Anyone who has enjoyed U14s-16s rugby won't need too much reminding of those semi-comical times when you were watching the opponents exit the dressing room and you suddenly caught sight of one particular player who forced you to perform a rapid double-take.

For a start - he's a foot taller than every other kid on the pitch. He has visibly defined pectorals and biceps. His voice is two octaves below the mean. But most noticeable of all - he's sporting the kind of co sandpaper stubble which is usually reserved for actors appearing in a Sergio Leone western. And he arrived at the clubhouse smoking a cigarette whilst riding a motorcycle with a blonde on the back.

His number says he's a "winger", but upon taking the ball from the kickoff, running into/over/through both props, performing a deft in-and-out on your hooker and then chipping over your fullback and winning the footrace to the line to score (with ease) - you have your doubts.

At the end of the game (in which he's scored two hat-tricks, kicked ten conversions and popped over a cheeky drop goal just for kicks) he accordingly attracted plenty of praise. But you'll also recall the heated enquiries made by club officials seeking to verify the kid's age. I can't speak for today but back in the 80s it seemed like every third club had its own "ringer". To be fair, these kids were in many cases legit. Whilst most people tend to physically mature in the early twenties there exist genuinely "freakish" youngsters with extraordinary physiques for their ages. Keiron Cunningham at age 17 had enormous thighs and currently young Savelio has the kind of shoulders which make Sam Burgess' look normal.

The point is - no one felt it was particularly special (never mind "fair" or "sporting"icon_wink.gif watching some "kid" who held a massive physical advantage trample over the opposition.

Fast forward to a a couple of weeks back and all the above was running through my mind as I witnessed Greg Inglis setting up his "wonder try" for Souths. Watching a full-back swat away/side step half a forward pack and then outpace half the back division to the hoots and the cheers of the ecstatic commentators who couldn't find enough superlatives I kind of wondered - am I the only person seeing the obvious parallel?

Understand, I'm not criticising Inglis. Even with his once-in-a-lifetime physique it still takes plenty of guts, hard work and determination to be a success in the NRL. But when I see seemingly intelligent people claiming he's "The Greatest" or "Better than Lockyer/Slater/Minicheillo already" I'm going to have to draw the line. I mean, those guys did what they did with the kind of physical attributes that to Greg Inglis would be a considerable physical handicap.

I feel that I am being unfair to Inglis by loading the deck so that no matter how well he plays he can never be the greatest. But I know I'm being similarly unfair acquiescing wordlessly as Clint Eastwood Jnr. runs in his second hatrick (leaving stud marks on the second row's face). Suffice to say that I will never again be able to watch Greg Inglis without wondering where he's stashed his bike, bird and smokes.

Weren't the Aus rugby league talking about introducing a size group system for junior rugby, rather than just age groups?

I was thinking introducing something like that would be a good idea, similar to how weights in boxing work. I didn't realise the Aussies were already talking about introducing it.

That wouldn't work though would it? Just because you have size on your side as a junior, doesn't mean you have ability as well to warrant playing with kids 2-3 years older?

I believe they have an issue in Aus due to the size of some of the kids from the islands who are generally bigger which is putting of other kids from playing.

Exactly. It would be an idea to split the kids' season into two halves, one of which they play in a size graded system, he other in an age graded.

Something that came about by accident, but worked really well for us in the midlands: because we didn't have great numbers (at Northampton we did, and ran two teams at each age group but others struggled) the age groups went up in twos: i.e. U12, U14, U16, U18. That meant the 14 year old who had been the biggest lad in the U14s, then found himself being one of the smaller players as a 15 year old in the U16s. This really forced a lot of our players to learn skills they had been able to get by without. The downside was that it was so hard for that smaller 14 year old, who was now tiny as a 15 year old relative to the U16s.

I do remember my son's side at under16's were always getting accused of playing over age players in the Hull junior league despite the fact of a very well policed registration photo ID card system in place. We just had some very big well advanced lads at the time. Having said that they were average & mid table. What Greg Inglis has got as well as his unique build is a superb rugby brain & most important a determined will to be good at his job.

Nrl is reviewing interchange numbers. Most are calling for a reduction to 6. The days of 125kg forwards playing 20mins are numbered!

Still plenty off small guys in nrl. Slater, tomkins, Luke, Barba etc etc. wingers and centres may be heartier but if your good enough you'll be big enough

If NRL goes to 6 interchanges how long until SL and INternational rules follow?

Not only will the interchange rule reduce the number of giants who can't do the minutes, the likely hood is that we'll see the hardworking big guys start to leave a few more gaps for the little guys towards the end of the match.

There are some colossal differences in physical size in age group rugby, mind you there are still some hue differences when you look across the pro game.
There does com a point when the "big" kid can no longer just run through the opposition and the argument is that the later developers should be equipped with a different skill set and
certainly the smaller players need far better tackling technique (which helps them later on)

Having said that, when you look at many of the guys that make it, they are above average size/weight and the game at the top level doesn't suit smaller people, with some obvious exceptions.

Other sports are similar, with the early developers having a massive advantage.