it looks as if the poll is starting to make sense, another one should be sinfield or long!?!?!

The weight of stated opinion (especially from non-Wigan/Leeds fans) is massively in favour of Schofield.

The poll itself only makes sense inasmuch as it probably reflects the votes of a high number of Wigan fans who can't or won't back up their vote with any substantial argument.

I see deluded Wigan fans are trying to re-writing history again.

You would have thought it is bad enough that they have named their fan club after an Iron Age tribe governed from Yorkshire (although it is nice that they are accepting the proper way of things).

Shaun Edwards was just a dirty version of Kevin Sinfield today - a good profesional at flat track bully domestic level but only looked ok as an international. Schofield was more of a Sam Tomkins in possessing that individual brilliance that made the Aussies take note.

As for 'fat Gary', he may be a complete tool these days but I'd rather go for a few ales with the likes of him and Lee Crooks than boring old panface and Shaun Edwards who both sold their souls to the darkside





Garry Schofield is the epitomy of what RL stands for - getting tanked up, criticising the game's administration and star players at every opportunity, and standing up for how great he was in the good old days of yore

Schofield for me too. What's been said about Edwards has already been said. Schofield would have shined in any team, Edwards didn't.

come on a big city like leeds doesn't have more fans than a small town like wigan?

next you will be telling me wigan are the most famous rugby league club in the world and this board will be removed by a mass protest!

i am not say all but i am sure many of them still have a sour taste of wigans success and its well known people favour the underdog so maybe their opinions are tainted just as much as leeds and wigans fans opinion? evidence to show the sour feelings are still alive and kicking to this day is the constant reminder that wigan was the only full time team back then even if it is not true.

You appear to have misread my post completely.
It wasn't simply about the number of votes. It was about the number of substantial comments to back up those votes. The most reliable arguments we can trust on here are those of non Leeds/Wigan fans who have posted the reasons why they have voted overwhelmingly for Schofield. (I admit to my bias...It's a shame Wigan fans can't own up to theirs)

Well said AP

no i can own up to my bias on situations on like this, only thing i am not biased on is the england team. but the fact is one was a benji marshal of their time and the other is cooper cronk both great players but one is flashier than the other but it would be hard to argue marshall is better than cronk just like this. people are actually trying to say edwards was a poor player on this thread and its just laughable.

garry schofield is what is wrong with rugby league in this country bitter and never see the bigger picture.

I for one am not arguing that Edwards was a bad player. I think he was one of the best in the domestic game. Schofield however was exceptional in any competition. End of.

The argument is not about attitude, it's about playing ability. Had the poll said 'who came out better and who came out bitter' I and any other sane person would favour Edwards. Having said that to characterise Schofield so definitively as 'what is wrong with rugby league' is in itself to miss 'the bigger picture'

i was replying to an early post with out qouting sorry, anything postive happens in the game and he turns it into negativity thats what i was trying to say.

ability and who is the better player is totally different, tim smith for example has all the ability but paul deacon was a better player. schofield was flashier than edwards no doubt about it could step anybody but edwards made wigan tick and made them very successful. same roles benji and cronk for their teams.

this topic will keep going round in circles as its only peoples opinions and no way for anyway to prove it so i will agree to disagree.

In the dinner i went to with him he kept on saying that his philosophy was 'dont worry about them let them worry about you'! It was something his dad told him when he was 8.

Thats how you could sum the two of them up, Oppositions would be worried about facing Schoey and try and devise plans to stop him. Edwards not so much.

Dont get me wrong I am not saying Edwards was a bad player far from it, if he was Wigan would have replaced just because they could back then.

Had Edwards spent 10 years at Leeds and Schoey 10years at Wigan, Schoey would be probably be known as the greatest player ever. Thats how much winning stuff inflates your ability in the eyes of others. Edwards would be another RL player capped by his country.

quality

Its certainly worthy of another thread as to why Farrell and Edwards are treated with kid gloves despite throwing in their lot with RU. I personally found the whole Tomkins to Saracens thing even more distasteful given who their coach is.

