Ellery was simply unbelievable as a player. He could do things no one else ever could. Skills wise and in doing those 'impossible' plays the nearest modern equivalent was probably Rangi Chase, though he was never quite the complete player that Ellery was. That said, it was a different game in played in different times. Ellery truly was 'worth the admission money on his own'.

I agree

I agree. I still try to coach some of the things that Hanley did. Although of course some of it was simple physical ability learned over thousands of hours of practice.
My favourite and it's so simple; not many refs were bright enough to pick up on it. Hanley would watch the ball go say from the centre of the park out to the right say from the half way, he would track ahead, walk/jog quietly 15/20meters ahead of the ball, way offside, as the ref looks to his left and at the defence, not seeing Hanley ahead of the ball, He worked out that the breaking centre/2nd row would, on the 4th tackle on the 25ish and need an inside ball. Hanley would already be way ahead of his other players, and be there before anyone else. The Refs hardly ever picked up on it.
Brilliant, but simple. He was not just an amazing physical player, he was a brilliant, patient, thinker and tactician, like Edwards. (another we missed off the list!)

Not saying Ellery should be No 1 in the list, but the one piece of action from 40 years of watching Bradford that I can still recall in every detail is his try at the semi-final where he touched down in the corner just below where we were sitting. Classic

And he's still going and he's still going....

I was stood behind the goal that day, about 15 metres in from the touch line and had a brilliant view of it. When he scored that try me and my mate were planning to go up to Odsal the next day to get our Wembley tickets, we were 2 very excited 14 year olds. Realised at a young age dreams don't always come true

Was that the one against Fev in the semi?

Yeah that's the one

Some great names/memories there guys cheers.It's difficult coming up with one player but to me it has to be someone you've seen with your own eyes.They all had different talents and don't forget back in the day they had a full time job as well.How good does that make Keith Mumby?I have come up with my best team that I have seen with my own eyes and what they did at Bradford,for Bradford.
1.Mumby--best tackler I have ever seen.
2.Berwyn Jones---fastest winger I have ever seen and that includes Offiah.
3.Bradley--Leader extraordinaire
4.Newlove--Class
5.Vainakolo--Unstoppable
6.John Woods-Mercurial with speed,great hands and an incredible goal kicker
7.Seabourne-Incredible playmaker and carried Northern on his own at times.
8.Kelvyn Skerret--Powerhouse.
9)Keith Bridges--Best proper hooker I ever saw.He won the ball whoever's head and feed it was.
10)Peacock-Another great leader and inspiration.
11)Grayshon--All time great in any team.
12)Fairbank--Toughest forward and non stop worker.A must have.
13)Hanley--The most naturally gifted player I ever saw right from when he was in his early teens.

Such as Henry/Robbie Paul,Harkin,Wolford,Stephenson,Lowes,Forsyth,Thompson,Price,Fielden,Burgess,Noble,Withers etc etc were very hard to leave out.But I would travel a long way to watch the above team play.

Great times/memories,let's hope we can get back to where this great club belongs.

Can't argue with that much, although I'm struggling to leave Sam Burgess out.

Maybe a bench of
14. Robbie Paul
15. Henry Paul
16. Sam Burgess
17. Stuart Fielden

PS why aren't you doing the Quiz? (Button at the top of the page). Very good questions. Thought it'd be right up your street!

Some great names there. That's very good selection. There are so many to name. I like you inclusion of Graeme Bradley and Seaborne. The latter being a true Bradford Northern stalwart and hero. On and Off the pitch.

Mick, this was a great idea. It will remind some that Bradford CAN produce great players and teams.

In the end Sir Keith Mumby rules I think ! But I am biased.

Happy New Year.
Burgess was full of promise at the BULLS,but played his best rugby at Souths imo.Still, he was hard to leave out.Bench looks good.
I'll have a look at the quiz,hadn't noticed it.

Decent team there aardvark but I would have to swap bridges with lowes, he would guarantee you tries; and defo get you plenty of penalties from scooting any acting half,and think both the redfearn brothers deserve a mention, as does jimmy Thompson and len Casey

Good points. I must say that the pack at one time of Thompson, Bridges, Forsyth, Grayshon and Casey was one top LF away from being unbelievable.

Definitely............... Bob Haigh and Trotter weren't bad workhouses either....but Len Casey definitely added steel and skill!

What a great pack that is.Skill,fearless and non stop all there.The thing I remember about the team at that time was the "bit part"lesser known"filling in players we had who were so crucial to the sucess of the team as a whole.Im thinking of the Parker Brothers,Van Bellan Brothers,Redfearn Brothers Ferres(yes I know)Gary Hale,Dennis Trotter etc etc.

