It's always difficult when comparing players across generations and it's also worth while noting that at the peak of cougar mania we were full time.
We also have to consider that coach Phil Larder picked players to play a system that was built around "defence first". Chris Robinson may not have been as creative as Handforth (for instance) but boy could he tackle, he didn't fear anything. Plus he had a bullet pass to get the ball out fast. It's ironic that he was injured for the old Trafford final and his replacement Darren Appleby, ran an arcing run through the defence to put Woody in under the posts. This move, that put us on the road to victory, was one that Chris probably would not have done.
We have some new players who we haven't seen enough of to judge, but Andy Shickell has performed at a high level consistently for several seasons and would get my vote to rank alongside cougar mania players.
It will be interesting to see how Ross Peltier develops, he looks to have all the attributes of a barnstorming prop.
As for the "cougar crawl", it was a bit of fun to get the crowd going, but was seen as a sign of disrespect by the opposition and wound many sides up to perform even better against us. I wouldn't want it to return.
