As a previous poster said, the rules of the game have changed so much that comparing across eras is very difficult.

I remember the shock of the 10 yard rule in 83-84 - suddenly a few of our good players looked quite poor, and that was just one of the changes in 150 years.

When looking at very old matches (50's and 60's) you see players with less respect for possession, flinging out more wild passes etc because they had a good hooker that could win scrums. They probably would struggle with the more conservative (dare I say Aussie ?) style of rugby nowadays.

Still, it makes for a good discussion as a good player could easily adapt their style and wouldn't be any less of an athlete.

hooker is probably the classic case of the role that has changed, when scrums became less competitive the hooker became more of a pivot rather than a dependable ball winner skilled in the dark arts of the scrum. in my time watching the game, the role of the loose forward has changed a fair bit too

I have only been watching since the mid 90's, but generally I consider my knowledge of past players and the clubs history to be pretty good. However I can honestly say I didn't know anything at all about Bruce Ryan until this thread. I've seen the name a few times in books etc. but I couldn't have told you a thing about him. So it's interesting that lots of people rate him so highly.

BBC Sport website has a piece about the 150 year celebrations on it at the moment. interestingly the banner picture features 13 hull greats. is this the club's all time greatest 13? if so the challenge is on

just had a bit more of a look at the bbc article and its not a '13' as there are no props pictured. some food for thought concerning the players in the picture though

Looking at Billy Batten brings the question as to whether he is the only Hull FC player ever to feature on an official postage stamp.

Craig Fitzgibbon was on a stamp for the Roosters to celebrate the Centenary of Rugby League in Australia.

Will be a long time before they get round to issuing another set of rugby league stamps, with only a slim chance if them putting a Hull FC player on one of them.

Left you a PM mate - welcome back

Cheers! Remember now that he was on one of a set of 16 representing each NRL team competing in 2008.

You must have missed Wilf's Dentist Diary No 336 where Bruce Ryan was featured with reference to Wilf's Mum! Covers his time at the club superbly and I was one of the 4000 at Paragon Station on the day he arrived,

I too know very little about Bruce Ryan.

Found some info on him from Wiki & another site for those interested:

"Bruce Ryan was a champion school-boy sprinter, before being graded at the Newtown Jets in 1940. He went on to play six seasons for Newtown but his career was often interrupted by World War II, of which he was a member of the Australian Army and later the RAAF. His time at the club included being in the squad that won the 1943 Grand Final. He also played in the team that were defeated in the 1944 Grand Final. After retiring from Newtown at the end of the 1947 season, he traveled to England to join Leeds for the 1947–1948 season, before retiring from football. He later joined the coaching staff of the North Sydney Bears in 1956."

"Ryan played for Hull from 1947 to 1950. Scored 60 tries in 84 matches. Transferred to Leeds in 1950 for a then record £4,750 and scored 42 tries in 57 matches over two seasons. (06/01/2012)"

Not very well written Wiki piece - did he join Leeds in 1947 or us in 1947? He seems to have retired after joining Leeds but played for us and them again afterwards

Either way 102 tries in 141 games is pretty spectacular.