Correct. Look at Graeme West, who at 6'3 towered over everyone. His height is fairly normal for a rugby league player now - he wouldn't stand out as much now as did back then.

WOuldn't make any difference. Any flair that players have now is coached out of them so that they don't make any mistakes. Andy Gregory, for instance, was a magnificent player, but he was a risk taker. If his move went wrong, it could put his side in a vulnerable position.

Then you have the situation where people like him, Henderson Gill and certain others weren't exactly committed trainers. There would be a lot of players from that era who wouldn't make it today purely because of the discipline element.

So you would go from an Andy Gregory who was a gifted playmaker, who made up for his lack of training commitment by having a natural talent, to an Andy Gregory who has had his creativity stifled, and his enthusiasm beaten out of him by regimented training methods. In other words, he'd have got p155ed off and packed the sport in, or he'd never get out of the amateur game.

Many players played then because they loved the game and happened to be good at it, whereas now I get the feeling that they simply view it as their living.

Have you forgotten how Feka was exposed by Tony Smith and Warrington in the cup semi final? The '85 team would have worked him out in five minutes.



There were certain players of that era (not just Wigan players) who were as hard as nails and someone mentioned Brian Case on this thread and I reckon he'd have Feka on his backside time after time.

Many players form that side would not be of place in any side now such as Ferguson, Gill, Kenny and others. The two wingers are better than any running round in the game at the moment IMO.

Dave

Typo corrected etc.

Feka's good at bulldozing through defences when our side is on top. People like Brian Case and Shaun Wane were proper hard grafters who would drive the ball in and tackle all day long.

I still maintain that Case, Kiss and Wane were the best front row we ever had, and that includes the Platt/Dermott/Skerrett era. I've not a clue why those three didn't play for GB more than they ever did.

I seriously doubt they would be in a position to target him due to being starved of possession, its a daft argument as it is never going to happen and impossible to compare between the era's i simply feel that the current crop although not naturally as good players, with the advances in training etc would be too big, too strong and too powerful for the 85 team.

I could not see any pack from that era stand up to even our pack with the current training methods, i feel you would see them constantly on the back foot.

It is all relative though to the time they were playing and while I think the modern side would totally dominate the 85 team, the 85 team were clearly the more entertaining of the 2 sides.

You've picked a game that stood out at the time and since as one of the best ever. It's not really a fair indication of how the game was played as a whole.

If we're picking other finals Wigan were in during the same era you could point to the 87 Premiership final versus Warrington and say how much the game has improved since then and reach the opposite conclusions.

As many people have said I do happen to believe the game has become less skilful but it is also much quicker. Hopefully the moves to slow the PTB down will eventually lead to players having to become more skilful again and I think a few other rule changes could help speed this process up.