Watching some of our chubby players in our pack roll about yesterday got me to thinking who were the biggest fatties we've seen in a Bradford jersey?

Here's a few that came to mind:

Brendan Hill - was great for a season then seemed to lose his way. Vast in size. I once saw him demolish a fry up the size of Texas in the Italia Cafe on Great Horton Road.

Epalahame Lauaki - What was the point of him again?

I once saw Paul Anderson eat a family sized bargain bucket by himself at a KFC somewhere off the M62. I'm about 90% sure he was playing for us at the time (it was a long time ago, the exact details escape me).

Our fattest two props must have been Peter Goddard and Ken Roberts who played together in the late 60's. Does anyone remember them?

I remember them, Didn't Ken Robert's play for Halifax at one point. I was thinking of Peter Goddard but couldn't remember his first name. You wouldn't like to be sat on by those two

A bit before my time those two but I found pics of them on https://www.rlhp.co.uk/archive.asp and they do look more than a bit portly.

A bit before my time those two but I found pics of them on https://www.rlhp.co.uk/archive.asp and they do look more than a bit portly.

Looking at Batley vs keighley 1994 on a well known video sharing site, around 1:42 a nice profile shot of Brendan Hill in his Keighley days. He seemed even larger at the time, although I was a lot smaller.

(On a side note, safe to say the ref has lost control a little bit a minute later on)

Brendan Hill was a giant of a man, but I recall a goal kicking prop by the name of Jimmy Fiddler been even bigger.

Most Friday tea-times on the way back from work I'd see David Solomona outside the chippy in Oakenshaw

I remember them. Ken Roberts was a no nonsense old style prop. Peter Goddard was an underrated ball playing prop, not very mobile but a good rugby brain and a great pair of hands. Many set moves seem to revolve round him. After seeing Peter Kay I would not be surprised if he is Peter`s love child!! He`s his double.

He certainly did. A huge man and Ive heard stories about his time on the pitch but he were also great for the club in his last years. [urlhttps://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/halifax-rl-legend-roberts-dies-1090594[/url

Was going to say Solomona.

I once saw Tavita Vaikona smashing back popcorn and a hot dog at Showcase but he was in no way fat - he'd since left Rugby league and was playing for Hull RU.

To be fair to all those mentioned, a big belly was standard back then!

Yeah, you can go right back to Frank Whitcombe

Goddard has his own version of a side step. His feet stayed still but his gut shimmied from one side to the other. Definitely a ball- playing prop rather than a mobile one but as he played mainly in the era of unlimited tackles it didn’t matter in the way it would now. Ken Roberts was a villain when he played for Halifax but views changed when he joined Northern!

A halifax legend was Ken Roberts.

Solomona seemed to struggle to keep trim at Bradford... At times, even Vagana and Vainikolo had their weight issues. You had no shortage of 'big units' back in the day - luckily SL defences at the time used to leave gaps 2 buses wide with regularity so it wasn't a problem for them to get across the try line (according to Stevo).

Then there's the immortal line about Paul Anderson being left 'in the growing bag' at school by Ray French. Happy days!

Leeds have Hurrell and Lui these days... Hurrell in particular reminds me of the old Bulls style, at least when he's not making handling errors.

Lesley did have fitness issues early on in 2002. Took him a while to overcome them, then his knees were a problem from 2006 and largely why he went to Union. Big Joe and Anderson were on the large side but it didn't impede their performance.

Ah two happy memories...

Anderson dispatching Gary Connolly on the way to a try at Odsal and the crowd at Knowsley Road singing 'Lesley is a girls name, Lesley is a girls name, nah nah nah nah' only for their winger to pay the price when he grabbed him by the throat and hammered him over the advertising hoardings into said crowd. Oh how the mighty have fallen...

Colin Forsyth was short and round and impossible to stop near the line.

Didn’t Shirley Crabtree play for Bradford northern and Halifax ?