Two of my favourites as well. For me favourite doesn't have to be the best player, for me it someone who gives 100% every week.
In that category got to include Phil Veivers. I know when they came over together Meninga was the superstar but he only played part of a season and didn't have to get out of 2nd gear in most games. Veivers played virtually his whole career at Saints and played every position apart from prop.
I may have mentioned this before but back at that time I use to deal with a firm who use to sponsor a match at Saints. They did it for about eight season.
It was a good day out, a roast beef meal beforehand with a free bar, then either stay drinking in the clubhouse or watch the game from the stand.
As sponsors we had to pick the man of the match, first year we let one of the ladies choose, I think she just picked someone she liked the look of who hadn't done much all game, so the announcement was roundly jeered from the crowd.
The next year we hatched a plan before the game, unless someone else did something spectacular we would nominate Veivers as M.O.M he was a popular player and very rarely did anything wrong, so the announcement was usually greeted with a cheer of approval by the crowd.
It worked fine until one year, we'd no sooner taken our seats in the stand for 2nd half than one of the girls from Saints promo side came and asked us for M.O.M it was way too early so we looked at each other and decided to stick to Veivers.
She'd no sooner left us to go back to the clubhouse, Veivers went down injured, had to be carried off and took no further part in the game.
Of course they then wait until near the end of the match and it comes over the tannoy that Veivers is Man of Match, that prompted jeers of derision from the crowd and the fans near us in the stand glared at us as if we were stupid
It didn't spoil the day though and we still picked him the next year.
Jonathan Thurston for me, looking at the game of rugby league overall
If it's just Saints then it would have to be Sean Long, he might have been a bit of a silly nob at times but he relished the contest and was a real character
From a Wigan point of view. Well mine anyway. Paul Newlove. Absolute quality. If it wasn't for us having Tuigamala and Connolly he would be in my all time greatest side. Gets on the bench though
Newlove was my favourite player when i first got into the sport in the 90’s. He was quality and a great wingers centre. He was unselfish but when he opened up he could burn anyone for speed. He was a nightmare for defenders. They had to keep on his inside shoulder in case he tried that left footstep. But if he caught the ball on the defenders outside shoulder he was gone in a flash or putting his winger away. Brilliant player.
screaming in the family corner, scaring the kiddies
Spot on. He had the perfect combination for a left centre: great hands, pace off the mark, powerful right hand fend and the best left-foot step I’ve ever seen. He must have been a nightmare to defend against; under-commit and you’re screwed, over-commit and you’re screwed.
Great player and I agree on the attributes that you list, But for me the one thing that I always remember that other players didn't have, was that banana shaped run to his left. It was amazing how over a distance, he could just get outside the centre and inside the wing, with no sidestep, just the shape of his run.
Like this?
https://youtu.be/d2jOFM7mVEI
Scrub to 58 minutes into the video. Sculthorpe puts a flat ball on his chest, defender caught on Newloves inside shoulder and he’s gone!
screaming in the family corner, scaring the kiddies
Newlove was definitely a centre who had it all, those first three or four years he was immense, I remember him linking up with Iro, where we'd have set moves where Iro would become an 'Inside Centre' a great partnership.
Genuinely couldn't pick one, and go along with everyone above Newlove, Lyon, Sculthorpe, Lyon and Barba
Yeah, absolute magic. One of the reasons he could do that was because of his sidestep, though, I reckon. Defenders knew that if they chased hard he’d just beat them on the inside, so they’d hang back, which was usually fatal as he was so much faster than he looked.
Les lives opposite my parents.
I had to look it up. Didn't know his second name.
I knew he played for saints though. So he was a good player then?
for saints tommy martyn , some great skills and loads of trys in big games
non saints player jiffy davies
A laughably one-sided reffing display from pie•••• John Connolly. There's a passage of play when we're trying to get back into the game which goes:
1) Chris Smith is tackled, and Farrell puts him in a headlock round the neck. Smith still has Farrell round his neck when getting up to play the ball, and has to push him off. No penalty.
2) Couple tackles later, Cunningham breaks from DH, passes onto Long who gets tackled, tries to get up quickly to play the ball, but the Leeds player is all over him. Smith pushes the offending Leeds player off Long, who fronts up and there's some mild pushing. Connolly penalises Saints.
3) Leeds kick to touch and Mathiou takes the first tackle, gets up, pushes Cunningham, who pushes him back. Connolly gives a penalty to Leeds and sinbins Cunningham.
Along with the other 2 i mentioned, Tuigamala and Connolly, them and Newlove were in a completely different league to any other centre, certainly in this country and easily up there with the best in the world. You were guaranteed a 9 or 10 out of 10 every week. I was a young Wigan fan watching those derbies knowing that he was dangerous every time he got the ball and there was no point running at him in defence either because you were already tackled before you made the decision. Newlove had freakish strength in both defence and attack.