What he did in a Bulls shirt is not at question here! I have nothing but respect for him in that area, what i did have issue with is Feilden gets stick for leaving (pushed) while Peacock gets the messiah treatment for running out his contract then leaving, money may well have been found for a player who actually was committed to stay, lets not forget he had all ways stated he was going to join his home town club at some point, plus having a stint in the NRL in between!

I'd love to believe Peacock in his story but it doesn't seem to ring true at all to me, but who am i to question a living legend, and stick up for the devil like Fielden who should be horse whipped through the streets of Bradford for leaving for £400'000!

Apologies for the maths, the wife did the adding up



Sorry for the confusion Bulliac, should have quoted debaser!

No need to apologise mate, all opinions are welcome and as I alluded to earlier in the thread I'm pretty sure, with the coming financial maelstrom gathering pace, that Fielden was, at the [ivery[/i least, not actively dissuaded from moving to Wigan so the club could receive the transfer fee. I'm certain the club were far from unhappy about the deal, so it's more than a bit rich to 'bag' the player in these circumstances.

It's pretty impossible to apportion blame, if 'blame' is indeed the right word, in these things. I'm looking forward to reading Stu's book, and Brian Noble's too, I can't believe they won't publish them.

Maybe they should both have a chapter along with peacock and 'Arris in a single book so we can read any the slagging off in one neat edition.

It can be called 'Bradford sodding Bulls' with a foreward by Graham Murray

At the time I found it odd that JP should write his book (not read it yet) as he wasn't at the end of his career. Maybe another in him.
As for Stu, I don't personally think he'll do a bio. and Nobby has far too many irons in the fire for a book atm, he'll write one without a doubt (I'll deffo read when that's published)

I'd love to read Nobby'a biography, and not just for the coaching stuff.

I always wondered why Nobby never got a look in for GB after captaining them in 84. He was a great skipper in very difficult circumstances yet was immediately dropped once Bamford became GB coach for HKR hooker David Watkinson who was older and slower than Nobby. When Reilly came in he preferred Beardmore (who was better in the loose admittedly) but he also preferred Paul Groves who wasn't the best and Paul Hulme who'd never played hooker in his life.

The real scarey thing is how many of them had dodgy 'taches? Groves was a ginner as well which should have prevented him for representing GB.

Here's a tached XIII from that era of GB

Lydon
Drummond
Schofield
Loughlin
Ford
Hanley
B,Beardmore
Ward
Noble
Fieldhouse (Ginner too)
Dixon
Fairbank
Heron

Not a bad side. Harder to think of a Ginner XIII.

Thinking back to hookers in the 80s really illustrates how much the game has changed now. Back then you had to win ball in the scrum and those darts from dummy half weren't the be all and end all. IIRC the best hookers in the 80s in UK RL were Phil McKenzie and Kevin Beardmore. Both would more than hold their own nowadays.

OK, I read this earlier and I could barely watch tonight's game for the distraction of wondering... what's Graham Murray gotta do with the Bullies

Agree with all of that.

Before the eighties winning the ball and a solid tackling stint was pretty much everything for a number nine. Without a decent share of the ball you hadn't a chance of winning any game so if you couldn't do that basic element then you didn't play hooker, simple as.

I think it's fair to say that the better a hooker was at winning the ball the more he would be forgiven for other failings. It was when the referees stopped looking for scrum offences and started to pretty much allow possession to go with the put in that hooker became more an extra half back. I still have an admiration for the Bridges, Nobles and Stephensons (and their busted knees), we won't see their like again.

I/We managed one many years ago on VT. When my head clears a bit more I will have a think. Start with:

1. Radlinski

8.Graham

4. Kris Welham
11. Brad Meyers

is this ginner 13 a GB team?

if not then 2. Brett Dallas