Quote: Erik the not red "
Lots of choice here which means that we should really be considering those who put in a decent amount of time with the team so though I liked Rose, Muggleton, Cleal, Kearney and Fitzgibbon they miss out for that reason with me. Same applies to Ellis who is brilliant when fit but sadly that has rarely happened so far.
There were some fine servants who weren't quite international class but none the less good players like Tickle and Jon Sharp.
Taylor and Bill Drake were before my time but are obvious contenders and I'm sure there are some other worthy old timers I have neglected.
Of those I've seen it would be the young Lee Crooks in his 2nd row days and Manu.
However I have a soft spot for Keith Boxall who was Hull's main (only?) attacking threat in the mid 70's and scorer of some quite spectacular tries. I always think he suffered somewhat when representative selection came around because first he was playing for a not very good team and second his body shape was the opposite of the tall, rangy second rowers selectors liked. Still nearly 100 tries for Hull and around long enough to be part of the first climb out of the 2nd division - it was also his misfortune that as his career wound down the glory years were starting up.'"
Agree with that completely, rhino was a class act, his go forward was fantastic and no mean tackler, that he could kick goals too was a bonus. 98 tries in just over 300 appearances even taking into account a lot of Div 2 games is no mean feat by any standard.
For me there are four automatic choices in the 13, Tommy Harris, Jack Harrison, Billy Batten and... Bob Taylor.
Outlandish freak of a man, he was a Greg Inglis, Wayne Pearce and Gordon Tallis rolled into one, aside from kicking the guy had it all. Scored 12 tries in 13 rep matches as well as his well known 164 tries in 307 appearances at club level.
As for the other second row, it's tough, very tough. But on balance I'd have to go with Lee Crooks, his craft, passing, indeed his pace, goal kicking and tenacious attitude was a stand out, his unflinching sublime offload in the GB v Australia match in '86(?) where he gets absolutely crunched whence feeding his winger (whom then passes inside to schoey to score) typified his abilities.
It's very close between Drake, Manu, Kearney and Rhino, on reliability and 100% every game, Boxall takes third spot for me, Manu/Drake next then Kearney.
No room for Lloyd, kicker extraordinaire but lacking in other areas, Rose was another crunching tackler that was one of those hard men from the 70s/80s but just doesn't do enough for me as much as I loved his out wide runs and big hits.