when I was in the taverners suite I was fascinated by all the pictures, and there is a plaque which said legends of Leeds rlfc /rhinos.Does any one think the greatest Leeds rugby league team ever could already have been chosen?Remember the vote which took place for us becoming the Rhinos!.I am however very pleased that we are getting a hall of fame commemorating our history.

I wonder if Mr Hetheringtons idea of a Leeds RL museum will ever bear fruit ?

Some years ago Mr SS.com and I were chatting to him over pink gins in an exclusive golf club close to these parts and we were all admiring a print of the first inter-code game of rugby (a lot earlier than you'd think) when he went off on a tangent on how Leeds Rugby Ltd has a large archive of material which he was considering displaying in a permanent display at Headingley, including the original signed agreement for the formation of the Northern Union.

I think people have some serious prejudice towards current players. Perhaps the warm fuzzy nostalgia is clouding people's judgement. "They played during the 60s/70s/80s therefore they MUST be better than anybody who played in the 90s/00s."

Ward, Holmes, Shoebottom, Jones, yes!! Totally and utterly more than worth a spot but you're a bunch of old dinosaurs living in the past if you're overlooking Hanley, Harris & Sinfield.

Sinfield should be one of the first names on that list and I will fight tooth & nail anyone who says otherwise.

To be honest i think you could pick a team from every era and still leave quality players out.
I'm sure the overall voting will reveal a top quality team of Leeds legends and still leave many places open to debate.
I do agree RR re- Sinfield he should one of the 1st names on the sheet imo.

It's an incredibly tough job!! No denying that. I mean, we've had more than 13 'Legends' over the years and that doesn't even start worrying about positions etc.

There's bound to be people left out that others would have put in. Some tough calls!! Looking forward to seeing the final team.

I'd maybe move Shoebottom to 1 so you could move Jones to 6 and get Dyl in at 4.

Didn't you know that the past is always better than the present? Why, in Roy Francis's day, we won every game at least 50-0, and we only lost when the ref cheated us, because, as we all know, every ref has it in for Leeds.

I can only go on players I've seen play on a regular basis so:

1. Iestyn Harris
2. Scott Donald
3. Keith Senior
4. Garry Schofield
5. Jim Fallon
6. Danny Maguire
7. Rob Burrow
8. Jamie Peacock
9. Matt Diskin
10. Barry McDermott
11. Adrian Morley
12. Roy Powell
13. Kevin Sinfield

subs:
Ellery Hanley
Brad Godden
Marc Glanville
Craig Innes

As I said, this is based on players I've seen on a regular basis, how much I enjoyed watching them play, and how important they've been to the club.
I've probably forgotten someone really obvious.

This is the team I'd pick of of players I've actually seen play:

1. Iestyn Harris
2. Alan Smith
3. Keith Senior
4. Les Dyl
5. John Bentley
6. John Holmes
7. Garry Schofield
8. Jamie Peacock
9. David Ward
10. Roy Powell
11. Adrian Morley
12. Paul Dixon
13. Kevin Sinfield

14. Barrie McDermott
15. Dave Heron
16. Danny McGuire
17. Steve Pitchford

"Nearly there", would include Carl Gibson, Paul Medley, Hanley (although I still associate him too much with Wigan), Brent Webb, Gary Mercer. There's a strong case for Innes, but for me he simply didn't score enough tries to get in ahead of Dyl or Senior.

Oops, one more to add in there, Frank 'Bucket' Young (thanks dad)



Put the gloves away, that's not how we do business round here (where is Era Of The Biff these days.)

Sinfield has every opportunity, he is a living legend and Leeds' most successful captain. He is second on the all-time Leeds' goals and points scoring lists with every opportunity to top those at some point next season (if he extends his current deal and his form warrants selection.)

His competition at Loose Forward perhaps isn't one of the strongest categories although far from easy either. Ike Owens, the just recently departed Brian Shaw, Ray Batten and Ellery Hanley amongst them that I can immediately think of, oh and Dave Heron obviously, I wouldn't want to upset DHM.

Have you missed the big news tvoc??


p.s. Gloves were never on!

Probably, I was out last night at the Usher concert in Sheffield. OMG.

Edit: 4 years extension OMG.

There's going to be some records set now, close the book.

I'm not sure a legends team from the entire clubs history would be such a good idea.To be fair,who apart from a very select few can ever lay claim to seeing the likes if Fred Webster or Jim Bacon in their pomp???

I'd say a better idea would be to split it to pre-war,post war and super league eras.

Makes things a lot easier

Post Falklands war in my case.

Feel free to nominate Donald and Diskin then



Leeds may well have been at their most successful in recent years, but it's a celebration of the ordinary overcoming the very ordinary and the absolute rubbish along the way.

My view is that playing standards have nosedived during the SL era and furthermore, we haven't produced a single British player who is capable of consistently performing at a world class level. I cannot name a single British player who has earned any respect as a world class player at international level either. It's a competition of SL clubs dominated by average antipodean players who struggle to nail a first grade gig back home.

In the past, antipodean signings were genuine class and in some cases they complemented genuine class British players. This is no longer the case.

WRT the most recent players who have played for Leeds, only Ellery Hanley and Garry Schofield appear worthy of a mention or inclusion.

IMMHO of course.

Going on the players I've seen play over the past 25years it's hard enough to pick a team, never mind since the club was formed. My team on players I have seen play would be.

