST!

Not many of today's players could even dare to stand in their boots or next to the Keighley players of the past.