Best British player of the SL era

[Dunbar]

24 minutes ago, OMEGA said:

 

1. Tomkins - Wellens
2. Makinson - Robinson
3. Gleeson - Connolly
4. Newlove - Senior
5. Hall - Carney 
6. McGuire - Harris
7. Long - Brough
8. Peacock - Walmsley
9. Roby - Newton
10. Graham - Fielden
11. Farrell - Joynt
12. Burgess - Ellis
13. Sculthorpe - O’Loughlin

 

You rate both Roby and Newton above Cunningham?

[Rawschach]

57 minutes ago, Human Punk said:

Some great names on that list. among them I think Sculthorpe and Farrell were iconic figures of their time - Scully v Farrell was almost as keenly anticipated as Saints v Wigan itself.

I went for Sculthorpe down to his GB displays, which were at times brilliant. Farrell, as captain, tended to try too hard - it was like he felt he had to lead by example for the full 80 minutes - and his performances suffered badly for it.

This

JP not far behind.

[meast]

21 hours ago, DoubleD said:

Who’s the greatest British player of the SL era?

Interesting thread. I always find these kind of threads a bit ambiguous though, whilst the debate and opinions are good, I always think you have to define "greatest" a bit better.

There have been lots of fine players over the 25 years, but all of those players listed have different qualities. for instance, Kevin Sinfield is probably regarded as the greatest leader and an inspiration to many, but in terms of comparing him as a player to, say, Danny Brough, or Sean Long, in my opinion, both Brough and Long were far better players than Sinfield in terms of their skill levels but behind Sinfield on the leadership stakes., Sinfield only played for one team, a team that he was completely comfortable with and had grown up with, he struggled at international level IMO and whether he could repeat his status away from Leeds will never be known, therefore he can't be considered the greatest for me.

This is just my opinion and I'm using Sinfield as an example, I'm not putting Sinfield down at all.

All could be labelled "the greatest" if you took them all on their merits in comparison to the rest.

It's like in the debates around who was/is the GOAT between, say, Messi and Maradona, they were different people in different era's playing a completely different game in my opinion, Maradona would win hands down for me because of the era he played in... but that's for another forum.

As it happens, I'm slightly biased but I've gone for Brough, he influenced and probably improved every team he played for ( Bradford notwithstanding ) he was a tremendous kicker, place and field, a very good defender, quick, strong, good hands, good feet, good brain, got under the skin of opposition players and fans and referees because he was so good at most things, plus he's not one of the Wigan, Leeds, Saints cartel.

[ghost crayfish]

For what it's worth, I'm Australian and think Kevin Sinfield was a great player. Not the best on the list, but very good.

[Jim Prendle]

16 hours ago, Manfred Mann said:

Of course. "I would need a day to respond." That is a pretty feeble attempted escape hatch you are using. You mean to say; "I have no answer."

And you would be completely wrong to guess, on the basis of no knowledge, that I have never had the pleasure to watch live. i have had the pleasure to watch live in several different countries:  UK, France, USA, and Australia. I have watched club games, and Grand finals, and Challenge Cup Finals, and State of Origin and numerous internationals live. I saw the great Paul Sculthorpe play when he was the only star for Great Britain against Australia some 18 years ago. I watched live the late great legend Arthur Beetson innumerable times, and met him more than once in England. I have met Iestyn Harris and his family personally after a Test loss in England. I have sat near Andy Farrell watching a London Broncos home game. I am a friend of many former French international players. This is just a fragment of my life experience at games. So my live experience of rugby league is, I am sure, much better than yours.

And I would wager that every one of those people you “met” is still thinking “who was that pr!ck”?

[yipyee]

Farrell or Sculthorpe 

Both could play in the forwards or Backs, both could goal kick, both GB internationals, both were great leaders.

Sculthorpe edges it for me as Farrell crossed to the dark side

[Markos]

As Dean Marwood wasn’t on the list I reluctantly voted for Jamie Peacock.

Undoubtedly better creative players and all-rounders. I just can’t look past the influence Peacock had on both Bradford and Leeds, his character, and the platform his work laid for the creative players around him to do their stuff