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.

Going to see less and less as the scouts and coaches seem to look towards the physical attributes of a player before anything else.

I dont think players are less skillful these days, just that the players are fitter/more athletic and defences are better which nullifies the skills. I wasnt around to watch any of the players you mention but whenever I watch clips of them I cant help but think that against a modern day defence they wouldnt be nearly as effective. The game has changed and whether its for the better or not is open to debate.

I think that full time, professional training has equalised out the skill factor of individuals.

In those bygone years, the exceptional players were playing against what in essence were relatively (in comparision to todays players) unfit, out of shape blokes who's idea of training was a couple of hours twice a week followed by a gallon of ale and a fish supper. It was easier for the mmore nimble of players to stand out.

bit harsh think , defo more fitter now, but watched a 70s cup final last month between saints and leeds and i thought the game was pretty quick, remember in those days props played the full 80 min not 10 min spells so i think those guys had a lot of stamina, i think it was the leeds prop pickford who got the ball and was still running it in hard in the last few min, yes the game has changed some good some not so good,

in a few years time we will have hookers built like cunningham and 12 six foot, 15 stone plus players in every team.

that's rugby union.

You'll find the "modern players don't have the skill of the oldies" argument in football, cricket, most sports really.

That's what we were led to believe in 82. Norton, Crane, Woods, Nash, Dyl etc had skill levels the young Aussie no names didn't have. Unfortunately this turned out to be rubbish & we'd never encountered athletes like Pearce, Meninga, Grothe etc, the result was devastating.

Back in the day your full-back was little more than a goalkeeper, now it's a pivotal attacking position. Hookers have gone from being props to half-backs & wingers that never left the touchline now do almost as much graft as the forwards.

The game's just changed.

Hopefully the emphasis on size will stop at a junior level with the switch over to summer rugby and in turn promote skills over size.

We've coached it out of Liam Watts. Would have made a very good "modern day" loose forward as he has the size for prop and very good handling skills, but I cant see it anymore.

There will always be a place for ball players.

Just been told to Drive and Run has he

It moves in Cycles, it used to be that your 6,7,9,13 where the key ball players. But nowadays the 13 is used more as a third prop in most instances to give you more size and now the fullback is key to attacking plays i.e Tomkins, Hodgson