Assuming a prime Steve Davis was playing today

Where do you think he'd be ranked and would he be a regular tournament winner?

Absolutely he’d be a regular winner. And I’d say probably top 5. Prime Davis was no joke.

Definitely top 6,could see him patiently picking off attacking players and out scoring most others.

I still rate prime Steve Davis ahead of the likes of Selby and Williams. He might be the greatest safety player I've ever seen, and his break-building was vastly under-rated.

Pink Ball wrote:I still rate prime Steve Davis ahead of the likes of Selby and Williams. He might be the greatest safety player I've ever seen, and his break-building was vastly under-rated.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player stick the white to the baulk cushion as consistently as Davis did. I think people forget how good some players were. From what I remember mid/late 80s there wasn’t anywhere near as much focus on racking up centuries as there seems to be now. So maybe people look at the century tally of players like Davis and assume that reflected his whole game.

He was the OG of modern, clinical, ball-breaking snooker.

Century stats don’t mean a lot. There are more tournaments now and the conditions are perfect for break building - lighter balls and fast cloths. The mentality has changed too. Now it’s all about getting the pack open and winning in one visit, whereas in the 80’s they cherry picked what was there and kept the pack tight, often ending breaks with a safety shot.

Century stats don’t mean a lot. There are more tournaments now and the conditions are perfect for break building - lighter balls and fast cloths. The mentality has changed too. Now it’s all about getting the pack open and winning in one visit, whereas in the 80’s they cherry picked what was there and kept the pack tight, often ending breaks with a safety shot.

All the greats of the game would have been top players in any era. It is about mentality and the will to win. So Davis, Reardon, Joe Davis, Hendry would all there there or thereabouts now.

Cyril, as always, makes an acute point regarding conditions. It is pointless merely looking at the statistical evidence a 40 break in the 70s or indeed the 80s I think is equivalent to a 60 break now.

The obvious guestion first;
am I being hit now? OR, am i be given a credit now? BUT this seems as a a very, very serious effort to sort all the things now!

Great!

Still, am I being hit now? OR, is this a hybrid thing now? And my ever present question; is this being labelled as a day1 finally now???? I would love that. I have only asked that for the last 13 years, on any given day, basically so.

Then. If he would be playing today, he would do quite okay. Obviously, he would beat John Higgins on any given final 10-9 The Nugget would be playing. The obvious result these days. The final against John Higgins, and the vistory by a narrow margin.

Ask Ronnie O´Sullivan why is it like that these days. He knows, even when he probably will pretend that he does not know why it is so.

Let me take a guess; the most wise people on earth think the CoC final soon will be John Higgins versus David Gilbert. And, Dave will win it after coming from back and from the brink, and wins it by a narrow margin.

They do think so now, yes, believe it or not. But hey, I have a news; Neil Robertson will be there, will be a finalist, and will win it.

Come on lads. The professional snooker these days is "Tribute to John Higgins" - thing, absolutely nothing else SERIOUS going on. Youtube is full of "Tribute to John Higgins" - rants, nothing else, really.

So what would The Nugget do now out there? Nothing. In theory, he would do okay, I know.

All hail Neil Robertson! Stop talking drivel about John Higgins. His gestures, manners are ruining the whole thing, nothing else. And somewhow "miracliously", everyone should pay tribut to him.

And seriously; John Higgins can paly a wee bit, I no. I was a massive fan of him for a long, long time. Just can´t be anymore. Those gestures, manners and false-playing form his part should see and cause him to receive a life-long ban. Which would include both snooker and pool billiards. Ronnie should receive that too, as it is his idea, really.

Prime Davis was awesome. If you put Davis in a time machine in the 80s and transported him into today I have no doubt he would be highly ranked and a regular tournament winner.

Worth keeping in mind that a Davis well past his peak beat O'Sullivan in a Master's final, ran O'Sullivan to 8-9 in a Welsh open final and beat J. Higgins at the Crucible.

There was a radio programme a few years ago about Davis and Hendry and they were asked about how well they would compete with today's players. Davis was fairly dismissive saying he would be Top 16 maybe Top 8 and Hendry kept interrupting him saying he'd be Number One.

Steve is always very self deprecating about his level of play compared to the current day players. I wish he wouldn’t. I remember not so long ago he proclaimed that “Judd would blast him off the table” and the “players back in my day just weren’t at that level”… There’s poor old John Parrott sat next to him, whom he demolished 18-3 in a world final. I think he should give him and his contemporaries more credit. Hendry changed the game for sure but he wouldn’t have done it without Steve, Jimmy, Alex going before him and studying how they did it and how he might do it better.

