80s Davis vs 90s Hendry

Safety and tactics wrote:Just been watching highlights of the 1989 World Championship SF. Hendry unable to cope with the relentless tactical game of the nugget. If it were a prime Davis, instead of Jimmy, in those World finals, there is no way Hendry would have won 7 (great Potter and break builder that Hendry was).

So let's get this right? Every era of snooker has been great but the 1990s when everyone was rubbish?

vodkadiet wrote:

Safety and tactics wrote:Just been watching highlights of the 1989 World Championship SF. Hendry unable to cope with the relentless tactical game of the nugget. If it were a prime Davis, instead of Jimmy, in those World finals, there is no way Hendry would have won 7 (great Potter and break builder that Hendry was).

So let's get this right? Every era of snooker has been great but the 1990s when everyone was rubbish?

I think Vodka is a little drunk here. "Safety and tactics" is not suggesting that the 90's were rubbish; merely that the tactical prowess of peak Davis had the kind of sting that Selby used to win three World Championships and that this kind of game would be more liable to disrupt peak Hendry than the rather erratic White. I agree with him.

Andy Spark wrote:

vodkadiet wrote:

Safety and tactics wrote:Just been watching highlights of the 1989 World Championship SF. Hendry unable to cope with the relentless tactical game of the nugget. If it were a prime Davis, instead of Jimmy, in those World finals, there is no way Hendry would have won 7 (great Potter and break builder that Hendry was).

So let's get this right? Every era of snooker has been great but the 1990s when everyone was rubbish?

I think Vodka is a little drunk here. "Safety and tactics" is not suggesting that the 90's were rubbish; merely that the tactical prowess of peak Davis had the kind of sting that Selby used to win three World Championships and that this kind of game would be more liable to disrupt peak Hendry than the rather erratic White. I agree with him.

Agreed. White was a pleasant match up for Hendry. He was a no-nonsense attacker (like Hendry), but less reliable in every department (especially temperament).

It's easy to forget how dominant Davis was in the 80s. People tend to use ranked wins and years at #1 as a gauge for dominance now, but in the 80s there were very few ranking tournaments compared to the 90s and especially now. For example, in the 1981/82 season Davis won 7 tournaments (including a 9-0 Dennis Taylor final thrashing) compared with just 2 by his nearest rivals (Griffith and White), but none of them were rankers. The World Championship was the only ranking tournament at the time and Knowles beat Davis in the first round, so officially for the next season Davis was just ranked #4. In reality, the stats show that Steve was easily the best player from the end of 1980 to 1989. Davis may only have 28 ranking tournaments, but he still holds the record of 81 professional titles, and many of those (including several UKs) would be ranked now.

loved it when davis stuck it to hendry in 1989,badly want to see highlights of 1989 davis v hendry world semi but theres nothing on youtube!hendrys standard in 89 was not any better than 90 when he won the title but davis had the game to chain him up and then teach him a lesson!the arguement about ronnie is there cos hes the most talented player ever but davis & hendry were better competitors,born champions and more durable under pressure and they proved this by dominating the sport for a decade each! actually the way ronnie is playing now would actually be able to take on both at their peak without folding by the end of the match against them, selby is a poor mans davis & gave ronnie big problems in big finals so u can imagine davis whos easily superior to selby would implement the right gameplan to beat ronnie,hendry got a bit lucky that he kept meeting white in world finals who had a complex about winning the world title,by right hendry should have been beaten in atleast on of the 4 finals he met white..Davis was not so lucky and met players who did not carry scar tissue so did not fold under pressure e.g johnson & taylor

davis v hendry arguement is 50-50! the two best in snooker history,

Is it pronounced Snooka-row or Snooka-roo?

Welcome, BTW!

Agreed - Davis is much-maligned by the newbie fans who weren't there. Absolute animal.

Snooker-Car-O?

I voted 80s Hendry.

LOL...new video of Davis v Parrot 1989 final on youtube..last time Davis won the title!! for fans who never saw 8 world finals in 10yrs! 6 world titles..ronnie is still on 5 after 25 years! Davis at his peak after he smashed hendry in the semis! watch the ice cool relentless machine!

sas6789 wrote:

Cloud Strife wrote:Ronnie would smash them both.

Nobody smashes peak in form Hendry, not even Ronnie.

hendry took beat ronnie in 2 world semis finals (1999,2002) after ronnie folded in the last session of both semis! both at their peak! he also folded against the selby plodder in 2014 who could hardly make a break over 40! not the greatest under pressure when a player is prepared to dig in against him

Andre147 wrote:

KrazeeEyezKilla wrote:Jimmy White who lost four times to Davis at the Crucible during the 80's finally beat him for the first time there in 1990. But a lot of that was probably down to Hendry taking Davis aura, particularly in big events. Other players started believing they could beat Davis too.

Jimmy was unfortunate he caught Davis and Hendry at their peaks.

Still not an excuse to never win at least one world title, as he really bottled the 92 final from 14-8 up.

had so many chances to close out hendry!easy red in the first frame on that sunday night! a shame cos he was the most exciting player with alex higgins & ronnie in snooker history

snookaro wrote:

sas6789 wrote:

Cloud Strife wrote:Ronnie would smash them both.

Nobody smashes peak in form Hendry, not even Ronnie.

hendry took beat ronnie in 2 world semis finals (1999,2002) after ronnie folded in the last session of both semis! both at their peak! he also folded against the selby plodder in 2014 who could hardly make a break over 40! not the greatest under pressure when a player is prepared to dig in against him

It was close on both of those occasions. On the other hand, Ronnie destroyed him in 2004 and 2008.

Johnny Bravo wrote:

snookaro wrote:

sas6789 wrote:

Cloud Strife wrote:Ronnie would smash them both.

Nobody smashes peak in form Hendry, not even Ronnie.

hendry took beat ronnie in 2 world semis finals (1999,2002) after ronnie folded in the last session of both semis! both at their peak! he also folded against the selby plodder in 2014 who could hardly make a break over 40! not the greatest under pressure when a player is prepared to dig in against him

It was close on both of those occasions. On the other hand, Ronnie destroyed him in 2004 and 2008.

Its silly to suggest ROS was at his peak in 99 lol...

And Hendry too wasnt at his peak in 2004 or 2008. What matters is both won on merit.

hendry started to dip by 2004 but ronnie was on fire in 2004 & with his talent it was about time he beat hendry at the crucible...ronnie played amazing in 1999 semi to go toe to toe with hendry and it was 12-12...so theres an arguement he performed at a peak level in the match but what separated them was hendry proved to be a superior competitor..talent does not come in to it when matches are close to the end...character takes over

snookaro wrote:hendry started to dip by 2004 but ronnie was on fire in 2004 & with his talent it was about time he beat hendry at the crucible...ronnie played amazing in 1999 semi to go toe to toe with hendry and it was 12-12...so theres an arguement he performed at a peak level in the match but what separated them was hendry proved to be a superior competitor..talent does not come in to it when matches are close to the end...character takes over

Ronnie might have been at his best scoring wise in that match, but mentally he was still very fragile.

In 2004, with the massive help of Ray Reardon, he had the full package: scoring, safety and temperament.