While millennial NRL fans might think rugby league is one of the toughest sports on the planet, the truth is the sport used to be a lot more intimidating according to former NSW captain Paul Gallen.
It was Gallen's punch-up with Nate Myles during the 2013 State of Origin that led to the first proper crackdown on fights in the game, with an automatic sin bin brought in for the first player to throw a punch. Since then, punch ups have almost died out in the NRL completely, such is the momentum-swinging ability of a sin bin.
But the truth is the NRL has slowly clamped down on aspects that could shine a negative light on the competition for a long time.
Fans born before the technological boom were privy to a much more physical version of the game filled with head-high tackles, stray elbows and huge punch ups which were initiated at the drop of a hat.
While the sanitisation of the game helped rub out plays like tackling players in mid-air, the changes have slowly pushed the game into a wrestle as opposed to overtly violent clashes during play.
If you told league fans in the 1980's that players in the 2010's would be pulling hair and slapping each other as a substitute for punching, they would never believe it.
However, Gallen says the notion that players are softer in the modern era is way off the mark.
Speaking on Wide World Sports' Captain and the Coach, Gallen admitted the game used to be a lot more violent and it meant that certain players could easily be put off their game with a bit more aggression.
Now that the game has put in stern measures to avoid players throwing down "you see wingers coming in and pushing front-rowers which is a little bit different than years ago."
League icon Phil Gould, who began his playing career in the 1970s, agreed with Gallen's take, describing rugby league as "a violent game and was a survival test for a lot of players."
"It was a big part of personalities in the game, a big part of what you had to endure, what you had to do to survive," Gould said.
"If you were intimidated by that, chances were you weren't going to make it. When you talk about violence and intimidation it was nothing like it was then."
Gould said as the game tried to clean up its image on the field from his playing days right through to when he joined the coaching ranks, he tried to push his players to make more of an impact with the ball rather than through tough defensive plays which could be easily penalised.
Also, players were encouraged to tackle low because of the risk of injury when tackling high.
One player who would have no trouble straddling eras is Sydney Roosters star Jared Warea-Hargreaves, who bears the title as the NRL's most intimidating player according to Gallen.
"The player who has the best intimidation factor in the game at the moment is Jared Waerea-Hargreaves – purely because of how aggressive he does play the game and how he just flies so close to the edge every single game," Gallen said.
"He'll give a couple penalties away each game for whacking someone high. He risks suspension and gets away with it. It's not always in a dirty way he's just a big strong tough man that's hard to handle.
"He plays physical and pure aggression and there's not too many that does it as good as he does. He was the most difficult for me. He's all forearms, elbows, hands in your face, high leg drive. We didn't know quite where to tackle him."
Gallen added that Jason Taumalolo was another player who intimidated the defensive line, while also pointing to smaller players who were difficult to tackle despite a lack of size.
"When you look at the way (Taumalolo) plays his defence isn't probably his strength, his ball running is his number one thing. That's why he's intimidating because of how hard you can run the ball," Gallen said.
"A lot of the smaller guys I found hard to handle. Guys like James Tedesco, they fought so hard to find their front and get up and play the ball fast. Billy Slater is another one, really aggressive when he ran the ball back.
"A lot of wingers these days as well are as tough to handle as front-rowers. Ken Maumalo from the Warriors. Blake Ferguson runs to hurt you when he brings the ball back."
from WWOS http://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/nrl-news-paul-gallen-jared-warea-hargraves-toughest-player/cef275d6-57c0-481c-b3ce-92ccda62e260
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