It is an impossible question really. How do you do say whether a winger was better than a prop, especally in the days of specialism and competitive scrums,

I don't think many of us would able to comment on pre-WW2 but I guess some of British RLs best players came from that era.

As someone who started watching as a child in the early 1960s I just missed out on the best years of a number of the British all time greats. However, I once asked my dad the question and after a few moments reflection he said Brian Bevan. Objectively, he was the best wing man of all time and one of the / the most exciting player of all time with ball in hand.

As I said though, there are many facets to RL and finishing (even as I understand it often from your own in goal area!) is but one. Neil Foxas always a player I admired and arguably the best all round British player? A sort of Daley Thompson - superb at everything, but not necessarily the best centre, best tackler, best kicker, etc of all time.

Then there are those players who coud control and dominate a game themselves, Murppy, Fulton, etc and those who could produce the big play when it mattered - Fittler, Lockyer, Meninga spring to mind.

Then there are all those comparatively unrecognised players that set the platform to win games. Maqybe the best players of all time have been forwards? In my time some of the best forwards have been the unheralded ones - those who do the hard work quietly - never missing tackles, not making mistakes, but rarely doiung anything flash. Maybe one of those is in fact the best player or maybe to be a great you have to have that something extra to turn a game?

How do you choose?

Andrew Johns is the greatest player I've seen.

Although Greg Inglis is the most complete Rugby League player I've ever seen.

Ellery Hanley is the greatest.

Andrew Johns would have been up there with him but for the fact that he was a drug taking (rhymes with)anchor.

From this period would have Freddie fitter in there as well

Joey johns and mal maninga for me

If they play Rugby League they are all great players.

As for other sports, who cares!

Royston Lightning, purely for his name.

For example, take the current England international scrum half Matty Smith, full time player, oodles of time to train every facet of his game ,massive facilities at his disposal, sports science , numerous conditioners ,trainers , physios, doctors etc etc etc every advantage a player could possibly wish for...plays maybe 25 to 30 times a year on superb surfaces , with massive recovery resources.

International scrum half of the 80s Andy Gregory, part time in a non science era , very little back up apart from the odd physio , trains on dark nights for a few hours, plays on mud heaps at various times in a 40 plus game year, playing very often 3 times a week with no recovery resources.

Given those two scenarios i would suggest that Gregory is still some distance in front of Smith as a player...despite Smith having every advantage going over Gregory...

Now swap the scenarios around, give Gregory ALL the advantages, transport Smith into the 80s with all the disadvantages..what would the gap in quality be then..????

Would Andy Gregory done much if he played in 2014?
His physique limited his ability to get any better with modern science.
I never really rated him to be honest, last of the old era, tough, crafty with ball skills and..................................
I doubt he would have made a first grade Club team in the modern era, its Horses for courses.

Impossibly to answer as I doubt anyone has seen every generation of player. Even then it's all about opinion.

For me one of the the best players I've ever seen (some may disagree but it's only my opinion) was Henry Paul. One of the best tackling half backs I've seen. Sitting props on their backside. The skill set he had was unbelievable. Watched highlights of some bulls games the other day. No one in SL today comes close to his attacking class. Absolutely outstanding player. Not saying he's the best, he's not,but he's someone I was always in awe of watching.

I think in 25+ years time, we'll look at Burgess, Thurston, Slater, inglis, Smith, Thurston as some of the greatest to have played the game. Privileged to have seen them play.

My first-hand experience of the game goes back to the 92-93 season. I've seen some great players in that time but I think Andrew Johns is out in front. The perfect half back - immaculate hands, kicking and leadership, and a gritty defender, too.

I'd put Gasnier, Churchill, Raper, beetson, Lewis in front of Johns just off the top of my head, I'd probably have Lockyer over Johns as well. From over here Hanley was a better player, Millward, Murphy and a fair few more from these shores.

Even Jonathan Davies is a better all round player than Johns, better kicker, had greater awareness, more speed (off the mark and top end), greater elusiveness, yeah Johns is the superior passer but JD is by far the superior player. Is JD the greatest ever..no but for me his all round talents put him firmly around the top 10 of all time.
deciding whom is the greatest is impossible, some players were unbelievably talented but played in unpopular/unfashionable teams and don't get the recognition. Some are elevated because they were in amazing teams and seemed to have all the time in the world and/or were dominant.

You put your nominated best player in any poor side and if the changes are vastly noticeable then you have a bona-fide nominee..

Haven't been watching the sport long enough to give many candidates.
Personally though in the time I have been watching then the best I've seen is Johns. The guy had it all.

This whole thread is laughable but you're the icing on the cake.

Neil Fox is without doubt one of the greatest RL players of all time - an absolute machine. Whether he's the best is purely theoretical and subjective, also how you compare a H/B with a Centre/Forward only you seem to know. What's for sure is he deserves to be up there and in contention with the others - so show some respect you ignorant stupid windbag.

Your obsession with Johns is truly baffling - a lesser Wally Lewis in every respect IMHO. Good player but not up there with Wally or a few more IMHO. As for being the inventor of the Banana kick, give over you silly man, players have been messing about with that one since the game began, at best Johns perfected it - invented it, you really are pure comic gold.