Interesting question this, it's almost impossible to answer yet I would contradict myself and say he defo would have been comfortably inside the top 4. Main reason why he wouldn't dominate is because there are too many good players around. He once said were he to transport his 1981 WC winning form to today's game he probably wouldn't be in the top 16 and as bizarre as it sounds I don't think he's too far off the mark. You consider when Davis was learning to be a pro and turned pro he had nowhere the exposure other players had after him who turned pro such as Hendry (turned pro 7 years later) and class of 92 to name a few. They grew up watching snooker and learning all the shots, Davis himself said to Hendry in one of he Covid videos Hendry did, that he (Davis) was learning to play basic positional shots during a pro match and found it fascinating. That tells you all you need to know that it's unfair to compare players from totally different eras. So many things have moved on in the game from the 1980's. The fact Davis beat O' Sullivan in a masters final and in 2004/2005 reached Welsh Open and UK finals does tell you if he were born in 1968 or 1978 as opposed to 1958 his peak standard would have been miles higher than what he produced during his 80's prime. But would he dominate? No. Since the mid 90s any player can forget about dominating whatever their peak standard. Too many top level players about hence nobody in their own has dominated for a sustained period since Hendry mid nineties.

It’s a nonsense question.

badtemperedcyril wrote:Steve is always very self deprecating about his level of play compared to the current day players. I wish he wouldn’t. I remember not so long ago he proclaimed that “Judd would blast him off the table” and the “players back in my day just weren’t at that level”… There’s poor old John Parrott sat next to him, whom he demolished 18-3 in a world final. I think he should give him and his contemporaries more credit. Hendry changed the game for sure but he wouldn’t have done it without Steve, Jimmy, Alex going before him and studying how they did it and how he might do it better.

Davis spoke the truth, his era was way poorer than now.
Davis would be lucky to win a single event, let alone be a regular winner. You people need a wake up call to get back to reality.

Johnny Bravo wrote:Davis spoke the truth, his era was way poorer than now.
Davis would be lucky to win a single event, let alone be a regular winner. You people need a wake up call to get back to reality.

Davis got to the UK final way past his prime and got to the world QFs in his 50s.

Show him some respect.

Johnny Bravo wrote:

badtemperedcyril wrote:Steve is always very self deprecating about his level of play compared to the current day players. I wish he wouldn’t. I remember not so long ago he proclaimed that “Judd would blast him off the table” and the “players back in my day just weren’t at that level”… There’s poor old John Parrott sat next to him, whom he demolished 18-3 in a world final. I think he should give him and his contemporaries more credit. Hendry changed the game for sure but he wouldn’t have done it without Steve, Jimmy, Alex going before him and studying how they did it and how he might do it better.

Davis spoke the truth, his era was way poorer than now.
Davis would be lucky to win a single event, let alone be a regular winner. You people need a wake up call to get back to reality.

Jesus Christ.

Johnny Bravo wrote:

badtemperedcyril wrote:Steve is always very self deprecating about his level of play compared to the current day players. I wish he wouldn’t. I remember not so long ago he proclaimed that “Judd would blast him off the table” and the “players back in my day just weren’t at that level”… There’s poor old John Parrott sat next to him, whom he demolished 18-3 in a world final. I think he should give him and his contemporaries more credit. Hendry changed the game for sure but he wouldn’t have done it without Steve, Jimmy, Alex going before him and studying how they did it and how he might do it better.

Davis spoke the truth, his era was way poorer than now.
Davis would be lucky to win a single event, let alone be a regular winner. You people need a wake up call to get back to reality.

Oh dear JB. Do catch up.

Same as Hendry.

He'd do very well but not dominate like he used to.

badtemperedcyril wrote:

Johnny Bravo wrote:

badtemperedcyril wrote:Steve is always very self deprecating about his level of play compared to the current day players. I wish he wouldn’t. I remember not so long ago he proclaimed that “Judd would blast him off the table” and the “players back in my day just weren’t at that level”… There’s poor old John Parrott sat next to him, whom he demolished 18-3 in a world final. I think he should give him and his contemporaries more credit. Hendry changed the game for sure but he wouldn’t have done it without Steve, Jimmy, Alex going before him and studying how they did it and how he might do it better.

Davis spoke the truth, his era was way poorer than now.
Davis would be lucky to win a single event, let alone be a regular winner. You people need a wake up call to get back to reality.

