i think a few of the older leigh fans will back me up on this...derek clarke

From a Widnes point of view;
Sorenson
Mills
Grima
Koloto
Glynn Shaw
Paul Wood
The Hulme brothers (as Gary Freeman will testify)
Les Gorley

If you go on a well known hosting site and key in 'Widnes Biff' - you get the picture

Thats no punch! He flies through the air misses whatever he was aiming for and hits his fore arm into the ref (unless thats who he was aiming for) To make it worse the ref got straight back up

www.eraofthebiff.com/ Great website this and Boyd named as number 1 !! That hit that smashed that prop forwards jaw was X rated. In my 30 years as a Leigh fan, Jeff Clarke, Tony Cottrell and Tim Street get my vote. Charlie Pawsey and Frank Foster were apparently 2 of THE hardest men ever to play our game. Would love to have seen these 2 in action !!

www.eraofthebiff.com/ Great website this and Boyd named as number 1 !! That hit that smashed that prop forwards jaw was X rated. In my 30 years as a Leigh fan, Jeff Clarke, Tony Cottrell and Tim Street get my vote. Charlie Pawsey and Frank Foster were apparently 2 of THE hardest men ever to play our game. Would love to have seen these 2 in action !!

All getting confused with hardest and dirtiest.

Hardest and dirtiest, now thats a nasty combination

So spouts a follower of a team with Ben "head hunter" Westwood.

Kettle and pan come to mind

Don't think anyone's mentioned Hull K.R's little ray of sunshine, Chris Burton. I'll always remember when he was substituted in the Wigan Test in '86 and he tried to start a fight with someone in the crowd.

Keith Mason at the moment.

Here is a tip for you. When you arent spouting off about wendyball or aussies in SL, look at Saddened's posts and you will see hes not a warrington fan

For the most part I think 'Boris' was clumsy rather than out and out dirty. You certainly couldn't put him up there with the likes of Les Boyd.

Indeed, he was also clean compared to Frank Foster for example, but for the record Foster was just out and out hard, not thuggish, well, for most of the time!

Frank Foster = Hardest man to take the field of his generation and probably ever.

I would agree with you there, its not your average dust up Bowden seemed intent on killing Boardhurst.

As i started watching league in the early 80's i would say Les Boyd was the worst,followed by Len Casey & Chris Burton

As an aside, it was always reckoned that the reason he was coach at Barrow for over a decade was that the board was so terrified of him that no-one had the courage to tell him he'd been fired!

Hopoate, even has an illegal move named after him.

I went to a party once in Halifax where Hobson was there, his party piece was to down a can of ale then throw himself head first down a flight of stairs. He did it two or three times that night.

Who says rugby league players aren't very bright?

Man, that has got to be one of the funniest things ever in R.l.

As for dirty players,Terry Newton for me,no contest.Any player who breaks a mates cheek bone and eye socket is an Rse in my book.
Willie Mason in Oz,another thug.

There wasn't much wrong with the Gilmour tackle, a bit lazy and Gilmour was unlucky to be hurt. It is only ever remembered because it happened in the same match as that fantastic tackle on Sean Long.

Harry Beverley

That says a lot about yourself does'nt it.

I heard this tale a while back, Fearless Frankie Foster was out shopping in Barrow a few yrs back when some lads tried to mug him ( he must be in his mid/late 60's by now ) he knocked them both out and held them until the police arrived

Terry Newton hands down.
Calmed down a bit for the last couple of years, paving the way for Ryan Bailey as the new hate figure.

I can only really comment on the SL era though.

Single worst incident I can remember was an elbow by David Bradbury of Oldham, breaking Lee Harland's jaw. As for dirty I remember Bruce McGuire having a bit of a reputation in the mid 90's.

From a Saints perspective we once had:

Arkwright, Round, Forber, Evans and Haggerty in the pack which would have made for interesting viewing. I recall Steve Peters being around slightly earlier, although Peters was just a hardman for a smaller player.

The 1980's to early 90's was a period (probably like earlier generations) laden with 'enforcers,' 'hitmen' and 'no nonsense' type players.