BrisbaneRhino wrote:
Meninga and Miles of the 80s would not be 'beasts' today. They'd be unfit and nothing like as powerful as they are remembered being. Assuming they trained in the latest ways, its possible they would be beasts - but they wouldn't have the same skills, and wouldn't be anywhere near as physically dominant as they were in their heyday. Its also possible that with all the training etc neither would even play in the centres.
They would have the same skills now as in the 80s but perhaps less opportunity to use them as defences would be tighter now. I think they'd both still stand out. Miles's skill level would still set him apart even with fewer opportunities to display it. As I remember both (but mainly Miles) had spells in the backrow. I could see that happening more in the modern era. As for their physical attributes, both bulked up quite a bit during their careers, they certainly had the physical frame to benefit from modern methods. I see no reason why they couldn't be as powerful as their contemporaries if they played now.
BrisbaneRhino wrote:
One skill which is almost infinitely better than back then across RL is kicking in general play. When the handover on the 6th came in (83-84) all most teams could muster was the bomb. There were no halfbacks anywhere who had a kicking game that would rival Johns, Cronk or Thurston. I don't believe these skills were ever possessed by any previous generation of halfbacks either, as they simply weren't required to the accuracy or frequency they are now.
I'm not sure I completely agree as I remember halfbacks using the short chip a lot more in the 70s and 80s than is done now. I also remember the likes of Paul Harkin and Deryck Fox having incredibly varied kicking games (it made up for their relative lack of pace). I think a reason kicking was less important was that there was more of a genuine competition for possession in the 70s and 80s so more incentive to run the ball. Back then a side had a reasonable chance of winning the ball against the head at the scrum or even striking at the play the ball.
I watched a game from the 80s recently and there was far less long kicking and far more scrums - simply because you had a better chance of getting possession back.
I think the loss of the battle for possession has made RL a bit duller and more predictable in some ways.
Am I off topic enough yet?