Where are RLs Huge Athletes

[OMEGA]

Accross many major sports the last 20 years weve seen genuinely powerful yet superbly athletic giants emerge

Boxing  - Lewis, both Klitschko’s, Joshua, Wilder, Fury, Joyce etc there are loads of 6’6”  to 6’10” + 

Basketball - Has changed from 7” lanky beanpoles often awkward looking to superbly proportioned athletes

NFL - Has a range of upper 6’ close to 7’ huge all rounders who have speed, agility, power & endurance

Even here in England we see Rugby Union players standing 6’8” & 6’10” but they’ve evolved into fine athletes with great skill & speed. They’ve unearthed a great wing prospect in Joe Cokanasiga 6’5” 18st with great speed, power & good hands. Players like Itoje & Courtney Laws also.

I know Rugby League Players have got bigger and we have some genuine big men with athletic ability like Sam Burgess but most are big but without being agile or athletic. In general our biggest guys are 6’4” with the odd exception but the exceptions are quite one dimensional. We have a great number of 5’10” to 6’2” (not small men) who have good speed, footwork, endurance and athletic ability but where are the giants that are dominating the elite levels of other sports?

[Tonka]

League doesn’t lend itself to tall players as well as the other sports you’ve mentioned. Tall players = higher centres of gravity = harder to make yards on impact.  

Either that or their poor northern diets mean they don’t grow as tall.

[Clogiron]

To mangle a song title 'Our drugs don't work anymore'

[henage]

Bigger they are harder they fall . 

[Futtocks]

Brendan Hill (a chunky six foot ten) has retired. Other people have taken his place who are better players overall. Some are big, some are not. The good ones are... er, good.

And as soon as we get a list of good big guys, someone will start a thread about how the game's only about huge blokes these days.

[Davo5]

I’d like to see a 7 foot 18 stone basketball,NRL,or union player play 70-80 minutes make 30+ tackles,take 20+ hit ups and run 150+ metres like the best of our “non” athletic forwards regularly do.

[Mark S]

Union players are just stuffed gym tops now. I remember SL going down the route in the late 90s when Bradford were the team to beat. The sport has become about core strength and fitness, no point have over sized food heads.

[Rupert Prince]

Not sure that the OP is being realistic. NFL have always had big players but they all get very limited game time in the 60 minutes. Basketball?  Come on, please!

RU forwards need scrummaging props and tall line out forwards.  All these forwards only have do get back 1metre to the defensive line, RL go back 10m

One example where the two games are different is Bateman... he can play 2nd row and centre and if pressed hooker. Even allowing for that, England's middles are pretty big.

[Clogiron]

16 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

Brendan Hill (a chunky six foot ten) has retired. Other people have taken his place who are better players overall. Some are big, some are not. The good ones are... er, good.

And as soon as we get a list of good big guys, someone will start a thread about how the game's only about huge blokes these days.

If Brendan Hill was 6ft 10, I must be 7ft plus and I don't have any problems getting through a door, think your about a foot out there!

[Southern Reiver]

Different sports, different requirements. Boxers don’t actually run anyware, NFL are in motion for 30seconds each, union taller players are there for the tours en l’air. Do we need just tall players or those able to meet the demands of the game.

[DavidM]

Go and stand next to some of these guys and tell me they’re not huge athletes ! 

They seem super human athletes to me the punishment they give n take 

[themainbrace]

One thing that makes RL stand out to other sports is the sheer number of tackles players get through in a match.  That constant going down in the tackle and then getting back up again becomes harder work the taller you are.

[Wollongong]

Seems to me that the bigger middle forwards are optimally 6’2” to 6’4” 110 to 120 kg... 

outsides 6’ to 6’4” 90 to 100 kg 

 

....for the way the game is now played

[Man of Kent]

I’d argue players like Greg Inglis and Latrell Mitchell are specimen rugby league ‘ubermench’. 6ft5-ish, 17-odd stone, athletic, quick, good hands, evasive. If you want freakish size, then Nelson Asofa-Solomona says hi

[Mr Frisky]

Always thought that if Big Crabtree had James Grahams aggression he could have took over the RL world.... Saying that, in the average England career his had high point was that every time he played against them the Aussies could never handle him for some reason.

Would have also liked to see Martin Johnson have a couple of years in RL before he retired to see if he could have smashed his way through a RL pack - he was massive.

