Having had the pleasure of seeing both the answer is a resounding yes.

For starters (touch wood) Obst is much more robust and less injury proned.

Secondly although Billy could be sensational he was not IMHO as consistent as Sam.

Of course it's always hard to compare a part time players with a full time pro. The protection, training and care the modern day players get was something Billy, Belly and the rest couldn't even imagine.

said it before and ill say it again, sam is a very important part of our current set up and a quality player, in my view a natural replacement to JD in the fans favourite catagory. intresting in the recent 13 from super league thread he was almost always there.

Long term contract to me is no risk and increased terms too, id rather see the money go to him that some unproven player we bring in. and with that i mean proven it with wakefield.

struggle to disagree with you Vasty - just thought comparison was interesting.

Reminds me a lot of Rob Burrow. I rate Obst highly.