I would like to know just what has happened to the ball players of the modern game of rugby league.I go back a long way,my first match at the Boulevard was 1956 against the mighty Wigan and Billy Boston.(FC Won)
I know the game has changed a lot but basic ball handling and finding someone who knows what to do with the ball seems to have gone out the window.Where are the clever players? or am I just not seeing them cos the game has got faster.
I am just not seeing the likes of Hepworth,Hardesty,Knocker,Craney even Roger who much against the grain was to me a great player.These players to mention just a few from Yorkshire could change a game.
I think they will be called memories of a bygone sport,which has for me not changed for the better.

Going to see less and less as the scouts and coaches seem to look towards the physical attributes of a player before anything else.

I dont think players are less skillful these days, just that the players are fitter/more athletic and defences are better which nullifies the skills. I wasnt around to watch any of the players you mention but whenever I watch clips of them I cant help but think that against a modern day defence they wouldnt be nearly as effective. The game has changed and whether its for the better or not is open to debate.

I think that full time, professional training has equalised out the skill factor of individuals.

In those bygone years, the exceptional players were playing against what in essence were relatively (in comparision to todays players) unfit, out of shape blokes who's idea of training was a couple of hours twice a week followed by a gallon of ale and a fish supper. It was easier for the mmore nimble of players to stand out.

bit harsh think , defo more fitter now, but watched a 70s cup final last month between saints and leeds and i thought the game was pretty quick, remember in those days props played the full 80 min not 10 min spells so i think those guys had a lot of stamina, i think it was the leeds prop pickford who got the ball and was still running it in hard in the last few min, yes the game has changed some good some not so good,

in a few years time we will have hookers built like cunningham and 12 six foot, 15 stone plus players in every team.

that's rugby union.

You'll find the "modern players don't have the skill of the oldies" argument in football, cricket, most sports really.

That's what we were led to believe in 82. Norton, Crane, Woods, Nash, Dyl etc had skill levels the young Aussie no names didn't have. Unfortunately this turned out to be rubbish & we'd never encountered athletes like Pearce, Meninga, Grothe etc, the result was devastating.

Back in the day your full-back was little more than a goalkeeper, now it's a pivotal attacking position. Hookers have gone from being props to half-backs & wingers that never left the touchline now do almost as much graft as the forwards.

The game's just changed.

Hopefully the emphasis on size will stop at a junior level with the switch over to summer rugby and in turn promote skills over size.

We've coached it out of Liam Watts. Would have made a very good "modern day" loose forward as he has the size for prop and very good handling skills, but I cant see it anymore.

There will always be a place for ball players.

Just been told to Drive and Run has he

It moves in Cycles, it used to be that your 6,7,9,13 where the key ball players. But nowadays the 13 is used more as a third prop in most instances to give you more size and now the fullback is key to attacking plays i.e Tomkins, Hodgson

Drive
Run
KEEP SCHTUM?

Might have got further than luauki.

Lets not forget that teams from that era were only 5 metres apart from each other then .

that your mum or brother in your avatar?

Mum died 4 years ago so she could look like that now I suppose, Brother is in a wheelchair so no not him.

The era of the ball player was when the 5 yard rule was in place , the introduction of the 10m distance has placed the emphasis on power and strength.

Teams needed decent ball players to unlock the defences.

Just about every team had one and they did not need to do a lot of running about , they wouldn't be 'carried' in the modern game. Although TBF some were really good tacklers - Charlie Birdseed springs to mind for your lot.
Signed from somewhere like Rochdale for a few thousand quid at the back end of his career , could tackle , pass , scored a few tries and even knocked over a couple of goals.

I agree with most of whats been said and I liked old Charlie,but at play the ball nowadays compred with 5yard rule you still have 2 players in front and how often do you here get em on side for the rest who encroach.
As for been fitter yes I will agree but they still dont know what to do when trying to cross the line from short play the ball the old clever ball players did.

Todays game is much faster, fitter and so on, the real ballplayers have no place in todays game i am afraid as all players would be expected to have a decent bag of tricks with ball in hand where as many back then were just trundlers

Bollox, they were a product of the game at the time. Great players from any era would be great players now if they had all the advantages modern players do

The modern players should have a bag of so called tricks but you dont see many nowadays at the KC thats maybe why we are not challenging for anything.