I'd almost forgotten the hammering by Widnes. It was pouring down with rain, dark clouds literally and metaphorically over us that day.

Don't remember rain, but I do remember that I think Offia had left or leaving at that point, and winding up the Widnes fans all the way down with "where's your chariots gone" songs, totally confident of winning, and then just getting blown away.

I'm with you on all of them.

Anybody remember the 93 CC semi at central park? I was more optimistic than the Regal Trophy final for that one but we were blown away just as badly and that great Widnes side was fading by then too.

I remember the journey to the game. Our coach got stuck in traffic. On the radio were Talking Heads with their song 'Once In A Lifetime', which has the refrain 'Same as it ever was....'. That was true so often back then. Disappointment after disappointment.

93 CC Semi. Harvey Howard killed us IIRC. Rumours of unrest on team coach and a Headbutt between Ellery and Schoey.

This used to be the most dysfunctional club ever.

Never mind John Holmes or Kevin Sinfield, there should be a statue of Gary Hetherington at Headingley.

Too true. If you would have told me back then we were going to win what we have a decade down the line i would have had you sectioned! I look back on those days with fondness now though TBH, maybe because we have finally tasted what it feels like to be on the other side of things. The great hope pre-season as our trolly load of new recruits are wheeled out ready to herald a new dawn, only to be let down in spectacular fashion...rinse and repeat...

G1- i remember Howard being very good that day too, infact their whole pack battered us.My biggest memory though is of them scoring a try, us taking the restart kick off, Paul Moriarty collecting and bumping off 3 would be tacklers rampaging down about 60 metres before handing on to Myers (i think) to kill us off.

The 90s were paradise compared to the 80s. At least we were getting to finals.

We won the JP Trophy in 84 and Yorkshire Cup in 88 what more do you want?

All those hammerings by Widnes merged into one after a while. Just a shame it tempted us to go after Dougie "Destroyer of Clubs" Laughton, the Jose Mourinho of his day. Brilliant with the cheque book, disinterested without it.

Left a trail of devastated club bank accounts in his wake.

& a massive pile of dog ends & bogies.

You could be writing about my 29 years of life as a Newcastle United fan with that! My grandad (who died a couple of years ago) bought me some knock-off Newcastle United wine when he was on holiday in Europe about 15 years ago and said to open it when we win something. If I end up having kids and grandkids, maybe one of them will do so and die soon after having it, as it will have been like red, pickled vinegar..!

I agree with you tvoc. The Roy Francis team IMO was one of the very best Leeds has produced as was the fast offloading style of play. Despite starting with a talented squad it took Francis several years and an astute signing or two get the team to be able to play his attacking offloading style. Bit similar to the McDermott experience in a way

Indeed. But we must not forget that there were many players with tremendous individual skills which the modern game rarely produces perhaps because the modern game is based much more on physique. These same players would undoubtedly be stars today and would benefit from not having to put in 40 hours work per week before they trained and played.

However we should not try to suggest one era is better than the other even if we witnessed them personally.

Before my time. I think my first league games were the second and third tests in 1990 (one of my dads friends having dropped out at last minute and me getting the spare ticket) - you could say I got used to disappointment from an early age.

I did qualify 'best Leeds team ever' as the best I have seen (since 197icon_cool.gif. Although I had the pleasure of watching the great Alan Smith (Ryan Hall MK1), Les Dyl, John Atkinson, John Holmes etc I became a supporter too late to witness the team you describe. However, my dad used to wax lyrical about the players you mention such as Syd Hynes and Mick Shoebottom. His mate in his regular South Stand position was such a fan of Shoebottom he could never see any good in his successor? John Holmes. Very different players I understand...a pity I never got to see what 'all the fuss' was about. Above all others though my late dad never stopped telling me how good a player Lewis Jones was !!!! I do feel sad he never got to see this golden decade, but I guess his fond memories of players and the team you mention that I never witnessed would have made up for it.

Once in a generation indeed.

All the players you mentioned would be top stars if they played today I am sure and SL would be the richer for it.

