Re: Best winger; Jason Robinson or Martin Offiah? : Thu Aug 16, 2018 11:56 pm  

atomic wrote:

No its not.. Once players started receiving win/lose payments they were classed as professional, even though they where part time.

I always thought when the breakaway happened the NU was semi-pro. Players still had employment. Oh well the definition can be interpreted in different ways.

1895 in the UK
1908 in Australia

Re: Best winger; Jason Robinson or Martin Offiah? : Fri Aug 17, 2018 12:25 am  

RLRealist wrote:

I always thought when the breakaway happened the NU was semi-pro. Players still had employment. Oh well the definition can be interpreted in different ways.

1895 in the UK
1908 in Australia

Semi was the part timers.. Pro was the imports. The fact both recieved money set them as professional. If they didn't recieve money they were either trialists or amateur.

Re: Best winger; Jason Robinson or Martin Offiah? : Fri Aug 17, 2018 2:54 am  

Offiah in his prime was truly awesome. Sadly the game has changed to such an extent that neither he or Robinson would stand out quite as much IMO - I agree with an earlier poster that I'm not even sure Robinson would be a winger nowadays. Offiah had superb game awareness as well as speed, and an innate knowledge of what he was going to do before he got the ball which IMO was unmatched. That was summed up for me by his try for London against Leeds at Wembley 1999. He was past his best and yet he got the ball with half a gap and everyone in the stadium knew he'd score. See about 1 minute or so into the following: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5wUf3rGLbY

Offiah in his prime was truly awesome. Sadly the game has changed to such an extent that neither he or Robinson would stand out quite as much IMO - I agree with an earlier poster that I'm not even sure Robinson would be a winger nowadays. Offiah had superb game awareness as well as speed, and an innate knowledge of what he was going to do before he got the ball which IMO was unmatched. That was summed up for me by his try for London against Leeds at Wembley 1999. He was past his best and yet he got the ball with half a gap and everyone in the stadium knew he'd score. See about 1 minute or so into the following: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5wUf3rGLbY

[Bullseye]

Re: Best winger; Jason Robinson or Martin Offiah? : Fri Aug 17, 2018 7:41 am  

This clip of Offiah scoring a hattrick for St George is a good example. The Aussie commentator at the end mentions his ability to put himself in the right place at the right time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_8lqkIz1_8

This clip of Offiah scoring a hattrick for St George is a good example. The Aussie commentator at the end mentions his ability to put himself in the right place at the right time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_8lqkIz1_8

Re: Best winger; Jason Robinson or Martin Offiah? : Fri Aug 17, 2018 7:55 am  

Couldn't find a clip but I always loved his try against the Kiwis in 89. Deep in his own half, he practically shoved Andy Greg out of dummy half, took the ball, beat five defenders and went about 80 metres to score. Even from that far out, he'd seen the gap he needed and knew exactly what he was going to do.

Re: Best winger; Jason Robinson or Martin Offiah? : Fri Aug 17, 2018 8:40 am  

Bullseye wrote: This clip of Offiah scoring a hattrick for St George is a good example. The Aussie commentator at the end mentions his ability to put himself in the right place at the right time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_8lqkIz1_8 That third try reminded me of his first game against Cas at Widnes. We’d gone there itching to see this new sensation. After about 50 or 60 minutes he’d not done a thing. I said to my mate, shall we start giving him some stick? Then twice in a few minutes he popped up in the middle completely out of the blue to support a drive, take an offload, & streak though the defence from halfway. Robinson was a great player but not in that class.

Bullseye wrote: This clip of Offiah scoring a hattrick for St George is a good example. The Aussie commentator at the end mentions his ability to put himself in the right place at the right time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_8lqkIz1_8 That third try reminded me of his first game against Cas at Widnes. We’d gone there itching to see this new sensation. After about 50 or 60 minutes he’d not done a thing. I said to my mate, shall we start giving him some stick? Then twice in a few minutes he popped up in the middle completely out of the blue to support a drive, take an offload, & streak though the defence from halfway. Robinson was a great player but not in that class.

Re: Best winger; Jason Robinson or Martin Offiah? : Fri Aug 17, 2018 9:35 am  

BrisbaneRhino wrote: Offiah in his prime was truly awesome. Sadly the game has changed to such an extent that neither he or Robinson would stand out quite as much IMO - I agree with an earlier poster that I'm not even sure Robinson would be a winger nowadays. Offiah had superb game awareness as well as speed, and an innate knowledge of what he was going to do before he got the ball which IMO was unmatched. That was summed up for me by his try for London against Leeds at Wembley 1999. He was past his best and yet he got the ball with half a gap and everyone in the stadium knew he'd score. See about 1 minute or so into the following: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5wUf3rGLbY Slightly OT, but what was the Leeds winger playing at? He has Offiah in front of him with the ball, totally ignores him and goes straight for the player in support instead!

BrisbaneRhino wrote: Offiah in his prime was truly awesome. Sadly the game has changed to such an extent that neither he or Robinson would stand out quite as much IMO - I agree with an earlier poster that I'm not even sure Robinson would be a winger nowadays. Offiah had superb game awareness as well as speed, and an innate knowledge of what he was going to do before he got the ball which IMO was unmatched. That was summed up for me by his try for London against Leeds at Wembley 1999. He was past his best and yet he got the ball with half a gap and everyone in the stadium knew he'd score. See about 1 minute or so into the following: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5wUf3rGLbY Slightly OT, but what was the Leeds winger playing at? He has Offiah in front of him with the ball, totally ignores him and goes straight for the player in support instead!

[Bullseye]

Re: Best winger; Jason Robinson or Martin Offiah? : Fri Aug 17, 2018 9:38 am  

tyr wrote: Couldn't find a clip but I always loved his try against the Kiwis in 89. Deep in his own half, he practically shoved Andy Greg out of dummy half, took the ball, beat five defenders and went about 80 metres to score. Even from that far out, he'd seen the gap he needed and knew exactly what he was going to do. It's here at 1:07 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8TsCBgCp4M His try at 2:48 to win the series vs NZ in 1990 is something special as is the try that won the league for Widnes at 8:12.

tyr wrote: Couldn't find a clip but I always loved his try against the Kiwis in 89. Deep in his own half, he practically shoved Andy Greg out of dummy half, took the ball, beat five defenders and went about 80 metres to score. Even from that far out, he'd seen the gap he needed and knew exactly what he was going to do. It's here at 1:07 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8TsCBgCp4M His try at 2:48 to win the series vs NZ in 1990 is something special as is the try that won the league for Widnes at 8:12.

Re: Best winger; Jason Robinson or Martin Offiah? : Fri Aug 17, 2018 9:40 am  

Pah. Poor man's Greg Eden.

[Bullseye]

Re: Best winger; Jason Robinson or Martin Offiah? : Fri Aug 17, 2018 9:45 am  

Grimmy wrote:

Slightly OT, but what was the Leeds winger playing at? He has Offiah in front of him with the ball, totally ignores him and goes straight for the player in support instead!

Offiah feints inside to pass and he buys the dummy. Poor play but he made a lot of players look poor.