You could be writing about my 29 years of life as a Newcastle United fan with that! My grandad (who died a couple of years ago) bought me some knock-off Newcastle United wine when he was on holiday in Europe about 15 years ago and said to open it when we win something. If I end up having kids and grandkids, maybe one of them will do so and die soon after having it, as it will have been like red, pickled vinegar..!

I agree with you tvoc. The Roy Francis team IMO was one of the very best Leeds has produced as was the fast offloading style of play. Despite starting with a talented squad it took Francis several years and an astute signing or two get the team to be able to play his attacking offloading style. Bit similar to the McDermott experience in a way

Indeed. But we must not forget that there were many players with tremendous individual skills which the modern game rarely produces perhaps because the modern game is based much more on physique. These same players would undoubtedly be stars today and would benefit from not having to put in 40 hours work per week before they trained and played.



However we should not try to suggest one era is better than the other even if we witnessed them personally.

Before my time. I think my first league games were the second and third tests in 1990 (one of my dads friends having dropped out at last minute and me getting the spare ticket) - you could say I got used to disappointment from an early age.

I did qualify 'best Leeds team ever' as the best I have seen (since 197icon_cool.gif. Although I had the pleasure of watching the great Alan Smith (Ryan Hall MK1), Les Dyl, John Atkinson, John Holmes etc I became a supporter too late to witness the team you describe. However, my dad used to wax lyrical about the players you mention such as Syd Hynes and Mick Shoebottom. His mate in his regular South Stand position was such a fan of Shoebottom he could never see any good in his successor? John Holmes. Very different players I understand...a pity I never got to see what 'all the fuss' was about. Above all others though my late dad never stopped telling me how good a player Lewis Jones was !!!! I do feel sad he never got to see this golden decade, but I guess his fond memories of players and the team you mention that I never witnessed would have made up for it.



Once in a generation indeed.

All the players you mentioned would be top stars if they played today I am sure and SL would be the richer for it.

I reckon the majority of great RL players would make it in any era. What I do think would change is the position some of them played.

I reckon Holmes, for example would have been a scrum half these days, and Atkinson may have been moved to FB, although I think of all the great players in that back line he'd have struggled the most because he wasn't the best defender or fielder of kicks... He was no Kieran Dixon, though

To be fair to Atky, by the time the last tackle "bomb" became prevalent (off the back of the 1978 Australian tour IIRC) he was coming towards the end of his career. Think he only played another couple of seasons at Leeds after that before heading off to Carlisle?

I'd imagine whether past players could've been successful in this era wouldn't so much be down to skill/ability.....but how well they'd do in terms of today's fitness/training and taking it seriously and going it right.



We still see players nowadays who don't let the fact they're full time professional RL players get in the way of a good drink. On the other side of the coin they could be guys who have disappointed in this era who would've been good in previous decades with the 'different' training/fitness regimes.

I personally cannot see us doing the treble. Especially with the super 8 format making it harder than ever to win. With the challenge cup so late in the season also makes it very difficult to peak so close together

Agree with this entirely... Risman, Smith, Hynes, Watson, Atkinson, Shoebottom, Seaborne, Clarke, Crosby, Ken Eyre, Albert Eyre, Ramsey and Batten. Redefined the sport and at times were simply jaw droppingly brilliant (CC Semi Final vs Wigan at Swinton Atkinson turning the great Billy Boston inside out comes to mind!



Current Leeds side certainly over the last 12 or so seasons the most successful we've ever had but that's not quite the same thing as being the greatest side we've ever had

I was there that afternoon in 1968 and that Leeds team broke my heart. They played a different type of rugby that was from another planet and far superior to an ageing Wigan team.

They were far and away the best team Leeds team I have ever seen and very few of the present team would have made their way into that team. Having said that Cuthbertson would fit perfectly into that style of play