The greatest Rugby League club team of all time?

[The Future is League]

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/the-greatest-rugby-league-team-of-all-time-it-s-hard-to-argue-20220719-p5b2sw.html

[Eddie]

Quite Aussie-centric that, Wigan have a good argument for it also. 

[The 4 of Us]

Wigan were good but never so good that they had to change the rules to accommodate them. 

[Oxford]

So St George announced that they were the greatest team of all time and a Sydney Journo agrees.

 

I must have misunderstood surely!

[Eddie]

27 minutes ago, Oxford said:

So St George announced that they were the greatest team of all time and a Sydney Journo agrees.

 

I must have misunderstood surely!

No that is exactly what’s happened, much like how Man Utd declare themselves the biggest club in the world and it’s taken for granted when they’re clearly not. 

Edited July 20, 2022 by Eddie

[Wollo Wollo Wayoo]

39 minutes ago, The 4 of Us said:

Wigan were good but never so good that they had to change the rules to accommodate them. 

I remember an all conquering Saint Helens team being that good that the BBC had to change the voting system for Sports Team of the year award to ensure it could never happen again.  

[StandOffHalf]

''Snowy'' Justice - what a great name!

One of the Dragons' 100 greats. What a list of names that is!

[Davo5]

27 minutes ago, Eddie said:

No that is exactly what’s happened, much like how Man Utd declare themselves the biggest club in the world and it’s taken for granted when they’re clearly not. 

I don’t think they ever declared themselves the biggest,others did based on fanbase & financial turnover.

[Davo5]

1 hour ago, The 4 of Us said:

Wigan were good but never so good that they had to change the rules to accommodate them. 

It’s their greatest ever based on players who have played for them over the years,so I’d definitely put Wigan up there with maybe St Helens,Brisbane & even the Roosters & South’s.

[Eddie]

10 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

I don’t think they ever declared themselves the biggest,others did based on fanbase & financial turnover.

Sorry I know this isn’t a football forum so I shouldn’t have said that, but I have often heard their fans say they’re the biggest club in the world, when they aren’t by any measure. 

[Davo5]

2 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Sorry I know this isn’t a football forum so I shouldn’t have said that, but I have often heard their fans say they’re the biggest club in the world, when they aren’t by any measure. 

So not the club then.

If you listen to fans then there’s a very big list of biggest clubs in the world.

[Eddie]

10 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

So not the club then.

If you listen to fans then there’s a very big list of biggest clubs in the world.

People from the club have said it too. 

eg the baby faced assassin https://www.sportingnews.com/au/amp/football/news/solskjaer-man-utd-are-still-the-biggest-team-in-manchester-and-the-world/31j9tz1awrmm1st9ef3y6uwi9

De Jong https://www.football365.com/news/de-jong-at-biggest-club-in-world-resigned-leaving-barcelona-man-united

This took a very brief Google, there will no doubt be many more. But anyway it’s a digression from the thread, sorry.  I think Wigan are a greater team throughout RL history than St George. 

Edited July 20, 2022 by Eddie

[Copa]

St George no longer exists at the top level.

St George Illawarra was created in 1998.

The St George side just like to conveniently forget about the Illawarra  Steelers.

[Mr Frisky]

51 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

It’s their greatest ever based on players who have played for them over the years,so I’d definitely put Wigan up there with maybe St Helens,Brisbane & even the Roosters & South’s.

Wigan definitely have a shout- maybe Brisbane and Roosters as well but Wigan would take some beating.

As someone who goes to half a dozen Roosters games each season when I'm over in Oz with work I'm a huge Roosters fan - their fans constantly brag about how many WCC they have won to justify their claim as the best ever club RL team.

Even more reason to get the game back on.

[EastLondonMike]

Not a club side i know, but didn't GB beat that great St.George team on one of the Lions tours? I seem to recall either Neil Fox or Eric Ashton talking about it on 'Thats Rugby League' -  The Australian RL history documentary from around '95.

Wigan circa 92-94 were a fantastic side to watch, though did get beat by the Broncos in a WCC, a Broncos team that could also put a case forward.

[Richard de la Riviere]

That’s a good team but very little between that and a potential Wigan 13:

J Sullivan, Boston, Ashton, Bell, Offiah, Kenny, Gregory, McTigue, Egan, Platt, Ashurst, Farrell, Hanley. 

[Davo5]

9 minutes ago, EastLondonMike said:

Not a club side i know, but didn't GB beat that great St.George team on one of the Lions tours? I seem to recall either Neil Fox or Eric Ashton talking about it on 'Thats Rugby League' -  The Australian RL history documentary from around '95.

Wigan circa 92-94 were a fantastic side to watch, though did get beat by the Broncos in a WCC, a Broncos team that could also put a case forward.

The 62 Lions hammered them,mind you that was arguably the best squad we’ve ever had,interesting to see the great Dick Huddart didn’t make the top 100 players.

[Jughead]

If only we had some form of contest that could determine the best club side on the planet at any given time. 

[frank]

If any club can lay claim to  that it's  got to be Leeds and they are not propped up by poker machines.

[Old Frightful]

11 hours ago, Wollo Wollo Wayoo said:

I remember an all conquering Saint Helens team being that good that the BBC had to change the voting system for Sports Team of the year award to ensure it could never happen again.  

That's because the voting for Saints was sinister.

Still, at least the golfers pushed into second place weren't bitter at the time.

[gingerjon]

5 minutes ago, Old Frightful said:

Still, at least the golfers pushed into second place weren't bitter at the time.

Fairly sure they were actually pushed into third place.

[Old Frightful]

3 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Fairly sure they were actually pushed into third place.

That makes it even funnier!

[Mr Frisky]

27 minutes ago, Old Frightful said:

That's because the voting for Saints was sinister.

Still, at least the golfers pushed into second place weren't bitter at the time.

Don't think it was sinister, more a case of RL coming together to push our sport - regardless of which team they supported - just like when Sinfield came 2nd in the main vote a few years ago. 

[Dunbar]

In this interview, Dick Huddart stated that he thought the St Helens team that won the Championship final and Challenge Cup final in '66 would have beaten the St George side if they had played. 

You can see why, here is the Saints team that played Wigan in the Challenge Cup final

1/ Frank Barrow

2/ Tom van Vollenhoven

3/ Alex Murphy

4/ Billy Benyon

5/ Len Killeen

6/ Peter Harvey

7/ Tommy Bishop

8/ Albert Halsall

9/ Bill Sayer

10/ Cliff Watson

11/ Ray French

12/ John Warlow

13/ John Mantle

When you look at the Wigan team that day (which Saints beat 21-2) contained the likes of Billy Boston, Eric Ashton and Brian McTigue you can see how special Saints were.

The St George side were the dominant team in Australia but this was a period of huge strength in British Rugby League and so it is not an absolute that they were the best club side in the world at that time.

[The Rocket]

11 hours ago, StandOffHalf said:

''Snowy'' Justice - what a great name!

One of the Dragons' 100 greats. What a list of names that is!

It`s a real trip down memory lane for me too, seeing names like Barry Beath, Bruce Starkey, Poppa Clay, Elton Rasmussen and legends like Billy Smith, takes me right back to when as a small child my Father would have the League on the radio in the backyard on the weekends.