There is a photograph of John Woods that used to be up in The Boars Head pub (and previously on display in The Musketeer)

It was taken at Wilderspool and He was in Warrington colours that day, It captures him in open field, speeding in for a try with the Warrington crowd jubilant.

Left trailing behind him is Wigan's Ellery Hanley with the expression of a beaten man. A fantastic photo.

Woody would run rings round tommy

No contest IMO as much as I like Tommy Martyn Jnr ...JW was the best player I`ve had the fortune to watch in a Leyth shirt and that includes AJM .

I remember the game v Bratfurt and i`m pretty sure sure both the Maestro and Hanley scored braces or hat tricks and we lost in a very high entertaining game.

The best individual performance by any player............EVER..............was John Woods, when he scored all 24 points in a win at Leeds one Tuesday evening, circa 1984!!

The Daily star were big on write ups for every game in those days, and players were marked out of 10...........hardly anyone got a 10.....IIRC JW scored an ELEVEN!!!!!

The 1971 team were physically stronger with a ferocious pack and very 'hard' threequarters, whilst they lacked the flair of the 82 team, their defence was awsome! They were of course led by the greatest player Rugby League has ever had and, that's a major reason they would triumph over the 82 team! No disrespect to the 82 team, they were worthy champions but, again, Murphy was the inspiration for their team! I'm lucky to have seen them both!

I also witnessed a game at HP where Hanley tore us to shreds. But have to agree about Woody. He seemed to glide over the pitch and effortlessly kick goals from all over the park. A true RL god.

John Woods was a one off one of the greatest players in the World in his prime
He had everything fantastic attacking skills brilliant defence scored points for fun also broke long term records for every club he played for truly a awesome player
Alex J Murphy on the other hand is the greatest player of all time without a doubt he had everything Woody had plus that x factor he was feared by all throughout his career here and overseas it would have to be one hell of a player to eclipse Alex has the Worlds best ever player

Yes we were certainly blessed to have two truly world class players AND both were wearing Leigh shirts at the time.

It's no wonder that Leigh were able to win the league and be crowned the RL champions.

Woody was a genius. Simples.

Woody was the best.

I remember Hull FC offered us £100k for him and our then chairman Brian Bowman said no.

Shame we can't keep our finest today but sadly that is the way the game has gone' I won't say why I have said it often enough.

I was at the home game v Bradford in the 81 -82 season. Although I don't have a Rothmans to hand, I'm confident that we didn't lose - I remember following a particularly obnoxious Bradford fan back towards Oxford Street who wasn't happy after the game. He was a lot less happy when he found he'd got a parking ticket.

For me, the thing that separated the 71 and 82 teams was pace. The half backs and three quarters of the 82 team were dazzlingly quick. And they won the championship, which is a bigger ask than the Challenge Cup. I remember that the general feeling was that Leigh's style in 81-82 was suited best to hard ground and therefore we were more likely to win the Challenge Cup. A lot of people felt we were nailed on to win it. When we lost to Castleford, there was a massive feeling of deflation. The fact that we went on to win the championship, despite almost chucking it away at the death, makes the 82 team (which changed quite a lot between September and April) the superior one for me. However, they both punched above their weight.

What about the 2001 side?

When I replied to Charlie`s post I`m fairly confident that the game he had in mind was n`t in `82 but a few years later when JW was coaching us `85ish.

Barty the game i refer to was in the 80s though im not sure of the year ,Woody ran rings round Hanley , and later that year we beat Wigan easily at Hilton park their Half backs were Shaun Edwards and Mike Ford .

Your bob on - Either 83/84 or 84/85 season but Leigh did win.

Yes - the [isixth[/i best side since the aforementioned teams IMHO.

I personally wouldnt put the 2001 side above the 2006 side although in a face off an all conqouring Neil Turley would have been a huge and obvious threat.

The 2001 side effectively blew it that year after a roaring start and by the time Oldham and Widnes turned up for the play off's we had been sussed out and both turned us over at home ( Rochdale also beat us heavilly at Spotland during the end of that season)

Look at the 2006 pack alone. Ricky Bibey, Tere Glassie, Bryn Hargreaves, Paul Prescott, Chris Hill, Rob Roberts, Dana Wilson with Paul Rowley at hooker. I won't even mention the likes of Aaron Heremaia and Scott Grix in the backs.

One of the better sides we have ever had but unfortunately let down by the then board of directors who brought in one of the worse coaches we have ever appointed.

I was lucky enough to watch both teams,so lets have the best of both.

1 d eckersley 2 d drummond 3 t bilsbury 4 ste donlan 5 j walsh 6 J Woods 7 A Murphy 8 d chisnall 9 k ashcroft
10 a wilkinson 11 p grimes 12 g clarkson 13 t martyn subs r tabern k green p smetherst p fox.

2006 had the better players, 2001 was by far and away the better [iteam[/i.

That decision nearly ruined us and would have but for AT bailing us out. That squad in 2006 was better than our SL one, O'Neill at 6 and Moore at prop as well. With a good coach we would have bankrupted HKR by winning the GF.

I suppose I was just thinking about the 81-82 season because of the thread's title. Hanley did play in 1981 and although I don't remember the details, the Bradford fans (including the obnoxious one) were very excited about him. This can't have been long before Hanley's enforced sabbatical.

I suppose I was just thinking about the 81-82 season because of the thread's title. Hanley did play in 1981 and although I don't remember the details, the Bradford fans (including the obnoxious one) were very excited about him. This can't have been long before Hanley's enforced sabbatical.

Grix - Went to on play SL
Heremaia - Went on to play SL and be an international!
Bibey & Moore went on to create the forefront of Wakefields pack
Paul Prescott, Chris Hill and Hargreaves on went on to become SL regulars in the pack.

Add to that, O'Neil, Rowley and Roberts at 6,9,13. Clearly that is the making of a team that should have achieved so much more. Thank god they won the cup.

don't forget you had neil roden who you swap for a local leigh lad jay duffy and he wonderful drop goal to knock you out of the play offs. top memories