I would like to know just what has happened to the ball players of the modern game of rugby league.I go back a long way,my first match at the Boulevard was 1956 against the mighty Wigan and Billy Boston.(FC Won)
I know the game has changed a lot but basic ball handling and finding someone who knows what to do with the ball seems to have gone out the window.Where are the clever players? or am I just not seeing them cos the game has got faster.
I am just not seeing the likes of Hepworth,Hardesty,Knocker,Craney even Roger who much against the grain was to me a great player.These players to mention just a few from Yorkshire could change a game.
I think they will be called memories of a bygone sport,which has for me not changed for the better.

The era of the ball player was when the 5 yard rule was in place , the introduction of the 10m distance has placed the emphasis on power and strength.

Teams needed decent ball players to unlock the defences.

Just about every team had one and they did not need to do a lot of running about , they wouldn't be 'carried' in the modern game. Although TBF some were really good tacklers - Charlie Birdseed springs to mind for your lot.
Signed from somewhere like Rochdale for a few thousand quid at the back end of his career , could tackle , pass , scored a few tries and even knocked over a couple of goals.

I agree with most of whats been said and I liked old Charlie,but at play the ball nowadays compred with 5yard rule you still have 2 players in front and how often do you here get em on side for the rest who encroach.
As for been fitter yes I will agree but they still dont know what to do when trying to cross the line from short play the ball the old clever ball players did.

Todays game is much faster, fitter and so on, the real ballplayers have no place in todays game i am afraid as all players would be expected to have a decent bag of tricks with ball in hand where as many back then were just trundlers

Bollox, they were a product of the game at the time. Great players from any era would be great players now if they had all the advantages modern players do

The modern players should have a bag of so called tricks but you dont see many nowadays at the KC thats maybe why we are not challenging for anything.