Greatest players Ray French Rugby League legend

Lots of players have pace to burn. Most possess good handling skills. A few have the ability to unlock the tightest of defences.

But only a handful are blessed with the full range of weapons.

Here are the six players I feel deserve legendary status.

Alex Murphy

Watch Murphy in action

Pace, skill, strength and supreme confidence in his own ability would give Alex, a winning captain in three Challenge Cup finals with St Helens, Leigh and Warrington, the pole position among league's greats.

And the Aussies and Kiwis, having suffered at his hands on two victorious Lions tours in 1958 and 1962, would no doubt agree.

Watch Sullivan in action Jim Sullivan: His playing career lasted 25 years

Jim Sullivan

With over 6,022 points, including 2,867 goals, in a career between 1921 and 1946, Wigan's full-back - ex-Cardiff rugby union star Jim Sullivan - dominated the 13-a-side code before the Second World War.

Three Lions tours Down Under in 1924, 1928 and 1932, on all three of which he topped the points-scoring, are testimony to his superiority over his contemporaries.

Brian Bevan

A frail, gaunt, ex-Australian serviceman when he had trials with Warrington in 1945, Brian was hardly expected to make any impact at all.

Nineteen years later - and with a world record 796 tries alongside his name - he is one player who really does challenge for the title 'Simply The Greatest'.

Gus Risman

A visionary captain and coach, Cardiff-born Augustus Risman led every team - Salford, Workington Town or Great Britain - to success.

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His durability and passion for the game can be seen when he captained Great Britain to an Ashes victory in Australia as a 35-year-old in 1946.

Amazingly he led Workington Town to a Challenge Cup final six years later, which is still a record for any Wembley finalist.

Tom van Vollenhoven

Watch van Vollenhoven in action

A sensation in union with his hat-trick of tries against a 1955 British Lions rugby union side, Tom van Vollenhoven delighted the crowds at Knowsley Road for 10 years in the 1950s and 1960s.

Mal Meninga: The Australia captain combined power with skill

His incredible change of pace, powerful hand-off and swerve were the trademarks of a great winger, giving him, in 1958/59, the 62-try record for a player in a season at St Helens.

Mal Meninga

A giant of a man who, as skipper of Australia, terrorised British defences in the centre.

Though often towering above the opposition forwards, Mal displayed all the deft handling skills and running angles of a perfectly balanced three-quarter.

A tough but fair competitor in many an Ashes battle in the 1980s and 1990s.