I remember going across to Central Park for the first round of the challenge cup in the early eighties. The match was played in an absolute mud bath. We got beat either 4-2 or 2-0 after a dubious penalty was given against Keith Mumby of all people. Big Brendan Hill played a blinder and we deserved a replay at the very least.

Wigan went on to win the cup that year and thus began their period of dominance. I have often wondered whether a sighted referee and a bit of luck might have changed the history of the game.

2002.

Your treble was a very fine line.

in 06 it was total domination for saints, it was unanimous, thrashings in both finals, finishing 8 points clear etc.

In 03 the bulls were involved in about 3 games with leeds that really could have gone either way. If they had gone leeds way leeds owuld have won the cc and fnished top.

The bulsl won the treble in 03, they lost the same amount of games as they did in 02 when they won nothing.

Just pointing out what a fine line there was between success and failure for the bulls in 03, there was no such line for saints in 06.

yeah i remember that and remember them handing out free super league milk.

also remember warrington making some big signings at the start of the season and everyone thinking it would be their year...

including Martin Dermott who didn't play in another super league game

In both treble years, the main threat was Leeds, who with similar squads to the previous year went on to take the following season's title on each occasion.

In the case of Bradford in 2003, they had to defeat Leeds at Cardiff to secure the cup, at Headingley then Odsal to claim the hubcap and in the play-offs en route to Old Trafford. You say they could have gone either way. This suggests the result was, like a coin toss, determined by chance. But the Leeds-Bradford coin was tossed five times in 2003 and it came down Bradford-side-up five times. The chances of that occuring by chance are 1/32, or 3% I'd say it probably did not occur by chance.

In the case of Saints, Leeds hit the auto-destruct in the CC semis and the first round of the play-offs, so Saints faced Hull and Huddersfield in the two finals of that year.

Saints may have been further ahead of the rest in 06 than Bulls were in 03. However, I'd argue that coming through each of a series of battles with your nearest challengers to record the perfect season is more aesthetically pleasing than an uneventful cruise laid on for you by the failings of others.


Yup.

:1mfi10n8

How can you try and compare a rugby game to a coin toss? You won the CC final by 2 points, a league game at headingly by 2 points and a game at odsal by 1 point (which secured top spot). There were many incidents in those games, had they gone leeds way they could easily have won all 3.

It's exactly the same as, had things gone your way in games against leeds last year, you would not have lost a single game to leeds and would have finished 2nd and probably made the grand final



:1mfi10n8 Leeds were never good enough that year, going out of the playoffs saved us being beaten by bradford and the CC semi saved us being beaten by saints in the final.

:1mfi10n8

Not really true. Bradford played wigan in the final when leeds who finished 2nd were your closest challengers. You edged out wigan in an uneventful final. Hull were saints closest challengers, they finsihed 2nd and were the only team to beat them at KR that season. But saints brushed their closest challengers aside. Remember though that the game was well in the balance until 2 minutes before halftime.

Ditto the CC final. Hudds scored 1st and were giving saints a real scare until sean long snook over 1 minute before half time.

So i'd argue saints treble was better. They were light years ahead of the competition in terms of consistency. When it came to the finals they were given real tough games but saints superiority shone through, like the bulls they overcame whatever was thrown at them, in far mor emphatic style and unlike the bulls i don't think they need the rub of the green in certain key games.


Yup.

=blackA time of change

=orange2005-2010

=blackTroubled times

=orange2010-2012

=blackThe great decline

=orange2012-2015

=blackA resurgence

=orange2015- 2020

Perhaps, but Skints cheated the cap.

Cant believe that Adrian Morley was on the loosing side, cant believe that McAvoy got away with an audicious chip. GOD what a great weekend!

On a DVD featuring ten years action?

Best performasnce : Northern v Widnes 1978 premiership final at swinton.
Peter Fox is still giving DVD's out

sounds like 3 of bradford leeds games from last year does it not?

No crap sherlock.

My next post down







FFS

One of my favourite moments as a Wigan fan came while we were playing you lot and Renouf broke free and put Radlinski in for a try with 6 seconds left on the clock to make the score 18 - 19, leaving Farrell with a presure kick to make it 20 - 19. I'd have broke the world high-jumping record when that kick went over.

[size=59Oh, and the playoffs last year[/size

In the end, it's clearly a subjective thing. However, if you offered most fans the choice of trebles attained by wins over either Leeds and Wigan or Huddersfield and Hull, you know what the answer would be.

and its been our year every year since....and dont forget it....!!!



My first ever game was Warrington V Bradford Northern in 1979....

I'd played half decent in the school team and was given a "schools complimentary ticket" to the match so i thought why not have look...

Wires won 10 points to 8 and to say it was a blood n guts game was an understatment four players left the field after various altercations.

two left on Stretchers (and You didnt leave on Stretchers unless you were out cold in them days)and two were red carded and Ian Van Bellen for Northern just looked the most scariest man I'd ever seen...!!!!

I walked home behind two sets of blokes who were arguing like good uns With the Wires fans saying "its like this every time you lot come down"

I remember thinking great when do we play em again

After that I was hooked.......

It did always seem to be like that against Wire though, '79 was a bit before my time but even up until early Superleague games between the sides always seemed to feature more than their fair share of niggle, and were often all the better for it.

Can't have that nowadays though, got to think of the children.

Stuart Spruce and Steve McNamara putting Mark Forster into the cameraman, ECW-style. Cameraman carted away unaware of what day of the week it was.

Cheers for that, been trying to recall who the Wire player was in that incident all afternoon!