I suspect even Shaun Edwards would be embarrassed by claims he was as good as Schofield (who let us not forget was at international level easily the best British centre of the last 30 years before moving to stand off, and playing for Hull most of that time).

So would anyone like to argue as to why Edwards was a better player than Schofield? Can't see too many people actually putting an argument forward.

The only argument I've seen so far is that he was a better 'team player' than Schofield.
By which reckoning I reckon Ian Kirke must be a much better player than Schofield ever was.

Sinfield is a far better team player for his club than Schofield was too, but he isn't and never will be a genuine international world class player like Schofield was. In that respect, Sinfield and Edwards have a lot in common - they are both domestic club class players who compensated for their lack of natural ability with their professional attitude, work rate and organisational skills.

A bit harsh that. Sinfield and Edwards may not have (had) amazing individual flair but to say either of them lack(ed) natural ability is IMO a bit of an overstatement.

I'm with Keith on this one, Sinfield does posses any real speed, strength or power that is to a standard greater than his counterparts. However he does have one of the best kicking games in the world, aswell as an ability to organise his team which is something you can't really be taught. Sinfield has a different skill set in the sense of an outstanding ball carrier or defender, which he is neither. Leeds would be nothing without him as everything goes through him, however as at international level he is never given the same responsibility his main skill sets are not utilized, meaning most of the time he looks average as he is not played to his strengths.

Why would that be the case in the 2008 World Cup when he was surrounded by team mates and his old Club Coach was the England Coach?

Surely Tony Smith would know and respect his game and play him to his strengths?
England has not had many decent tactical kickers in many years, if Kevin is one of the best in the World why has that never been showcased at Test Level.

I agree with most of this(apart from the 'does' that should have read 'doesn't). For me Sinfield doesn't excel at most aspects of the game but is very good at virtually all of them. This IMO makes him( if not a brilliant player) at least one of the most complete players.

Surely though, that which 'can't be taught' has to be pretty akin to 'natural ability'

Yeah just a typo. And I agree, I wasn't really trying to argue whether Sinfield had natural ability or not, it was more a go at his playing level. At club level a Sinfield type player is far more valuable than at international level, as most of his teammates internationally are established, whereas at club level there is usually a few rookies and less established players who need the guidance. As I say it depends on what aspects you look at to define who is the better rugby player. Sinfield's skill set in some areas dwarfs many others in aspects that are not easy to judge against others. The most notable aspects of the game such as taking the ball in and tackling he is not up there with the best, however that does not mean he is not a good rugby player.

You're only partly agreeing with me on this.

Sinfield does not possess one of the best kicking games in the world - not in open play anyway. He's got a kicking game which is more than adequate at Super League level given the extra time and space in which to operate but which translates into being ordinary at international level against the best in world. He's an excellent and methodical goalkicker but that's not the same as possessing an excellent kicking game.

The ability to organise a team is something that can be learnt via an ethic of hard work, attention to detail and a professional attitude and that's what Sinfield excels at. That's also what Edwards excelled at. Sinfield has worked extremely hard at his game (just like Edwards did) and become proficient at most things without being particularly brilliant an any. What cannot be taught or learnt is natural ability - skill, pace, speed off the mark, speed of thought, an acute eye for an opening, an x-factor, etc.

Sinfield's organisational game of taking full responsibility for making the team tick will never work or excel at international level because his core skills aren't good enough. His game resides at the top end of Super League class but that doesn't, and will not come close to pulling up any trees against world class opposition. Sinfield looks average at international level because that's exactly what he is at that level, just like Shaun Edwards was.

Schofield OTOH was international class and possessed the natural ability and core skills to stand out as a world class player at that level.

Regarding Schoey v Edwards

No contest IMO and Schoey wins it by a country mile

The best two British players i have seen in my lifetime are
1st Ellery Hanley
2nd Garry Schofield

Both of these two players could have got into any club or international side and in almost any era, sadly Edwards wasn't even a close second to Schoey i'm afraid

Schoey is a bit of a Kn0b in his media articles but i believe that if he had played in that flat track bully Wigan side that he would have been deemed possibly our finest ever player

You only have to look how good Edwards was whilst he was at Bradford, London and Balmain