Wally Lewis,Ellery Hanley or Mal Meninga imo, though its tough to call.i really dont think there is any clear greatest of all time.You could make a good case for a dozen players down the years.

Hang on. Why is today seen as having an "advantage"? Why do you think players have all the time to train as much as they want on every facet of the game?
Gregory would have had to seriously improve his athleticism and speed, both of foot and of mind.
The game is far, far faster, players are far, far stronger and far more powerful. I'd say that's an advantage to Gregory not to Smith.
Players can't train all day long, in fact they'll probably do no more than 1.5 - 2 hours on-field training per day. Probably 3 days a week. The rest is recovery and rest time alongside off-field training. You train much more than that and your players will be tired on matchday.

If you put Gregory into that environment today he might flourish, he might crumble but I don't see why he's be somehow streets ahead of the top current SL players.

Too many RL fans have a habit of thinking players in the past were somehow amazing compared to modern players. Especially half backs because they put players through gaps. Well there were a hell of a lot more gaps and a far, far slower and much less effective defence for them to deal with. Just because it was better to watch doesn't mean it was a better standard.

Don't get me wrong I'm not one who thinks everything is better today either. But I think there's a lot of lack of respect for current players in RL when compared to past players. And I don't agree with it. I think today's players are just as skillfull.

I think if you put great players from the past into today's teams (having gone through modern training etc) then I think some would suffer and fall away and some would still be great players. And vice-versa for modern players.

No one can give a definitive answer to this one it is all about opinions.

For me the best attacking player i have seen was Lockyer his passing ability was superb and he just seemed to be able to turn up for big games. He could change his passing style so quickly a few years ago he was going left and saw the gap closing turned right and without changing his body stance threw a 25 metre pass to his winger to go in for a great try. That one piece of skill to me was sublime.

Hard to explain but being able to pass without changing your body position is really difficult

Wally Lewis was a better defender though as well as a great attacking player.

Both were better than Johns IMHO

Trouble with this is that attackers only look good because the forward do the hard work. That s why i liked Hanley. Great tackler and with good go forward but a clever player as well.

From History though i would say Harold Wagstaff from Huddersfield played for 19 years as well as GB captain and everything i have read about him says that he stood head and shoulders above any other player of his time. Made his debut at the age of fifteen years 175 days old, Scored a try on his debut. He only weighed 11 stone at the time !!!!

I would guess that none of the others mentioned above made their debut at anything like that age.

Made his debut before he was 16 and he was 11st? Sounds like standards were incredibly high back then. He would absolutely tear up the NRL nowadays.

Willie Horne.

As mentioned above, virtually impossible to pick out one ........ I've been watching since the 70's, and of players I've seen, there are a few candidates........

Ellery Hanley - without doubt the greatest British player of the last 40 years.

Darren Lockyer - the best full back I've ever seen, became one of the best stand offs.

Brett Kenny - kept Wally Lewis out of the Aussie team in '82 and Meninga out of the team in '86.

Kenny is a good shout. Even Billy Boston thinks he's the best player in history.

Andy Gregory would waltz into any current Superleague team

I personally can't argue against Johns - in my opinion he didn't have a weakness in his game. His vision and reading of a game was second to none, his passing game was superb, he revolutionised kicking out of hand, was a real strong runner and a great defender too - couple that with being the ultimate competitor, and I believe he takes it. He also wasn't afraid to rough it up and get stuck in when needed either - always a quality I've liked to see in a half back - he could never be bullied. Thurston is also a very good player, but nowhere near as good defensively as Johns or with ball in hand.

These arguments are always subjective, but I try and base my thoughts on a few of things - the first being was the player head and shoulders above his peers at the time and did he change the way the game was played. Finally, I try and take out natural physique and build as a factor as a true GREAT would have excelled without these advantages - so for instance Meninga wouldn't be up there for me, as a major factor in his ability was his size/physique against his peers at that time. Someone like Andrew Johns or Alan Langer are much more deserving for me in these arguments, as in theory, they're starting from a disadvantage physically and were still superstars.

As for British players, Hanley was awesome, but like Meninga, his pure physical advantage set him apart anyway (though he was also one of the best readers of the game). As a Leeds fan who started watching at the beginning of the 80's, I'll always give Schoey a nod in this sort of argument. Forget his persona and off field attitude towards fitness and sometimes his teammates - he was awesome for Leeds (carried us on his own for many years surrounded by utter gash), GB and also during his stint in the NRL. He was an excellent runner ball in hand, great vision, could pick the right passes and had a good kicking game too - wasn't a shoddy defender either. For me, his only in game weakness was he couldn't pass one way, so had to turn his back to throw the pass - though he used that to his advantage many a time, using his body to shield whether he'd passed or dummied and gone himself.

Going back a couple of generations - my old Grandad would have put Lewis Jones above anyone - obviously I never saw him play, but his reputation at Leeds is legendary.

Billy Boston picking an ex-wiganer, shock horror.