Re: Ben Flower... : Thu Oct 16, 2014 12:50 pm  

Rogues Gallery wrote:

Flower can have no complaints.

But the worst one I have ever seen was in the 1970 Challenge Cup Final

Keith Hepworth with both feet off the floor elbowed Colin Tyrer off the ball breaking his jaw. Tyrer was a very good attacking fullback and great goal kicker. Cas went on to win the game by 5 points and Bill Francis missed 3 penalty kicks.

The attack on Tyrer was so late that it was not penalised, Hepworth stayed on the field and never got suspended. No video ref or trial by t.v then.

yes I remember that.Worst one I saw was the blatant two handed smash into Leeds Alun Rees by Keith Holden of Oldham Rees was never the same after that.Holdn got sent off , but just a run of the mill ban

Re: Ben Flower... : Thu Oct 16, 2014 1:10 pm  

Rogues Gallery wrote:

Flower can have no complaints.

But the worst one I have ever seen was in the 1970 Challenge Cup Final

Keith Hepworth with both feet off the floor elbowed Colin Tyrer off the ball breaking his jaw. Tyrer was a very good attacking fullback and great goal kicker. Cas went on to win the game by 5 points and Bill Francis missed 3 penalty kicks.

The attack on Tyrer was so late that it was not penalised, Hepworth stayed on the field and never got suspended. No video ref or trial by t.v then.

Your mention of Colin Tyrer reminded me what a great innovation the kicking tee has been!

Colin used to sculpt his own kicking tee that should have guaranteed an invitation to the Guild of Bricklayers as a master craftsman. Painstaking, an attention to detail and never rushed!

Re: Ben Flower... : Thu Oct 16, 2014 1:17 pm  

Sal Paradise wrote:

Other than he didn't connect?

Not sure why McCormack had to zigzag off the field with tweety birds flying round his head if it didn't connect.

Re: Ben Flower... : Thu Oct 16, 2014 1:18 pm  

lionarmour87 wrote:

yes I remember that.Worst one I saw was the blatant two handed smash into Leeds Alun Rees by Keith Holden of Oldham Rees was never the same after that.Holdn got sent off , but just a run of the mill ban

Yes it was a very bad one on Alun Rees and very deliberate. Big signings from RU always got a rather nasty reception from certain sections of League perhaps because of jealousy of the big signing on fees. Alun Rees had one of the best side steps I have seen and sadly this injury certainly limited his rugby career but he went on to be an outstanding country cricketer and one of the best cover fielders of his day.

Difficult to make accurate comparisons with incidents from a different era because we did not have the benefit of close up TV or replays in those days. With regard to the ban handed down to Flowers, I think it would have been more meaningfull to have banned him for a fixed number of first class matches rather than a fixed term which covers all of the off season. Six months sounds much more severe than 10 matches so IMO he got off lightly.

Re: Ben Flower... : Thu Oct 16, 2014 2:13 pm  

Had Cassidy tried to tackle Morley properly he'd probably been the one on the floor needing the physio, Morley ran in like a f**king steam train.

Re: Ben Flower... : Thu Oct 16, 2014 2:40 pm  

craigizzard wrote:

Not sure why McCormack had to zigzag off the field with tweety birds flying round his head if it didn't connect.

Because Morley simply ran over him his swinging arm missed by quite a wide margin - if he had connected then McCormack could have been seeing stars for a prolonged period

Re: Ben Flower... : Thu Oct 16, 2014 3:25 pm  

Sal Paradise wrote: Because Morley simply ran over him his swinging arm missed by quite a wide margin - if he had connected then McCormack could have been seeing stars for a prolonged period He missed him? Are you Stevo? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HCyzM0V4pk

Sal Paradise wrote: Because Morley simply ran over him his swinging arm missed by quite a wide margin - if he had connected then McCormack could have been seeing stars for a prolonged period He missed him? Are you Stevo? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HCyzM0V4pk

Re: Ben Flower... : Fri Oct 17, 2014 8:58 am  

craigizzard wrote: He missed him? Are you Stevo? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HCyzM0V4pk I've watched that many times in the past, still got the whole game on video somewhere. Morely misses completely with the swinging arm, the damage is done by Morely hitting McCormack at full tilt with his chest/shoulder right between McCormack's shoulder blades. It's a whiplash injury that puts McCormack out. Have to agree with Sal, Morley just ran over the top of him at full speed. It was dangerous and there was obviously a massive arm swinging but it was, at the time, a legal contact. I don't remember any citation for Morely, but couldn't be 100% sure of that. I can understand why the Wigan players might have been unhappy, but the Cassidy shot could have done horrific damage to Morely if it had been 3-4 inches lower. I also genuinley believe Morely never ran or hit as hard after that in a Leeds shirt. He was, until that incident, a complete monster in that game. One of the most dominant spells I have ever seen by a forward, with the ball and on defence. Martin Massala and Darryl Powell were also on fire that day.

craigizzard wrote: He missed him? Are you Stevo? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HCyzM0V4pk I've watched that many times in the past, still got the whole game on video somewhere. Morely misses completely with the swinging arm, the damage is done by Morely hitting McCormack at full tilt with his chest/shoulder right between McCormack's shoulder blades. It's a whiplash injury that puts McCormack out. Have to agree with Sal, Morley just ran over the top of him at full speed. It was dangerous and there was obviously a massive arm swinging but it was, at the time, a legal contact. I don't remember any citation for Morely, but couldn't be 100% sure of that. I can understand why the Wigan players might have been unhappy, but the Cassidy shot could have done horrific damage to Morely if it had been 3-4 inches lower. I also genuinley believe Morely never ran or hit as hard after that in a Leeds shirt. He was, until that incident, a complete monster in that game. One of the most dominant spells I have ever seen by a forward, with the ball and on defence. Martin Massala and Darryl Powell were also on fire that day.

Re: Ben Flower... : Fri Oct 17, 2014 9:20 am  

DHM wrote:

I also genuinley believe Morely never ran or hit as hard after that in a Leeds shirt. He was, until that incident, a complete monster in that game. One of the most dominant spells I have ever seen by a forward, with the ball and on defence.

I'd agree with that. I watched a game that season in a pub in Bradford when you played the Bulls. Morley was unstoppable, the Bulls fans were up in arms due to the physicality. He was never quite as dominant & I often wondered whether it was the rest of the game catching up or the Cassidy incident.