Murphy > Long

But whos to say if Gilly meant in terms of individual skill or most successful?

It would be a guess on my behalf but I would imagine that Long could be easily be Saints most successful SH counting medals won.

The other one is impossible for anyone to conclude.

Totally. I doubt Gilly did a video review of archive footage of every Saints scrum half before making his decision. It's an off the cuff statement and a very valid one.

oh dear,

most people on here will of only really watched longy play, and 12 years at that.

murphy its what people have told us, the end of his playing the odd classic from the day.

you wouldnt say either answer was wrong...would ya??

Yes I would.

Only because you were old enough to have seen both. I've seen old footage and the players are all fat, 5 foot tall and really, really slow.

If you put a modern day Greg Inglis against the best team in the world from the time Murphy was playing, do you think they'd even get a finger on him?

If you can get a copy of the 1962 GB tour to Australia.

GBs back line was Round, Boston, Ashton, Fox, Sullivan, Bolton & Murphy.
Huddart, McTigue, Edgar etc in the forwards.

No fat five footers in there.

I accept it's a different game, but class is class. They would have been great players in any era.

Compare that back line to what we sent to the World Cup last year, not one of last year backs would get near to the 1962 side.

If they did he probably wouldn't get up again thats how they played it then!!

As for unfit and slow tell that to Vinty while he was running back to Widnes after training!!!!!

And the strength of that 1962 side meant that likes of Vinty, Stopford, Southward, Davies Carlton etc didn't get in.

in 1962, Sean Long would have been playing prop rather than scrum half.

It's almost impossible to compare players of different eras in terms of 'who was the better player?'

Who would win in a race between Carl Lewis and Usain Bolt? Stats say Bolt would obliterate Lewis but if the American had all the advantages in technology and training Bolt has had it may be a lot closer.

Both Long and Murphy will be remembered as great players. There's no point arguing over who was best.

Why, were the prop forwards faster in those days?

murphy proved it at international level,end of

In a different era, with different players, against different teams, under different conditions etc....

You're right, end of

sean was great for us, but i loved watching bobby goulding. Great rugby brain.

The Long's and the Goulding's will come and go, I might never be around to hear it said they where great, but Murphy's name comes to the fore everytime this sort of comparison is done, year on year.
By far one of the greatest players of his generation A.J.Murphy ....(the People's friend

)

He only had one fault.[size=25 He never played for Wigan[/size

He got Maurice though.

With the telephone, in the office, Mr. Magoo ...ooops thought it was Cluedo

Who cares? this is about Saints best scrum half.

Senior says " Leeds are the best team ever in the SL era"

Gilly says " Sean Long is saints best ever scrum half"

Both just saying what they think, ok they are wrong, but hey ho.

Long WAS a far better player than most people give credit. In his prime his speed off the mark was right up there with the best of them. During early years he relied solely on footspeed, but as the seasons went by he developed an organising and passing game that were more than useful.

Prime Long was in the two or three years before his legs started to go when defences didn't know whether he was going to run or pass and his short kicking game was at its very best. The Long of today is a shadow of that player and you don't need to be Wayne Bennett to figure out a way of neutralising him.

If Gilly was drawing comparisons between Long [iat his best[/i and Murphy then I think he's got an argument. It's an argument he'll lose every time, but it's an argument.

i work at mc donalds in southport and i serverd murphy the other day it was ace i just turn into a 8 year old fan, its sad really "can you sign this for me please Mr. Murphy" and then sat down and chated for 20 min


really nice man, didnt bite my ear off or anything

I would consider Murphy to be the better of the two but Sean is certainly the second best srum half to play for Saints.

Many people now following the game have never seen Murphy play and so comparrisons are more difficult.

Murphy was not perfect by any means and in many repects Long has had a far better temprament to play the game. look at how many times Murphy got the red card for foul play or abusing the ref. I don't ever recall Long getting a red card in his entire career and certainly Long has kicked far more goals than Murphy ever did.

I was far to young to see murphy play and only seen him on odd videos and what my dad told me about him.

If he was better than longy then he was a hell of a player.

One thing for sure longy is the best 7 I've seen play in this country in super league by a mile.

Also longy has got to be the greatest match winner this clubs ever had.