Ryan Bailey - Top 20 forward of SL era

[redjonn]

5 minutes ago, Rawschach said:

I meant Brad Mackay the loose forward who played for Bradford.  McNamara was quality for a couple of seasons so I stand by that one.

Theirs part of the problem when thinking back.... do you go by a couple of seasons or throughout the major part of players career.  Then do people just remember certain periods or games based upon one's bias.... i.e. Bailey most people disliked his approach (anti-hero) which impacts peoples perceptions... and vice versa, such and such what a player for a season or two and that impacts perception as in always great.

[bobbruce]

15 minutes ago, redjonn said:

Theirs part of the problem when thinking back.... do you go by a couple of seasons or throughout the major part of players career.  Then do people just remember certain periods or games based upon one's bias.... i.e. Bailey most people disliked his approach (anti-hero) which impacts peoples perceptions... and vice versa, such and such what a player for a season or two and that impacts perception as in always great.

This isn’t about Bailey being a bad player he did a job in a very successful Leeds team. However as has been posted above i could list 20/30 possibly 40 forwards that there is no way I’m swapping for Bailey. 

[Mr Frisky]

Obviously most of the people who have committed on this haven't bothered to read the magazine...

[GeordieSaint]

3 hours ago, redjonn said:

Theirs part of the problem when thinking back.... do you go by a couple of seasons or throughout the major part of players career.

You can play a season and have a huge impact. David Fairleigh is an example at Saints. He was unreal for that season; carried a depleted Saints pack all year. He’d actually be in my best Saints 17 of the SL era.

[OMEGA]

David Solomona 

Darren Britt

Chris Joynt 

Monty Betham 

David Galea

I could go on and on and on with SL era forwards who are so much better than Bailey that it’s laughable to compare them.

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

Ryan Bailey was an average player, who did a good job of getting under the oppositions skin and winding them up something rotten.

[fieldofclothofgold]

My mind goes back to that Grand Final against Wire ,late on but Wire still had a chance until 4 Warrington players lost their discipline and broke away and went chasing TMSFMISL then the game was lost .Pantomime villain yes but effective. I believe hes in the Fire service now .

[bobbruce]

12 minutes ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

Ryan Bailey was an average player, who did a good job of getting under the oppositions skin and winding them up something rotten.

 

3 minutes ago, fieldofclothofgold said:

My mind goes back to that Grand Final against Wire ,late on but Wire still had a chance until 4 Warrington players lost their discipline and broke away and went chasing TMSFMISL then the game was lost .Pantomime villain yes but effective. I believe hes in the Fire service now .

Agree with both of them but as Leeds fans is he the top 20 forwards in SL. 

[fieldofclothofgold]

7 minutes ago, bobbruce said:

 

Agree with both of them but as Leeds fans is he the top 20 forwards in SL. 

No hes not ,but he was very well known ,maybe that could account for him being mentioned. Same kind of character as maybe Vinnie Jones ? 

[redjonn]

4 hours ago, GeordieSaint said:

You can play a season and have a huge impact. David Fairleigh is an example at Saints. He was unreal for that season; carried a depleted Saints pack all year. He’d actually be in my best Saints 17 of the SL era.

well I guess its down to the criteria one uses for selection... I suspect we all have slightly different one's. Especially as we are talking forwards and I "guess" each position has slightly different considerations... 

[fieldofclothofgold]

I also remember another game against Wire at Headingley and Bailey chrashed Moz and because of the type of collision Moz went down and you could hear the sound of the crash all over the ground it was like a firework going off . Bailey did his Mohamed Ali over Moz and   Moz being the great Pro didnt react . Then Bailey must have felt the effects and was missing rest of the game, it must have really hurt him .Moz carried on as normal . Moral dont mess with a proper tough guy Bails 

[redjonn]

7 hours ago, bobbruce said:

This isn’t about Bailey being a bad player he did a job in a very successful Leeds team. However as has been posted above i could list 20/30 possibly 40 forwards that there is no way I’m swapping for Bailey. 

my comment wasn't whether Bailey should or should not be in... it was more about we are probably not using same criteria in our selections or considerations. e.g. I would never chose somebody on just one season as per a comment, somebody else would - nowt wrong their but we are using different criteria. Plus same for prop against 2nd row... etc etc

[Marauder]

18 hours ago, M j M said:

Fortunately there are people who have a better understanding of Rugby League than you out there.

