That try by Schofield was a bit special

53.9271° N, 1.3848° W

We beat Wigan during that era, just not when it really mattered. We lost that final to a dodgy Saints try in a mud bath at Central Park. I wasn't that bothered by Wigan beating us. Let's face it, Leeds lost all their big games, it didn't matter who they were playing. Widnes, Saints, Hull, HKR etc. etc.

Crooks was finished for us after that injury. I saw him play in his comeback A team game after what must have been 5 months off. It didn't so much look like he'd been on the burgers, but that he'd been eating the vans that sell them.

If you look up 'Leeds V Wigan JPS Trophy 1987 Garry Schofield Try' on youtube, there's about 9 minutes of the match. Watch at about 8.19 for Hanley giving Medley a right sly punch in the gob.

As you say it didn't matter who we beat during cup rounds you just knew a defeat in a semi or final was looming and usually at central park! Who can forget the Widnes 0-24/4-37 hammerings. I remember after the 4-37 the following weds we had to travel to Widnes for a league game with the club putting free coaches on as a sorry!

Quote ="finglas"I still have the video somewhere, just nothing to play it on. I was expecting the same old story when Crooks went off injured early on.'" Anyone wanting to watch games from way back when to the present day you can stream them online or on your phone for a one off £10 subscription on buy the DVD's for £3 at this site. It has this Wigan v Leeds semi final on there. A great site, has all the old GB and Kangaroos tours and midweek games etc... www.rugbyleaguedvds.com/Catalogue

Quote ="finglas"I still have the video somewhere, just nothing to play it on. I was expecting the same old story when Crooks went off injured early on.'" Anyone wanting to watch games from way back when to the present day you can stream them online or on your phone for a one off £10 subscription on buy the DVD's for £3 at this site. It has this Wigan v Leeds semi final on there. A great site, has all the old GB and Kangaroos tours and midweek games etc... www.rugbyleaguedvds.com/Catalogue

Horrible season that was because it promised so much.

Wigan got revenge a month or two later in the CC at Central Park in front of a healthy attendance.

Defeat in the JPS Trophy Final by a drop goal, again at Central b****** Park.

And Bradford Northern did the rest. Beat us up in the Yorkshire Cup and Premiership Trophy, and did the double over us in the League. Phil Ford, Brendan Hill, Karl Fairbank etc, rubbing it in.

Maurice Bamford was so overrated as coach.

Medley should have stuck with his job on the counter at Nat West on Park Row.

Having said that, if his defence was anything to go by in RL, that bank would have been easy pickings

I've enjoyed watching that from the days I fell in love with the sport. It just seemed so much faster. No messing at the PTB, players stood deep in attack so they hit the ball at speed. Oh well....

I agree the game was more entertaining then.

Careful there Jeff , your mask is slipping .

I've never felt so miserable as after that game. I was with three mates and we decided to drink ourselves happy. It didn't work. Two of the lads went home but me and my mate ended up in Foxes. Most of the Leeds team turned up. Apart from Lowes, who was thoroughly fed up they didn't give a $h1t. Bunch of to$$ers.
I got a job down in Surrey not long after and that was pretty much the last season I was a regular. That day more than any battering by Wigan was where I mentally gave up on Leeds.
Then Graham Murray arrived and game on again.

We started well in that game, Medley and Heron scored great long range tries. They just didn't believe in themselves enough to finish them off.

I think the rot started when Peter Jackson failed to find touch with a penalty. I might be mis-remembering though.

Somebody in the Leeds side that day was reputedly "saving themselves for training" rather than getting "stuck in".Wonder who that was?

I've seen custard made of tougher stuff than Medley, and with less of a yellow streak....

the first 'athlete' I can remember who made it in the game despite being as soft as the brown stuff (and I've had harder ones of those too). To say he didn't like the rough stuff would be the understatement of the century. I seem to recall a game where he actually ran away from a brawl - though I was a kid at the time so that could be an exaggerated version of what actually happened.

In fairness to him though, he was before his time and would have probably been a superstar in today's sanitised nancy boy version of the game where you're unlikely to get belted. He was fast, explosive, strong and ran some great lines (unless there was someone hard within 20 meters).

But jeez he was a fanny!

Remember the uproar among some fans when Malcolm Reilly did a deal with Halifax and swapped Medley for Paul Dixon?

A fantastic swap deal, but oh boy did all the Medley fanboys burst into a long fit of over-dramatic, communal tear-shedding. Took them months (in some extreme cases, years) to get over it.

They were all then assimilated en-masse to later become the modern day fans of Super League and summer rugby along with all their offspring



O we are weee... O we are weee...

Well Medley did very well for us, but he was in a pack that contained Skerrett, Fairbank, Hobbs etc so he had people looking out for him. Barry Seabourne actually signed him to play centre. His pace was the difference for us on many occasions. He may not have been as tough a Skerrett or a Sorensen but not many were. Leeds had plenty of others in the pack that lacked that bit of devil. I can think that only Craig Izzard (on his brief stint) and Gary Rose (tough but limited player) had anything like it at leeds until Barrie Mac, Fleary and Farrell arrive.d

I think he may have been ok at Leeds with few tougher lads in the pack with him. Had Alan Rathbone not had his career ended on debut for Leeds he could maybe have given Medley the protection he needed.

Leeds might not have had the out and out thugs like a Fairbank or Skerret, but there wasn't really a lack of bottle - which is exactly what Medley had. Big Roy Powell for instance, while he is fondly remembered, he wasn't a typical hard man, and tended to avoid a scuffle, I certainly don't remember him starting any - but he didn't shirk taking the ball up when it got tasty - he just quietly got on with his job. Medley was a hider....

On Powell, his lack of a nasty streak was probably the thing that stopped him being one of the best in his era. He's another that would have gone very well in the modern day.

Medley "a hider"? I think you're overdoing it a bit there. He was a back being played in the forwards IMO. Take your point about Powell. Used as a sub Medley was a gamechanger and shouldn't be dismissed.

I do think Leeds lacked "bottle" at times. Northern used to regularly come out on top back in the late 80s and early 90s principally due to our pack getting on top - we had very few decent backs at that time. I happened to be watching a few you tube videos recently of Leeds versus Widnes during that era and the Widnes pack invariably got on top of Leeds too. That 37-4 and the 24-0 not to mention the 0-38 game at Headingley being obvious examples. All long after Medley had gone.

I agree. Medley was nowhere near the softy some people thought. What he was was one of the most talented running forwards of his generation. I have not seen another forward score tries from running back a kickoff, Medley did it multiple times. I don't know what people are talking about regarding his tackling, I saw him put huge hits in. With Roy Powell alongside him in the ack row you had a perfect partnership.
Was glad when we signed Dixon, but gutted it was at the expense of Medley. I seem to remember he had a bad neck injury on the GB tour and ended up coming home. Reilly didn't like his attitude to some biff in PPN and that was the death of his Leeds career.
In reality it was another example of a club that couldn't develop talent and thought you just bought it with a cheque book.

Like I said, he was an athlete, and ran great lines... And absolutely provided some great impact off the bench for Northern, scored some great tries and often played well against Leeds.

But I'll stand by my call that he was soft - certainly compared to the forwards of his era. Nowadays that wouldn't be the case.

Depends wether you like watching forwards smash down the pitch scoring 80 metre tries or sticking an elbow in someone 's face after the ball has gone.