Really agree on Dessie. One my all time favourites.

Friggin El! Lefty
I've been reading this thread with gusto with some great memories then you go and throw that in the mix.

Agreed though, Currier was little more than theft.

Quote ="B'wood Bob"Hard to believe that 5 pages in and still no mention of Des Drummond! He may not have been at his absolute peak when playing for Warrington, but he still brought an intake of breath when he got the ball with a bit of space. Many a happy memory of seeing his jersey billowing out behind him as he streaked down the touchline to score in the corner. His defence was also pretty solid. Would love to see the use of today's technology, and its assessment of collision forces, cope when Dessie hit the opponents with his unique tackling style - which basically looked like he turned himself into a poleaxe to take out the attacker. His best try for me was vs Saints. Now my memory is that he'd just scored and very good try running over half the length of the pitch and beating the defenders for pace on the outside, though could be wrong about that. Anyway, Paul Loughlin took the restart and kicked it straight to Dessie. He charged into the line, bust through the tackle, found space on the outside and burned Vievers off to score under the posts. He was puffing like billy-o when he got back to the Fletcher end. See it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi5nz12IMV4'" Cheers for that youtube link B'wood Bob! As a Leyther i've grown up on tales of Dessie from my dad but never actually seen any clips of him before. Will be looking up a few more now!

Quote ="B'wood Bob"Hard to believe that 5 pages in and still no mention of Des Drummond! He may not have been at his absolute peak when playing for Warrington, but he still brought an intake of breath when he got the ball with a bit of space. Many a happy memory of seeing his jersey billowing out behind him as he streaked down the touchline to score in the corner. His defence was also pretty solid. Would love to see the use of today's technology, and its assessment of collision forces, cope when Dessie hit the opponents with his unique tackling style - which basically looked like he turned himself into a poleaxe to take out the attacker. His best try for me was vs Saints. Now my memory is that he'd just scored and very good try running over half the length of the pitch and beating the defenders for pace on the outside, though could be wrong about that. Anyway, Paul Loughlin took the restart and kicked it straight to Dessie. He charged into the line, bust through the tackle, found space on the outside and burned Vievers off to score under the posts. He was puffing like billy-o when he got back to the Fletcher end. See it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi5nz12IMV4'" Cheers for that youtube link B'wood Bob! As a Leyther i've grown up on tales of Dessie from my dad but never actually seen any clips of him before. Will be looking up a few more now!

Ah yes, Lefty, the mid to late 90s was an era that often saw an outpouring of vitriol from the Wilderspool terraces. I remember Adam Doyle and Scott Wilson taking a good deal of stick - mostly completely justified, I have to say.

I recall Jon Roper taking an ear-bashing from the fans in the Brian Bevan stand, pretty much every game. Was he really that bad?

Alfie Langer always made the hairs on the back of my neck stand tall. He was the Michael Monaghan of his day. Fozzie sprinting down the wing was also a sight to behold in the heady Wilderspool days. My mate and I actually cried when Danny Farrar played his last game and said farewell and we remember Danny Nutley with similar affection.

The try that I always remember, and I've seen many more spectacular ones or important ones, but just seem to never be able to get it out of my head, was Alan Hunte's last gasp effort at The Willows against Salford. I can't recall if it was a cup game or a play-off clash or whatever, but the excitement of pipping a rival team to the victory (and the noise the fans made on the terraces) is one that'll stay with me for a long while.

...also, my mate and I still 'fondly' reminisce of how Wire used to be going into the Widerspool sheds at half time with a healthy lead, have a team talk by Darryl Van De Velde, and then promptly come out second half and get absolutely battered! Oh, how we laugh!

Jon Roper was the original Super Jonny Roper what we sing to Benny now.
Roper could take a game by the scruff of the neck and drag us to a win.
An evening game over a very good Hull side comes to mined.
I recall him switching to stand off and taking over the goal kicking duties and banging them over from all over the pitch.
His demise later being almost as swift as his rise to Super status.

I was there for that Salford game, that place was a dump but that try was brilliant and the atmosphere was amazing! It was a cup QF

you and i have very different memories of jon Roper.

check out the word under-achievement in the dictionary, you'll see a picture of jon roper. with a little bracket saying (severe)

WTF !!!!

Thats's almost like saying Brian Bevan was the Kevin Penny of his day !

Don't think MM would ever equate himself to Alf.

Not in the same league as the original Rocky Turner who played loose forward for Oldham and Wakefield when there were a number of loose forwards better than anything around today. Johnny Whiteley and Vinty Karalius spring immediately to mind. Mind you, in the modern game, most teams do not play with the same tactics where the loose forward along with the half backs, was part of the midfield triumvirate which was the heartbeat of the side.

My favourite Wigan player of the era was Brian McTigue. IMO one of the all time great prop forwards

I figure you didn't watch the game v Hull Sharks where he got MOM and kicked the goals off the touchline?