Oh dear JB. Do catch up.

There's nothing to catch up to.
Davis ain't good enough to be among the top 10, he just ain't a heavy enough scorer.
Sure, he might beat most average players due to his superior tactical and safety play, and perhaps even the occasional top player, but never on a consistent basis, in order for him to have a chance at winning a major event.
ROS, Trump, Higgins, Robbo, Selbo, Allen, Willo Ding, Smurf - are all way too strong for Davis. Even guys like Gilbert, Yan, Hawk - are very tough

Johnny Bravo wrote:There's nothing to catch up to.
Davis ain't good enough to be among the top 10, he just ain't a heavy enough scorer.
Sure, he might beat most average players due to his superior tactical and safety play, and perhaps even the occasional top player, but never on a consistent basis, in order for him to have a chance at winning a major event.

He was ranked 11th in 2006/7, 15 years past his best.

He’d be another Selby.

Johnny Bravo wrote:

badtemperedcyril wrote:

Johnny Bravo wrote:

badtemperedcyril wrote:Steve is always very self deprecating about his level of play compared to the current day players. I wish he wouldn’t. I remember not so long ago he proclaimed that “Judd would blast him off the table” and the “players back in my day just weren’t at that level”… There’s poor old John Parrott sat next to him, whom he demolished 18-3 in a world final. I think he should give him and his contemporaries more credit. Hendry changed the game for sure but he wouldn’t have done it without Steve, Jimmy, Alex going before him and studying how they did it and how he might do it better.

Davis spoke the truth, his era was way poorer than now.
Davis would be lucky to win a single event, let alone be a regular winner. You people need a wake up call to get back to reality.

Oh dear JB. Do catch up.

There's nothing to catch up to.
Davis ain't good enough to be among the top 10, he just ain't a heavy enough scorer.
Sure, he might beat most average players due to his superior tactical and safety play, and perhaps even the occasional top player, but never on a consistent basis, in order for him to have a chance at winning a major event.
ROS, Trump, Higgins, Robbo, Selbo, Allen, Willo Ding, Smurf - are all way too strong for Davis. Even guys like Gilbert, Yan, Hawk - are very tough

It’s much easier now. Conditions favour century break making. That wasn’t the case in the 80’s - the pack didn’t spread as easily as it does now. If he was parachuted into today’s game at 25-years old, he’d be a lot heavier scorer than he was. That, combined with his vice like safety play, would make him a handful for anyone. We’re talking about a guy who was still competing at the highest level in his 50’s!

badtemperedcyril wrote:

Johnny Bravo wrote:

badtemperedcyril wrote:

Johnny Bravo wrote:

badtemperedcyril wrote:Steve is always very self deprecating about his level of play compared to the current day players. I wish he wouldn’t. I remember not so long ago he proclaimed that “Judd would blast him off the table” and the “players back in my day just weren’t at that level”… There’s poor old John Parrott sat next to him, whom he demolished 18-3 in a world final. I think he should give him and his contemporaries more credit. Hendry changed the game for sure but he wouldn’t have done it without Steve, Jimmy, Alex going before him and studying how they did it and how he might do it better.

Davis spoke the truth, his era was way poorer than now.
Davis would be lucky to win a single event, let alone be a regular winner. You people need a wake up call to get back to reality.

Oh dear JB. Do catch up.

There's nothing to catch up to.
Davis ain't good enough to be among the top 10, he just ain't a heavy enough scorer.
Sure, he might beat most average players due to his superior tactical and safety play, and perhaps even the occasional top player, but never on a consistent basis, in order for him to have a chance at winning a major event.
ROS, Trump, Higgins, Robbo, Selbo, Allen, Willo Ding, Smurf - are all way too strong for Davis. Even guys like Gilbert, Yan, Hawk - are very tough

It’s much easier now. Conditions favour century break making. That wasn’t the case in the 80’s - the pack didn’t spread as easily as it does now. If he was parachuted into today’s game at 25-years old, he’d be a lot heavier scorer than he was. That, combined with his vice like safety play, would make him a handful for anyone. We’re talking about a guy who was still competing at the highest level in his 50’s!

Cyril, save yourself the bother. Johnny still thinks 10 foot is a full size table.

Johnny, do yourself a favour.

Take a deep breath.

Put your left hand on the left side of your head.

Put your right hand on the right side of your head.

And give that head a good old wobble.

Prop wrote:Cyril, save yourself the bother. Johnny still thinks 10 foot is a full size table.

I've told you people a million times, I play on a regular table