He'd make the top 20 in the grubbiest players

[redjonn]

to be honest I couldn't judge as I never watched most of the players any significant amount of time.   The ones I've watched most our those in the teams I support - so I'm naturally biased purely because I'm going on a narrow window of what I've seen.

As to Bailey being average - I couldn't say except to note the  number of coaches that have selected  him consistently in their teams and for the many SL grand finals he has been part of and winning of.

I assume those coaches either picked him or kept him because they thought he was more than average...

That's not say whether he should be in the top 20.

[M j M]

16 minutes ago, Marauder said:

He'd make the top 20 in the grubbiest players

You must have lots of examples of grubbiness then.

[northamptoncougar]

I remember him getting under Radfords skin, that didn’t end well for him

[rhinos78]

2 hours ago, northamptoncougar said:

I remember him getting under Radfords skin, that didn’t end well for him

Didnt end that badly for him, took a couple of cheap shots when he was already on all fours then got straight up...Though he Probably Deserved a dig for his wayward ellbows when trying to get a quick PTB.

As already mentioned, probably not even in Leeds best 20 superleague forwards, never mind the whole competitions. Played his part in the clubs success but never got close to his early promise unfortunately. 

[Kris]

It’s easy to forget he was in a great team on merit and his trophy cabinet says it all

leeds needed that type of player and they took a very promising back rower and created a bit of a monster from a young age 

he was very much an enforcer who actually did the nasty rough stuff no one else in that team did quite as well and I would stick my neck out and say without him doing the dirty hard stuff Leeds would not have won as much as they did

we can’t all be Kevin sinfield now can we

he was ver6 effective at what he did and he created a real platform at his best he was as good as many other forwards so yes probably does need to be in a top 20 for sl era forwards 

his problem is that no one really liked him not even the Leeds fans I recall they thought he was feral 

I remember the Redford confrontation amongst others and bailey got taken off because he was clearly too aggressive and would scream and shout at the dominated player he had just walloped  enough to have to be taken off for his and the teams well being 

he could pass and he had speed for a forward so yes a top 20 player for his impact on matches and doing the ###### stuff no one else would do 

reminds me a lot of a Trent Merrin type of player but with a lot more aggression so no surprise to see Leeds go with Merrin this year

[Marauder]

23 hours ago, M j M said:

You must have lots of examples of grubbiness then.

I played in a team full of them including his cousin and against many, Including his dad, both could play a bit as well, as professionals go the game was full of them before it got sterile.

[Marauder]

12 hours ago, Kris said:

It’s easy to forget he was in a great team on merit and his trophy cabinet says it all

leeds needed that type of player and they took a very promising back rower and created a bit of a monster from a young age 

he was very much an enforcer who actually did the nasty rough stuff no one else in that team did quite as well and I would stick my neck out and say without him doing the dirty hard stuff Leeds would not have won as much as they did

we can’t all be Kevin sinfield now can we

he was ver6 effective at what he did and he created a real platform at his best he was as good as many other forwards so yes probably does need to be in a top 20 for sl era forwards 

his problem is that no one really liked him not even the Leeds fans I recall they thought he was feral 

I remember the Redford confrontation amongst others and bailey got taken off because he was clearly too aggressive and would scream and shout at the dominated player he had just walloped  enough to have to be taken off for his and the teams well being 

he could pass and he had speed for a forward so yes a top 20 player for his impact on matches and doing the ###### stuff no one else would do 

reminds me a lot of a Trent Merrin type of player but with a lot more aggression so no surprise to see Leeds go with Merrin this year

Don't think Radford came 2nd

[fairfolly]

Don,t think Radford came second many times no matter who against.Quite a useful boxer I believe.I think he fought a charity boxing match with Stuart Fielden and knocked him out.I think he would have had a problem with Brian McDermott who had a stint as a Pro. heavyweight boxer.

[OMEGA]

2 hours ago, fairfolly said:

Don,t think Radford came second many times no matter who against.Quite a useful boxer I believe.I think he fought a charity boxing match with Stuart Fielden and knocked him out.I think he would have had a problem with Brian McDermott who had a stint as a Pro. heavyweight boxer.

Paul Scullthorpe beat him

[fairfolly]

Paul Sculthorpe would also have beaten pretty much any forward, another very good boxer.