I'm not saying that it was prolonged top quality but I have to give credit where due and he did win the fans affection with many a rendition of Su...per super Jon.

Asotasi

Not the usual criticism of him. Just watched the saints match again, and I think it's the first time I've seen him pointing, talking and smiling during a game this season. Who knows, maybe something has clicked.

haha.... HANSUM MAN

Jon Roper was, frankly, a totally unprofessional idiot and the personification of why shirking arrogance always overcomes talent. He could have been as good as Paul Newlove, maybe even better, but he lacked the work ethic to go with his talent and the intelligence to realise he was throwing away a talent his peers could never attain.

Some of us have waxed lyrical about how so-and-so would have been world beaters in a full time environment; Roper wouldn't. He wouldn't have lasted five minutes in an organisation where how you conduct yourself 24//7 is as important as how you can time a pass.

overall your both right about jon roper but he did have a spell, short lived of what he did was bordering on class. I can't remember how long it lasted but it did happen and he did get the title of super jonny roper.

I can't honestly say I remember the awful Jon Roper you talk about.

I wasn't as into RL back then but I don't remember him being particularly bad. Maybe you guys know more than me.

I do remember Rowland Phillips being a crowd favourite but the number of balls he dropped in the tackle..... unbelievable. Not a great player.

Nobody is questioning Roper's ability, which was considerable, but his attitude stank. He played when he felt like, was lazy and arrogant. He summed up the culture that was the curse of the club in those days.

Which players in the current squad would be mentioned in a similar thread in say 20-30 years time? The Monas brothers, Chris Hill if he continues his current form for a few more years, Westwood. Any more?

An interesting question. Most of the players mentioned, and those remembered fondly, were not only great players, but had charisma and played the game during eras when the game was full of characters. What prompts people to remember them with affection was as much down to their off-the-cuff skills and personalities as their achievements. The SL-revoloution has produced some wonderful stadia, tremendous athletes and some memorable games but has also wholly sanitised the game. I can't stand Hock, and I wouldn't want him at the club, but he is at least a bit of a ner do well who inspires opinions.

Gareth Hock isn't a character. He doesn't have any charisma at all. Just being a troublemaker is not being a character, Zak Hardaker gets sent home from England training camp and done for homophobic abuse but I don't think we'll be musing in 30 years over what a character he was.

Mike Gregory, Nat Wood, these are characters.

Not in a million years could Roper have been as good as Newlove.

What did Roper have that Newlove didn't? He was a reasonably big lad that obviously had some ability, decent hands, and could have been a good SL player, but he wasn't the languid huge hulking destroyer that Newlove was even when Newlove didn't look that interested.

If Roper had been Kevin Sinfield-esque in his attitude he would have had a long career as a SL player and maybe been on the fringes of the GB squad but he was never going to have the impact that the likes of Senior, Newlove or Connolly would.

One problem with Roper was I never fancied his defence, wherever you put him, he wasn't like say Michael Eagar who we had at centre at the same time that was just solid.

The one who could have been as good as Newlove was Toa Kohe-Love, and at his peak he was up there with Newlove. With Toa it wasn't attitude that scuppered him he just had too many injuries. But even when they were both emerging around 1996 you could see Toa was streets ahead of Roper in natural talent.

Well, I disagree but there you go. Newlove played in some great Saints teams, Roper played in some average Wires ones. I maintain Roper didn't have the temperament to make it even in a full-time environment. As for how good he could have been if he'd have had some intelligence, you don't know and nor do I but the talent was there. In terms of GB, as you'll recall he did earn one England cap which showed all the potential was there, but the grey matter was lacking.

Getting an England cap is hardly a marker of great potential: England was just a second string for players that weren't in the full GB side, that England team Roper played in had guys like Marcus St Hilaire, Francis Maloney, Steve Blakeley and Darren Rogers in it.

Newlove single handedly turned a decent but not great Bradford in to contenders, he was as influential for them as Jonathan Davies was for us. Roper would never have done that.

I think Roper got overhyped as a young player coming up because he came on the scene young and because of the feelgood factor about that generation of players: he was the same era as Harris and Sculthorpe. But when people said he had all this great ability - what did he have? I don't remember him having raw explosive pace or great strength, he had decent hands and if I remember once or twice we played him at stand-off but that was as a fill in. He didn't have anything that really stood out to me other than just being a decent biggish guy.

He got some bad injuries if I remember rightly when he was young which didn't help and then when he lost form the fans turned on him very quickly....there was an unusual nastiness towards Roper from the terraces which is surprising as he was one of our own home grown produced players. Maybe the hostility of the crowd plus impact of his injuries just disillusioned him and he gave the impression he wasn't interested.

I do remember him being linked with a move to Bradford when they were on the way up and looking for emerging talent at smaller teams, but nothing came of it. If he'd gone there maybe he would have had a bit more success eg like Nathan McAvoy did. But McAvoy was about his level, he was never a Newlove.