Don;t forget Dwyer. Not here long but when you play with two torn biceps and continue to throw your arms at the opposition you can say you have given your all for the team. For those that didn't see the match it was like watching the black knight in Monty Python;'Tis nothing but a flesh wound'.

Which game was this pal? Might try find it on Youtube. Plenty of old Bulls/Northern games on there that I'm currently watching!

I could be wrong here, but if my memory serves me correctly, didn’t Dwyer do his biceps against hull in a midweek match after a challenge cup final, like I said I could be wrong, and I don’t think it was televised either

Bang on is that.It was the Wednesday night after our Cup Final win in Edinboro.Played at the Boulevard,nearly certain it ended up a draw that night.

Bridges v Lowes.

This is the problem you have when trying to compare from different eras,different rules etc. and no comparison encapsulates this more than the above.
Back in the day a hooker was a specialised position.You needed someone who could win the ball in the oppositions half against the head/feed,Keith Bridges was simply the best I have ever seen at winning the ball no matter who had the head/feed--Gold Dust.
In the modern game this skill is redundant and anyone could play hooker,in fact many half backs play there now with acting half skills more important than ever.Jimmy Lowes was one of the best modern day hookers.of that there is no doubt,but for my team I chose gold dust.
David Redfern was one of my favourite players and I witnessed him score some memorable tries.Alan Redfern came good late on and then there was Rathbone,who would run straight through a brick wall for the good of the team.Forsyth,unstoppable near the line and many will remember George Ambrum who was a joy to watch at and Terry Price getting hold of his first RL ball and kicking it straight out of the stadium from half way and in those days we got the ball back==They had to change the rules--lol.Robbie Paul's hat-trick at Wembley will never be forgotten.So many great players and great occasions which makes it difficult to even chose 1 team never mind one player.

If I had to chose one player though that engenders all that was good about Bradford Northern and the sport in general it would be Keith Mumby.What a role model.He had a full time job at the same time as his Ruby League career,can you imagine how good he would have been in the modern era and full time training methods?The best tackler I have ever seen and likely to see,he was simply out on his own,there was nobody else like him.You would often hear the cheers of the opposing fans as their winger broke clear and looked certain to score,but the Northern fans knew what was coming as MUMBY swept across the green turf and took the winger down by the bootlaces and dispatched him into touch,incredible skill and timing.From that wet muddy day at York kicking a goal from the touchline to GB international we were all there with him.
Thanks for the memories Keith,it was a pleasure.

Spot on Madders. It all depends which rules we're using when you pick these sides; modern rules and you'd pick a modern hooker, but when you needed to win possession (rather than have it 'handed over') you needed a Keith Bridges. Simple as. Same goes for props. We'll never know how, say Sam Burgess, would have handled having to help his hooker win the ball - nor will we ever know how much better in the loose such as Jeff Greyshon or Jimmy Thompson, might have been if they hadn't had to spend so much of their energy scrummaging. Would Jimmy Jimmy have been quite so energetic in open play if he'd had to bust a gut getting the ball? Would he have even cut the mustard as a number nine if his position in the side had depended on him winning the ball? How many extra tries would Dave Redfearn, for instance, have scored if he'd been given the try each time he hit the flag? It is endless.

Truth is there are many great players who have been overtaken by the rules and it's totally impossible to be fair in these comparisons.

I think when Jimmy came through as a junior he was a scrum half if I recall fully so I think that adds to the debate about his commitment to winning the ball in the scrum it was never his game even as a kid before the rules changed!!
out of curiosity... is noble high on the list more because of his coaching as I never saw him or bridges play really past comments seem to say bridges would have been the choice of old hooker?

I can remember us having the wing pairing of Mike Lamb and Dave Redfearn. In one season I think they had 30+ trys each. That's some going and they must follow Big Les and Vaikona as our second best wing pairing ever.

Nobby played during the transition period, so he saw both sides of hooking and did so well enough to be selected as GB captain, so his playing credentials are never in doubt. As a bloke who was just an out and out ball winner I'd have to go for Bridges, though we should never forget how important the open side prop was in that regard. A clever scrum half and a good prop and the battle was half won.

Ah yes Lamb and Redfern.I witnessed every try they scored in that season.

Talking of tough Bradford forwards,I nearly forgot Frank Foster the mighty Cumbrian.The rumour was that they wanted to drop Frank one week but nobody dare tell himicon_smile.gifSometimes Frank may have been a little over exuberant-lol.