@Strongee said in [JAC](/post/1258265) said:@Tiger5150 said in [JAC](/post/1258260) said:@Strongee said in [JAC](/post/1258259) said:@fibrodreaming said in [JAC](/post/1258130) said:@pawsandclaws1 said in [JAC](/post/1258070) said:These so called ‘dirt hitups’ are a blight on rugby league. Wingers are being de-skilled. Give me a winger any day with the pace to be put into the clear and sprint 60 or. 70 metres to score. If you don’t have genuine pace you have no business being on the wing.
I agree. I speculated in an earlier post regarding Ken Irvine that as wingers have got bigger and stronger they have been sacrificing some pace in order to make the "dirty hit-ups".
Ken Irvine was only 5ft 8in and 78 kilos. He won a professional spring race over 100 yards in 9.3 seconds. Coincidentally Mike Cleary, who played for Souths in the 1960s, won a bronze in the Perth Commonwealth Games 100 yards timed at 9.3 seconds also.
It's hard to believe that with all the improvements in sports science and training methods over the past 60 years, no-one would get close to them today.
So I agree. The game is less of a spectacle with wingers doing the work of forwards, but most lacking the blistering pace of the old timers.
Dude ,that’s not true. It just seems it because they’re absolutely huge now. For the most part a lot of these guys are faster over shorter distances ,they just die really quickly .
I think the nostalgia fairy has sprinkled its dust on you . I watched games recently from the 80s , 90s , 00s early 10s and today .
And whilst the older games , had much more “action “, the general skill level was well below today’s game . It was extremely noticeable. From the way they pass , to offloading the ball with 2 hands , to the ball always hitting the deck , knock backs being actually called knock backs , so it lead to the call on the deck much more often .
The reality is , the wests tigers , would play the Aus team of the 90s and 80s , full of all those legends , and they would put 50 on them .
Just simple things like scooping the ball ip with 1 hand , no look passes , Backline plays , today are so crisp , they are played virtually at the defensive line . I watched the raiders of the 90s and all their moves were so predictable , and they played a lot of early ball. Long , slow build up . Hugely exciting innovative for the time . But not in 2020. The sheer size and power and speed of the average player is noticeable . People say guys like Nofa are slow . If he played back then he’d be the starting winger for the Aus team.
I think Larry Corowa would have been successful in the modern game, dare I say it similar to JAC. Larry was FAST but also a pretty big guy, tall, long legs. MOdern training etc etc.
I’m not saying guys from the past wouldn’t make it today , but just that guys from today , are Infinitely superior athletes to the ones from the past due to Evolution of training , strength and conditioning, skills etc. To quote our beloved A-a -Ron, it is what it is .
Let me pull you up on your scenario for a second mate,in the old days that you refer to and how they played compared to the game today,it came down to the players having jobs as well as playing footy..today their job is playing footy full time...big difference to what they had back then..these days they have all the facilities and assistance they need to get their JOB done...it was a sport for the people back then and the players had to earn money with jobs so they could support the families..these days the sport is their job to support their families...