Laravel 5 - why is input empty when returning with errors?

I have a form that submits to a controller, which validates the data. If the validation fails it redirects back with the input and the errors. This is the method that deals with the form submission:

<?php namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use App\Models\User;

class UserController extends Controller {

    /**
     * Create a new user.
     *
     * @param Reqeust       $request
     *
     * @return Void
     */
    public function postCreate(Request $request)
    {
        $user = new User;
        $rules = $user->rules();
        $rules['password'] = 'required|confirmed|min:8';
        $v = \Validator::make($request->except('_token', 'roles'), $rules);
        if ($v->fails())
        {
            return redirect()->back()->withInput($request->except('_token', 'password', 'password_confirmation'))->withErrors($v);
        }
        $user->fill($request->except('_token', 'password', 'password_confirmation'));
        $user->password = \Hash::make($request->input('password'));
        $user->save();

        return redirect()->route('webmanAccounts')->with('messages', [['text' => 'User account created', 'class' => 'alert-success']]);
    }

On the page that displays the form I check to see if name, one of the fields, is present and if so populate a User object with the data. The problem is input is always empty.

<?php namespace BackEnd;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Request as RequestFacade;
use App\Http\Controllers\Controller;
use App\Models\Role;
use App\Models\User;

class UserController extends Controller {

    public function __construct(Request $request)
    {
        if ( ! $request->user()->can('accounts'))
        {
            return abort(403, 'You do not have permission to access this page.'); 
        }
    }

    /**
     * Display the create new user form and process any error messages.
     *
     * @param Reqeust       $request
     *
     * @return View
     */
    public function create(Request $request)
    {
        $user = new User;
        dump(RequestFacade::all());
        if (RequestFacade::has('name'))
        {
            $user->fill(RequestFacade::except('_token', 'roles'));
            foreach (RequestFacade::only('roles') as $role)
            {
                $user->roles()->add($role);
            }
        }
        return view('backend.user.create', ['title' => 'Website Manager :: Create New Account', 'user' => $user, 'roles' => Role::all()]);
    }

I have tried RequestFacade, $request and Input, all show as empty. Why isn't the data being passed back?

To add to the strangeness of this, I have another project that uses almost identical code and that works perfectly fine. Why would it work fine for one project but not for another!?