[Tonka]

I think Johnson would have been terrible at league. Not the hands, athleticism, speed. He’d have been totally exposed. 

[Futtocks]

42 minutes ago, Mr Frisky said:

Always thought that if Big Crabtree had James Grahams aggression he could have took over the RL world.... Saying that, in the average England career his had high point was that every time he played against them the Aussies could never handle him for some reason.

Would have also liked to see Martin Johnson have a couple of years in RL before he retired to see if he could have smashed his way through a RL pack - he was massive.

Johnson's handling skills would be the first problem. That we know for sure.

Getting back up from proper hard tackling? We don't know.

Being a thoroughly dirty player who the London-based press would have damned to hell and back if he didn't play for England RU? That would be a nasty shock for him.

[Pulga]

There's definitely a "Goldilocks size" for league players.

You mentioned the tall union players which are mainly locks. They would all get destroyed in league and be a defensive liability.

In saying that, Nelson A-S, David Klemmer and Corey Oates are all monsters (6'7", 6'6" and 6'4" respectively).

 

If you want to see size and why there is a limit look at Jordan Mailata. 6'7" and 157kg and very proportionate.

 

 

He was told by the Rabbitohs to look into the NFL because he would never hit that elite level with the minutes required of him.

[Getmefood]

23 minutes ago, Pulga said:

There's definitely a "Goldilocks size" for league players.

You mentioned the tall union players which are mainly locks. They would all get destroyed in league and be a defensive liability.

In saying that, Nelson A-S, David Klemmer and Corey Oates are all monsters (6'7", 6'6" and 6'4" respectively).

 

If you want to see size and why there is a limit look at Jordan Mailata. 6'7" and 157kg and very proportionate.

 

 

He was told by the Rabbitohs to look into the NFL because he would never hit that elite level with the minutes required of him.

yeah pretty much you described the tallest players once they hit about 6'6 that would be the max RL players reach. 7 foot would be the absolute max and of course there are not many of them, BJ Mather springs to mind, Matt Parsons played for the Knights in the early 2000s , current players like Campbell Graham and Daniel Tupou would be around there. 7 foot guys in RL shouldn't have much muscle mass as well otherwise they'd be moving around slower unless they have freakish genes like Jordan Mailata who as well would struggle to get game time at 150+kg but they'd certainly be hard to stop 5-10 metres from the try line..

[Tex Evans Thigh]

This thread is ridiculous.

[Yorkshire Knight]

6 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

I’d argue players like Greg Inglis and Latrell Mitchell are specimen rugby league ‘ubermench’. 6ft5-ish, 17-odd stone, athletic, quick, good hands, evasive. If you want freakish size, then Nelson Asofa-Solomona says hi

They aren't 6'5 at all. 6'3 at best. Sam Burgess at 6'4 is taller than both 

[Yorkshire Knight]

4 hours ago, Pulga said:

You mentioned the tall union players which are mainly locks. They would all get destroyed in league and be a defensive liability.

Nice joke! Brodie Retallick of the All Blacks at 6'8 is an absolute machine and would be a great player on the rugby field. Maro Itoje is another such player. You clearly have no idea 

[UTK]

29 minutes ago, Yorkshire Knight said:

They aren't 6'5 at all. 6'3 at best. Sam Burgess at 6'4 is taller than both 

Mitchell is 6'4", Inglis 6'5" (as is Burgess).

I think we're doing ok for size, the shortest first-team outside back for the Roosters this year was 6'3" and 101kg in Blake Ferguson

[Pulga]

47 minutes ago, Yorkshire Knight said:

Nice joke! Brodie Retallick of the All Blacks at 6'8 is an absolute machine and would be a great player on the rugby field. Maro Itoje is another such player. You clearly have no idea 

Retallick would have no place in the game. You think he could keep up the pace for any meaningful amount of time? He would also have to cover more area in defence which would ruin him.

2 inches taller than Klemmer. Think he'd be the second highest metre water in the game? Not even close.

[Yorkshire Knight]

30 minutes ago, UTK said:

Mitchell is 6'4", Inglis 6'5" (as is Burgess).

I think we're doing ok for size, the shortest first-team outside back for the Roosters this year was 6'3" and 101kg in Blake Ferguson

Here is an image of Sonny Bill Williams and Greg Inglis. SBW is measured as 6'3. I think 2 inches have been added to Inglis' height wherever you're getting that from