Preferably naming them rather than leaving others to guess...
I suspect your first hero carries the most weight. So for all the other possible candidates for me it will always be John Bevan, a beacon of class through the late 70's. In particular because opposition fans would regularly taunt him but he would often make them eat their words. The sight of Stuart Wright going backwards faster than an Italian tank when he saw Bev heading towards him is a second reason. For pure comedy value head butting Piggy Fletcher, those were the days!

Jonathan Davies.. Probably the biggest impact on a team one player has ever made...
Every time he touched the ball you felt something would happen and it usually did..

Parry Gordon. Gave everything he had and more for such a long time. Loyalty and Class Parry was incredible.

I would go with Davies as well. His excelleration, swerve and ability to get past a player was second to none and he was so exciting to watch.

I thought I would add a forward as well in Rowland Philips who also played in this era. I'll never forget his debut when he came on and totally dismantled
the Saints pack including the excellent Kevin Ward. No one could pin him down and he was bumping off players with ease. When he was on song, I don't think
I've ever seen a more destructive forward in Wire shirt.

Dessie Drummond, by no means our most skilful or longest serving. But I just loved Dessie, he was as hard as nails.

Les Boyd is the best forward I've seen in the P & B. You could see fear in the eyes of the opposition when he was on the pitch but toughness was only part of his game. He also had pace, strength and good handling skills. Consequently I believe he would still be successful in today's sanitised version of the game

All time John Pendlebury
Wire only Phil Blake

It's the WHY that I was getting at RD so elucidate please!

Certainly a top forward when he was interested.....

Most of the time he was, but I do remember playing Hunslet away and losing.....
He was always a couple of yards behind the line and simply a waste of space that day.

Now if Sorenson had been in the opposition we'd have seen a VERY different Boyd.

(Actually if you look at the size of the forwards back then compared to now, Boyd would be small but I'd still have him in my team. Don't think we should forget though that he was a real 'bad boy' in Oz. Didn't he play for us at the time he should have been serving a massive ban?)

Any old farts like me remember Bobby Fulton ?

I had to look him up on Wiki to see when he played for us - it was the 1969/70 season. He only came over to play for us from Oz during their closed season but still managed a try a game from his 16 matches. He was something of a legend representing Australia 30 odd times and was voted into their 'team of the century' back in 2008.
I was too young to see the best of Brian Bevan, but remember dad saying that when he got the ball there was an 'air of expectation' from the crowd that you could easily sense around the ground. I didn't really understand what he was on about until I saw Fulton play. He had the ability to make a break from anywhere, even when closely marked, and you were left wondering ' how did he do that ?' So when he got the ball, you were always thinking here comes a break or a try. Jiffy was great, Parry Gordon a lovely guy, but Fulton for me was the best quality player in a Wire shirt that I have ever seen.

And he was a Warrington born lad, that unfortunately emigrated to Oz as a young lad.

Too many favourite players to name - very very difficult.

Too young for the 50's, 60's and half the 70's

Short List -
Greg Mackey, John Wood, Bob Jackson, Michael Monaghan, Joel Monaghan, Allan Bateman, Jonathan Davies, Les Boyd, Gary Chambers, Des Drummond, Mark Forster, Mike Gregory, Steve Hesford, , Chris Hicks, Chris Hill, Brett Hodgeson, Andrew Johns, Alfie Langer, David Lyon, Gary Mercer, Adrian Morley, Chris O'Sullivan, Lee Briers, Lee Penny, Kelly Shelford, Kevin Tamati, Ben Westwood, Nathan Wood, Brian Johnson
Sort of also remember John Bevan and Parry Gordon, Mike Nicholas, Derek Noonan, Derek Whitehead but vague memories.

3rd place - Bob Jackson - as tough as nails. Skillfull, quick and like a Duracell battery - just kept on going on and on
2nd place - Chris Hicks - phenomenal athlete. The hat trick at the CC final was just incredible,

And the winner is..... JD
The things he could do with a ball was what most players could only dream of.

My favourite was Parry Gordon. He was very often the star even when we had an average side. He used duck under tackles.
I watched all Bobby Fulton's matches (not that many) but he did seem to score every match. He was very strong. I'd heard all about him before he came over from a mate of mine who lived in Stockton Heath ... where I think he was born.
When Brian Bevan scored vs. Leigh in his final game I have a photo with me and my sister tucked behind the corner flag. I remember a lovely interception try against Halifax playing against Dixon/Freeman.
I loved watching Alex Murphy so fast off the mark so controversial and a fight seemed to break out every time someone tackled him.
Derek Whitehead's sidestep was special. Whilst playing for Oldham I remember him side-stepping through the whole Warrington team ... thankfully we signed him a bit later.
I used to really like left winger Brian Glover (I bet no one else will mention him).

In later years Jonathon Davies, Nathan Wood and Lee Briers were my favourites.

Just to please "Offload" I also remember Charlie Winslade. I remember running on and patting him after the game and thinking how tough he looked. He was pretty slow when we signed him but did off-load a lot. Kenny Parr was another who used to offload all he time.

without a shadow of doubt,my all time favourite player was,bobby fulton.what he became and achieved in a very short time
was nothing short of phenomenal.aussie skipper,world cup winner,aussie coach eventually,and he was one of us,born and bred in warrington(stockton heath).he came back as a teenager,just to visit his hometown,stayed with relatives,toured europe inbetween games.we had a handy team at this point,when he came on we were literally transformed into a seriously good team.i went to watch us play fax.away.they were a fine side,he took them apart single handidly.fast,powerful,sidestep,the young murphy was the finest player i ever saw,until bobby came on holiday.billy pattinson,second row followed fulton all around the field,it made billy's name.he scored loads.we all wanted him to stay,but his destiny was calling.

