Rugby League Top 10: Hard Men

These are the guys who used to play on 'the edge'. In the days when almost everything was considered 'legal', some were employed as enforcers, whilst others never ever took a backward step. Many were just simply fearless, but you'd definitely try and avoid running towards all of them. They are rugby league's hard men. Rugby league was a little bit different in the 1990s. A mainly part-time sport where the attributes of some players could have easily secured themselves alternative employment as bouncers! Such as the charging rhino himself, Barrie McDermott, who used a not so subtle trick to further intimidate his opponents. Or Kelvin Skerrett, who won six Championships and four Challenge Cups with Wigan. The Wales and Great Britain international is the man described as a "dirty get" on Mick Morgan's famous viral commentary. Castleford legend Mal Reilly was just as tough as a coach as he was as a player. When he moved to Manly he used to ask his team-mates who the toughest players on the opposition were so he could target them to gain respect. Later, he coached at Newcastle Knights, where he found out which of his players had the best records on the rowing machine before smashing them all with his own stamina and fitness. He's even got a an intense training drill named after him... the Malcolm! And then there's the likes of Adrian Morley. Known as 'The Enforcer' in Australia, 'Moz' kept his own little black book to keep tabs on opponents who were due a little retribution. He once received a seven-match ban for kneeing an opponent in the chest. However, the ban was expected to be more than double that before a character reference from long-time foe 'Big' Willie Mason described him as "one of the toughest players in the toughest competition in the world" helped his case. There's a fine line between legal and illegal violence in rugby league and often some of these fellas crossed it. Nowadays it would lead to an instant red card, but that doesn't mean hard men don't exist in the sport today. They just go about showing it slightly differently!

You can listen to Rugby League Top 10: Hard Men online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Rugby League Top 10: Hard Men is an episode from 5 live Rugby League by BBC.

This episode is 43:03 long.

This episode was published on Aug 21, 2025.

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