1. Andrew Ettinghausen
2. Marcus Bai
3. Carl Gibson
4. Keith Senior
5. Francis Cummins
6. Garry Schofield
7. Cliff Lyons
8. Jamie Peacock
9. Matt Diskin
10. Barrie McDermott
11. Adrian Morley
12. Gareth Ellis
13. Kevin Sinfield

The Bench
14. Ellery Hanley
15. Roy Powell
16. Danny McGuire
17. Marc Glanville

Coach- Tony Smith

100 appearances ?

Adrian Morley
Gareth Ellis
Sam Burgess

Nope.

Morley and Ellis have rarely stood out in a GB or England shirt against the Aussies and Kiwis.

But keep trying.

Sam Burgess has the potential but he's still work in progress.

The only thing that has made this era look very ordinary indeed is the salary cap. However don’t let that blind you to the fact that Super League has played host to some very extraordinary players. Don’t ever think for one minute that the likes of Kieran Cunningham, Sean Long, Danny McGuire, Kevin Sinfield and others only looked good on the field because they played alongside what you call mediocre. These four players in their prompt would fit right into your beloved NRL.

In response to your nosedive point, BBC Four recently did a rerun of the 1978 challenge cup final and I can assure you that there’s been better Leeds and St Helen’s clashes in the super league era. Super League does have its faults, but at its best its produces rugby league quality that is as good as any era they was in the sport.

Unfortunately you let your ignorance dominate your opinions far too much. Whilst we may of not had the teams to beat the best of what’s to offer on the international stage. We’ve certainly have had the players. However I do agree that these players haven’t been consistent enough on the international stage.

Perhaps your greatest downfall of all is the whole ‘NRL rejects come to super league’ line that you dish out on here from time to time. Jamie Lyon went back to the NRL after a stint in Super League. Mark Riddell has recently gone back to play in the NRL for Sydney Roosters. Heck even Tonie Carroll managed to get a lot of seasons with Brisbane after he returned beact to the NRL after a stint with Leeds Rhinos. There’s many more examples, but I’ll give you a chance to mount a proper argument.

I'm sure you'll be pedantic about the parameters of your own particular definition of "world class"; and, of course, you have specified you are talking about international games, which serves to support your argument due to the gulf in class between GB and Australian teams in recent years - one might argue that Wally Lewis would fail to stand out in a team that was being beaten so easily as GB have been by Australia over the last decade.

But I would imagine many of our antipodean friends involved in the game would happily refer to Adrian Morley and Gareth Ellis as being "world class" given their impact and achievements in the NRL.

A fully fit Cunningham may have been good enough, but we'll never know. He was fairly ordinary in a GB shirt against the Aussies and Kiwis though. As for the other three, stop being silly. Save the bizarre slapstick routine for where it's more appropriate





Six scoots from dummy half or first receiver in wide open space does not constitute quality, though I do concede that some find that entertaining.



We don't have the players, and we haven't had the players since the early 90's. Wayne Bennett couldn't have coached any GB or England team to a series win against the Aussies during the entire SL era.



Naming a handful of Aussie players who return to the NRL (the exception rather than the rule) is not a counter-argument against the 100+ average antipodean players who struggle to get a gig in first grade back home but currently dominate the SL comp.

Again you shed a light to your ignorance with this comment. Whilst Cunningham may have failed in the internationals, he has more than made that up in the club game where he has excelled. After all international rugby league isn’t the only stage that our sport is performed on and isn’t even the best stage anymore. I’d argue that the State Of Origin is the greatest stage that rugby league gets played on and there’s not a chance in hell that an English player would get in. But plenty of New Zealanders have managed to get they gigs in that contest due to swaps of alliances.

The state of Origin is these days used as a tool to draw talented players to come and play for the ever declining Australian international side. Despite these efforts by Australia, New Zealand are still the best team in the world at the moment. I’m sure that there’s plenty of players in the game that have had brilliant club careers alongside bad international careers.

You only have to look at the world club challenge to realise that the top teams of both Super League and the NRL are close because the club game is in much better health than the international game. In before you roll out the ‘Australians don’t take the world club challenge seriously’ line. Well if you want to play that line, then England/Britain don’t take the international game seriously. It’s only fair that we allow each other to create smokescreens for ‘beaten by a better side’.



Yes plenty of people find it very entertaining and that’s why the club game is as strong as ever. It’s the international game that has drastically declined and not the domestic. Give or take, the domestic game of rugby league has pretty much stayed the same in terms of attendances. But Internationally we’ve gone from playing at Wembley to playing in Hull.



We seemed to have the players in 2007 when England managed a series win over New Zealand. The previous year to that we seemed to have a team that beat the Aussies for one game. I know where you’re going to take this one though. But this is still exaples in the super league era when we have matched the big two on the international stage. Not forgetting the world club challenge of course.



Greg Bird, Greg Eastwood, Jason Cayless, Shane Tronc, Clinton Toopi, Casey McGuire, Brett Mullins, Dallas Johnson, Robbie Mears, Ben Walker, Darren Smith, Craig Smith, Tim Smith, and many more which makes more than a handful of Aussie/Kiwi players who’ve returned to the NRL after a gig in super league.

Yet you will still remain ignorant no matter how much facts are presented. Your statement above is nothing but assumption. The reality is that the bigger picture is a lot more complex than the small picture that you present on here.

Is G1 round your house?