What ever happened to a lad called Ray Clarke from that same era? An athletic loose forward who appeared to be a world beater but disappeared as quickly as he arrived!

It's between Brian Johnson and John Woods for me. Both utterly reliable week in week out, but also capable of changing a game in an instant.

Bobby Fulton as well as having the sublime skills of a top notch half back, also had amazing strength for someone of his size. I remember him putting a few forwards on their backside during his spell with the Wire. He was indeed special. He is also reported to have said that Parry Gordon was the best scrum half he ever played with.

Favourite all time player was the great John Bevan. Great finisher and great defence also, over a good length of time for us.

Agree with the above though, Bobby Fulton was the best player I have seen in a Warrington Jersey. How one man could transform a team had to be seen to be believed.

Bobby Fulton was an exceptional player, like others have said. Unfortunately he was only here for a short period. Parry Gordon however was a top scrum half with skills, grit and a top bloke as well. He was given 2 testimonials if my memory serves me well( it does let me down occasionally these days...) which is an indication of his devotion to the Wire. Even though he was a Wiganner, like his mate Jackie Melling who played centre for us, another very good player. Tough, clever and read the game well.
I do remember Brian Glover, a deceptively fast winger given his size. Through a fluke I ended up as his boss for a short period of time. Truth was, I was so in awe of him I let him do what he wanted. He was also a good fitter, does that count?

As the name says, Chris Hicks

Came in at the same time as big names like King, M Monnas and Louis, but just got on with the job. Top try scorer in first season and along came some very memorable tries
Semi v Wigan at Widnes (sealed the game)
Hat-Trick at Wembley
And not forgetting the kick at Hull

Lucky enough to meet him a couple of times and was a nice genuine bloke.

Along with Hcks always remember Phil Blake, who was in team when I first started to go to games, a great player all round.

The list of the players I've watched, adored and been privileged to see in the P&B is massive, and you look back and wonder how we didn't win more with them in our ranks.

The players who have squeezed the breath from my lungs in awe though, are those that made it all look so effortless. Some players huff-and-puff and deserve to be acknowledged as warriors, but an exceptional few achieve greatness with a shrug of the shoulders, and these are the [iartists.[/i

Step forward Phil Blake, Allan Langer, Allan Bateman, Jiffy Davies and, of course, Mr John Woods, my personal favourite.

Woods was not only the most laid-back, naturally gifted player I have ever seen in the P&B he was the [icoolest[/i. He was Steve McQueen in a no. 6 shirt. He scored tries of individual brilliance that would have had most players wooping with self-congratulatory joy, and just ambled back into position with laconic, shimmering style. All that high five business is soooooooooo terribly uncool, don't you know.

I would say that Bob Fulton is the best player I have seen wear the P&B even if it was for a short spell. Another Warrington born player worth a mention is late Jim Challinor (nice piece in last weeks Guardian) - remember my dad taking me to Odsal in 1961 to watch us lose 10-25 to Leeds in the 1961 Championship Final when he scored both our tries.
Used to enjoy Welshman Idwal Fisher dole out some crunching tackles and later John Dalgreen our hooker before injury finished his career.

Error obviously Drummond for me, loved him for his punch on iron n the Widnes fan lol

Les Boyd...

I can remember seeing the photo of him in a matchday program and we all looked at it and said "wow imagine that running at you .."

We had no idea how good he was going to be, or what he was going to do to a struggling wire side....

We knew about his two long term bans.... and still to this day I have never read anything about his gouging ban (which can never be good) but i saw the elbow on Darryl Browman and I've seen much worse go unpunished since. It was widely regarded he was victim of a crusade to rid the game of "players like him".
Even in the 82 invincible's tour, John Dalgreen, after being tackled lay on the floor and kicked Boyd with both feet, Boyd reacted with a boot of his own and was red carded Dalgreen got off Scott free.

But in a wire shirt Boyd was something else, aggressive to levels I've never seen but never an idiot. he was often targeted by players not fit to lace his boots, but they never put him off his game.

He was an incredibly skillful player and worked astonishingly hard for a player of his physique. He was a superb leader, I can remember a game at wilderspool and Blocker Roach was being his usual idiotic non Challenge cup game self, and was picking fights and Boyd gave him a proper clip on the back of the head to tell him to calm down it worked ...you can bet no one ever did that to Roach before or after.

Boyd was a player I was totally in awe of ...my saddest moment as a wire fan was watching him trudge off the main road pitch with his shirt off, draped over his shoulders.....he deserved to play at wembley....

and Blake... I liked Phil Blake lots...

Thanks for the memories and I completely agree with both players. The Boyd - Sorenson match ups were worth the more than the entrance fee alone. It is exactly this which is missing in todays sanitised game.

Between 1946 and 1962 Brian Bevan consistently transformed a generally average team into one of the top teams in the world. No Warrington fan who saw him in his prime could possibly have any other favourite player