Where are RLs Huge Athletes

[Pulga]

5 minutes ago, Yorkshire Knight said:

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 

Sonny's wearing heels.

[Yorkshire Knight]

5 minutes ago, Pulga said:

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.

He would be managed just like every other big player in the game. It's not like they're going at full tilt for 80 minutes. He has a high work rate, good defence and exceptional skills for a big man 

[Man of Kent]

Rugby league>rugby union. Discuss...

[UTK]

13 minutes ago, Yorkshire Knight said:

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 

Official NRL profile, however seeing that picture i can empathise with your position

[ELBOWSEYE]

League players were getting bigger a few years ago but the game requires more alround skills and is moving away from the bigger players and if substitutes are reduced aerobic fitness will be needed more due to longer spells on the field

I noticed Yorkshire knight is back off the cross code forum to defend the other code.

[Man of Kent]

1 minute ago, UTK said:

Official NRL profile, however seeing that picture i can empathise with your position

It doesn’t really matter what the precise height is, the general point is Inglis and Mitchell have a combination of skill, size (ie tall but not overloaded with muscle), athleticism, elusiveness and aerobic capacity that is ideal for rugby league.

[rhinos78]

7 hours ago, Tonka said:

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

Agree 100%, johnson was a master of the union arts...Rucks, Mauls, Lineouts etc. His running, atleticism and passing skills were poor even at union level. He would of been a complete liability in league.

[dkw]

So what your saying is sportsmen in different sports have different physical attributes? Wow, I had never noticed that..... 

[dkw]

1 hour ago, ELBOWSEYE said:

League players were getting bigger a few years ago but the game requires more alround skills and is moving away from the bigger players and if substitutes are reduced aerobic fitness will be needed more due to longer spells on the field

I noticed Yorkshire knight is back off the cross code forum to defend the other code.

Any union player crossing to super league would need a minimum of 6 months of heavy fitness training, especially the forwards. 

[Mr Wind Up]

16 hours ago, OMEGA said:

 

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

You would have to be A-grade, 100% willfully ignorant to believe that those 'superbly proportioned athletes' aren't on steroids. 

Exhibit A: 

 

It's spinach and pushups that done it!

[BroncoFan]

I think Rugby League has plenty of big athletes, more so in the NRL but SL have a few of their own. Nobody can say Tom Johnstone isn't a freakish athlete, he is tall, fast & agile - some of his finishing exploits are outstanding. The Senior twins Innes & Louis are 6'5 and although they are only 18yo they could develop into anything.

[Yorkshire Knight]

19 minutes ago, Mr Wind Up said:

You would have to be A-grade, 100% willfully ignorant to believe that those 'superbly proportioned athletes' aren't on steroids. 

Exhibit A: 

 

It's spinach and pushups that done it!

That would just be African American genetics

[Davo5]

Good old Mike Ford knee the score when stating Sam Burgess didn’t have the stomach for union

[Rupert Prince]

11 hours ago, Tonka said:

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

It strikes me very few RU forwards take the ball on at pace. Certainly not their "middles", maybe the wing forwards do. The other important ability of our forward is their feet. Nimble footwork as in Betts.

[Damien]

3 hours ago, rhinos78 said:

Agree 100%, johnson was a master of the union arts...Rucks, Mauls, Lineouts etc. His running, atleticism and passing skills were poor even at union level. He would of been a complete liability in league.

Andy Powell at Wigan springs to mind whenever he see people quote random Union players. Powell was often quoted as being one of the more RL like RU forwards and had even played a bit of RL at one point but after months and months of training still couldn't last 10 mins and even at that struggled to get back onside. A lot of elite RU forwards would be similar in Rugby League. 

[Rupert Prince]

3 hours ago, Damien said:

Andy Powell at Wigan springs to mind whenever he see people quote random Union players. Powell was often quoted as being one of the more RL like RU forwards and had even played a bit of RL at one point but after months and months of training still couldn't last 10 mins and even at that struggled to get back onside. A lot of elite RU forwards would be similar in Rugby League. 

Powell had I few distractions as well, didn't he?

[Damien]

1 minute ago, Rupert Prince said:

Powell had I few distractions as well, didn't he?

People I know always said he knuckled down and trained hard. The truth is after a year or so he was still way off.

[Tonka]

8 hours ago, rhinos78 said:

Agree 100%, johnson was a master of the union arts...Rucks, Mauls, Lineouts etc. His running, atleticism and passing skills were poor even at union level. He would of been a complete liability in league.

He’d have needed his own stat each week for how many times he got sidestepped.

[DavidM]

Union forwards get man of the match and Miles drooling over them for unbelievable work rate if they make 6 metres and 7 tackles in a game and drop it fewer than 10 times 

[MZH]

RL is a game for all rounders. We might not have the fastest, biggest, strongest athletes in the world, but guys in other sports just couldn't cope with the wide ranging abilities needed.

If you didn't know who James Roby or Danny Houghton were then you wouldn't look twice if you passed them in the street. But you show me a better overall athlete than guys like those when you consider stamina, strength, speed, skill and toughness (physical and mental). There aren't many.

[Kirmonds pouch]

Not sure what advantage a RL player gets from excessive height - nothing as far as I can tell.

Pauli Pauli is our tallest but it's his weight at nearly 20 stone that give him his go forward. His height to me appears detrimental especially in defence where he can't get down quick enough and is often left horribly exposed. Perhaps if he were a Solomona class off loader it might help but even then 6'2'' to 6'4'' would be more than adequate IMHO.

[Mark S]

James Haskel seems to be a go to person for health and fitness, but he would get smashed in RL. He wouldn’t be able to accelerate from a standing start and would end up exposed and smashed all over the pitch.

[Tonka]

He's probably a bit old now but, at his best, probably had the physicality.  But speed of thought, handling, ability to hit the line would be seriously lacking IMO.  In union, he'd get the ball about 5 metres behind the gain line standing still (if he didn't knock on), think about it for about half an hour then start moving forwards.  If he got some speed up, he could do some damage (and again if he didn't knock on).

Hard to say how he'd do defensively; ok I suspect if he got his positioning right.

[Celt]

On 11/24/2018 at 5:02 PM, OMEGA said:

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?

To be brutally honest, the answer is: "playing union".

The biggest/best athletes playing junior RL will most likely be snapped up by union clubs offering proper contracts.

Additionally Rugby League is not played in any private schools, which is where the bigger kids tend to be produced (due to far better S&C and far more training time). RL kids are either in a pro club (the few who actually operate academies) OR are training a couple of times a week with an amateur club.

The few big kids who do come through also tend to be used as battering ram front rowers. I know a guy who is 6'5" and was St Helens "service area" coming through. As a junior he played 13 had loads of touches, ran the game etc. At about 15 Saints moved him to prop.... and told him to be a battering ram. He moved to union and now plays professionally.

[Kirmonds pouch]

6 minutes ago, Celt said:

To be brutally honest, the answer is: "playing union".

The biggest/best athletes playing junior RL will most likely be snapped up by union clubs offering proper contracts.

Additionally Rugby League is not played in any private schools, which is where the bigger kids tend to be produced (due to far better S&C and far more training time). RL kids are either in a pro club (the few who actually operate academies) OR are training a couple of times a week with an amateur club.

The few big kids who do come through also tend to be used as battering ram front rowers. I know a guy who is 6'5" and was St Helens "service area" coming through. As a junior he played 13 had loads of touches, ran the game etc. At about 15 Saints moved him to prop.... and told him to be a battering ram. He moved to union and now plays professionally.

Wow, what a load of nonesense.