I reckon the majority of great RL players would make it in any era. What I do think would change is the position some of them played.
I reckon Holmes, for example would have been a scrum half these days, and Atkinson may have been moved to FB, although I think of all the great players in that back line he'd have struggled the most because he wasn't the best defender or fielder of kicks... He was no Kieran Dixon, though

To be fair to Atky, by the time the last tackle "bomb" became prevalent (off the back of the 1978 Australian tour IIRC) he was coming towards the end of his career. Think he only played another couple of seasons at Leeds after that before heading off to Carlisle?

I'd imagine whether past players could've been successful in this era wouldn't so much be down to skill/ability.....but how well they'd do in terms of today's fitness/training and taking it seriously and going it right.

We still see players nowadays who don't let the fact they're full time professional RL players get in the way of a good drink. On the other side of the coin they could be guys who have disappointed in this era who would've been good in previous decades with the 'different' training/fitness regimes.

I personally cannot see us doing the treble. Especially with the super 8 format making it harder than ever to win. With the challenge cup so late in the season also makes it very difficult to peak so close together

Agree with this entirely... Risman, Smith, Hynes, Watson, Atkinson, Shoebottom, Seaborne, Clarke, Crosby, Ken Eyre, Albert Eyre, Ramsey and Batten. Redefined the sport and at times were simply jaw droppingly brilliant (CC Semi Final vs Wigan at Swinton Atkinson turning the great Billy Boston inside out comes to mind!

Current Leeds side certainly over the last 12 or so seasons the most successful we've ever had but that's not quite the same thing as being the greatest side we've ever had

I was there that afternoon in 1968 and that Leeds team broke my heart. They played a different type of rugby that was from another planet and far superior to an ageing Wigan team.
They were far and away the best team Leeds team I have ever seen and very few of the present team would have made their way into that team. Having said that Cuthbertson would fit perfectly into that style of play

Lets put even that in perspective though. That Leeds team won the CC in 68 which they could easily have lost but for Don Fox slipping. They didn't win the Championship until the following year, when they got knocked out in the CC.

I'm not trying to denigrate them, but there does tend to be a bit of rose tintedness with looking at the past.

Saying none of the current Leeds team would get into the 68 team is nonsense. If they were transported back in time today, none of the 68 team would be in, as physically current players are light years ahead. Bring the 68 team forward and you'd have the same result. Like I said, its simply not the same sport. Probably the closest you could come to that sort of comparison is the 82 Kangaroos, the first team of which genuinely were playing a different game to RL in England. They lost the scrums but smashed every team they played. The 82 Kangaroos would similarly be smashed if they played today.

I think you are missing the point.

I do not think there is a suggestion of time warping the 1968 team into 2015 complete with baggy shorts and heavy leather ball and full time job down the pit. For a start their aren't any pits now! Rather it was a comparison of skill and playing style which was streets ahead of anything in it's day.

It is impossible to compare different eras fairly for obvious reasons.

However IMO if the 1968 team were playing in SL now they would also benefit from the modern training and would be full timers. So you would have the 68's skill set and playing style v the current skill set and style with both teams having a more equal fitness if not size. Then I am sure you would see that skill and ability would trump size and power. Not that our current team lacks skill and ability it is just that the way the 68 team made the ball work with brilliant lines of running and with great pace.

The 68 CC final was the water splash final which I attended. Wakefield scored a try because the ball stopped and skidded in a huge pool of water and would otherwise have been fielded by Atkinson. So the conditions ruined the game if not the excitement so for either side to win was a lottery. On a dry ground Leeds should have won in style. But the comment was not about trophies but best side more to do with playing style and skills.

I guess had you witnessed this side play you might also have rose tinted memories as they were so good. The discussion was about skill and playing style. Had the 68 side been playing now they would have benefited from current fitness training and had you transported the current side back to 68 so they too would have been full time workers and 2 nights a week trainers. So are left with skills and physiques to compare. I prefer to say both sides are up there with the very best.

By the way if you saw the 82 Kangaroos you will have got a glimpse of how Leeds played under Francis but we had the advantage of having a good pack too! So it is not true to say these Kangaroos were the first team to play a different game to RL in England.