Your opinion on past players

[Blackpool_Pie]

So growing up in the 90s and not going to many games, I watched every game that was televised and formed something on an opinion on players based on what my very young eyes saw and how my dad reacted. I'd be very interested to see the general feelings and thoughts towards certain players I grew up watching. Players I'm looking for opinions on include:

Terry O Connor
Neil Cowie
Martin Hall
Craig Murdoch
Simon Haughton
Scott Quinnell
Tony Mestrov
Nigel Wright
Henry Paul
Rob Smyth
Danny Ellison
BJ Mather


Thanks

[PJC]

Nigel Wright. An excellent player. Signed from Wakefield. However very injury prone and not down to physique. He was just very unlucky. I once saw him clatter into the posts at the Kop end at Central Park.

[Euclid]

Tony Mestrov, excellent workhorse I thought was never really appreciated by Wigan fans. In the 98 Grand Final the Leeds forwards were running amok, particularly a mr Morley. I had a front row seat and Mestrov absolutely clattered Morley, something not often seen. It went pretty quiet after that as our forwards got on top. Never really spectacular, but the sort of forward who gets on with the job quietly and effectively.

[Firestarter]

Simon haughton scored some great tries but didnt like the tackling and graft of a forward…… I personally thought he would have made a great eric gtothe type winger

[Forever Warrior]

Terry O’Connor - grafting prop with a good engine and strong defence
Neil Cowie - tough nut who didn’t mind mixing it a bit. Could offload but sometimes tried it in the wrong situation. Sneaked over for a few tries and brought the house down with a drop goal against Bradford when they had a top side. Great club servant.
Martin Hall - hard working hooker. Nothing flashy but got the job done.
Craig Murdoch - struggled for regular first team starts as understudy to Edwards. Scored the greatest try ever scored at Twickenham v Bath
Simon Haughton - as previously commented a long striding, fast second rower witha knack for scoring tries from a good distance out but not one that you would want with you in the trenches.
Scott Quinnell - it took time to get him up to speed in rugby league after his move from Union. He was powerful and had a good turn of speed but just when he looked like he was going to move up to the top level he cleared off back to union.
Tony Mestrov - another grafting, unspectacular prop. A good team player.
Nigel Wright - talented stand off who looked like he could be the real deal but for injuries. Good ball handler and clever thinker. Sadly didn’t get many games out of him. Think he had to retire in his mid 20’s.
Henry Paul - Pure class. Silky runner with ball in hand. Great sidestep. A player like Bevan French or Jay Field who was a joy to watch. Scored plenty of spectacular tries including a memorable one straight from us kicking off against the Saints. Decent goal kicker and could pop over a drop goal on occasions.
Rob Smyth - quick winger and a good finisher who struggled for first team opportunities when we had Jason Robinson and Martin Offiah.
Danny Ellison - another solid winger who wasn’t afraid to put his body on the line to get over the line. Not particularly fast but reliable. He also struggled for first team games.
BJ Mather - Long striding centre. He was quicker than he looked. I never really felt he created that much for his wingers.

Just my memories and opinion, of course.

[ian.birchall]

Agree with most of those comments but would add that BJ Mather was really a second rower, he was coming through at the same time as Andy Farrell and suffered for that. England RU converted him to centre and that was never ever his best position.
Nigel Wright's career was ruined by injuries but in between them he showed glittering promise. Another Wakey player we signed whose career was ruined by injuries was Chris Chester who when he played could get through gaps that no-one else could see.
Scott Quinnell could not wait to get back to Wales RU after having his nose broken in his first match away at Doncaster. Rob Smyth was lightning fast but up against two of the best wingers we ever had.
Mind might be confused but didn't Simon Haughton score the first try for us when we lost to Cas in our first ever game at the JJB?

[widdenoldboy]

IMHO

Terry O Connor - Steady and grafting prop, punchbag for Tallis then said "my wife hits harder"!
Neil Cowie - Amongst our toughest props, not much nonesense, either.
Martin Hall - Underated and kept Martin Dermott out of the side for a while
Craig Murdoch - few opportunities to show more than being a good replacement for Edwards
Simon Haughton - Talented runner.
Scott Quinnell - A giant of a man who developed quickly, shame RU took him back
Tony Mestrov - Steady and tough
Nigel Wright - Immensley talented, nice bloke and very, very unlucky with injuries
Henry Paul - Natural talent, arguably our most naturally talented player in the modern era- lacked the controlling abilities to be a class half but was deadly from fullback. IIRC he scored that try from our own drop-out?
Rob Smyth - Limited chances but reliable
Danny Ellison - Limited chances but reliable
BJ Mather - talented and giant centre, scored a cracker v Brisbane (away) to help clinch the WCC.

[Wandering Warrior]

I been made aware of Cowie by a Rochdale fan I worked with and he reminded me what he'd said when we went to Rochdale in the Challenge Cup.
Cowie and Skerrett met each other with some biff on the pitch and the rest is history.
Two great props for us and always ready to give it and take it!

[morley pie eater]

Nigel Wright was one of very few players in my "time stands still" category: by that I mean that when he got the ball it was like slow motion. He could look round and pick the right option with all the time on the world, and yet somehow not get tackled. (Bill Francis, another Yorkshire lad, in the early 70s had that same quality.) A tragedy that his career was so disrupted and cut short.

Martin Hall was underrated, under the radar. His contribution was huge but just accepted as normal for him. At least 9/10 every game. He had a 5th tackle kick to touch along the ground, which he used regularly to control the game - so simple, but so effective, yet few other players did it so consistently.

[medlocke]

Nigel Wright was one of very few players in my "time stands still" category: by that I mean that when he got the ball it was like slow motion. He could look round and pick the right option with all the time on the world, and yet somehow not get tackled. (Bill Francis, another Yorkshire lad, in the early 70s had that same quality.) A tragedy that his career was so disrupted and cut short.

Martin Hall was underrated, under the radar. His contribution was huge but just accepted as normal for him. At least 9/10 every game. He had a 5th tackle kick to touch along the ground, which he used regularly to control the game - so simple, but so effective, yet few other players did it so consistently.

Martin Hall, now there was a proper hooker, he was my 3rd favourite player behind Inga and Edwards back then