Flash Flanagan has signed for Stains!

[cpwigan]

I think a lot depends on the whole pack KW but I do think the Gilfedder's, Whiteley's may not be LF in the rapidly changing modern way of playing RL. Rocky Turner would probably be the easiest conversion.

The way the game is now every position is fixed in terms of where they stand on the field bar 2; Loose forward and full back. Hence, why when people cry Sam T is not a FB I think where have you been for the last decade, the LF is changing now too. 11 positions have a rigid criteria, demands applied to them, the 2 that don't are the ones changing. The Sam T is not a FB are the same people who argue Lockers is not a proper LF because he does so much work, afain hello where have you been for the last decade.

Gallen is an example of a modern day LF who plays like a prop. I think Greg Burke could be a Gallen style LF.

[Kittwazzer]

Agree with you re Sam. IMO, he only becomes FB for the final 2 of the oppositions set. Rest of the time he's in the thick of the action and generally causing mayhem. That said, he's a one off. He is 3 moves ahead of the pack and knows instinctively where to park himself at any given time.

I assume you mean Rocky Turner who played for Wire and not Chizzy Sr's mate!

[cpwigan]

DEREK 'ROCKY' TURNER

[Kittwazzer]

DEREK 'ROCKY' TURNER

Don't think I know that one!

[cpwigan]

KW hang your head in shame and wear the D cap in class for a full day.

Derek 'Rocky' Turner is a legend!!!

http://www.orl-heritagetrust.org.uk/HTM ... htm#turner

During the filming of the classic movie "this sporting life" starring the late Richard Harris, which was filmed at Wakefield Trinity's Belle Vue ground.

There is a scene where Harris's character is roughed up at the back of a scrum.

Before the scene, Which was filmed using the great Trinity players of the sixties, the Director asked Turner to make it look realistic.

As Harris emerged from the opposite Loose Forward position he was laid out cold by Turner and filming had to be postponed until Harris was back on his feet

Wembley dressing room 1963, Trinity Director enters and offers the player 3 & 6 for bonus for winning.

Gert Coetzer, A solid,tough South African asks what they get for losing.

Everyone stops! No talking! the constant tapping of turners studs on the dressing room floor has come to a sudden stop!

Coetzer knows he's said the wrong thing.

Coezer is the last man to leave the dressing room.

Story is that Turner has explained "we don't talk of losing in my dressing room"

Trinity go on to beat Wigan and win the Challenge cup!

Going back to stories about the Biff era. A good one was told to me by Brian Lockwood. In the 60's they had the John Player competition and the man of the match got an award. Brian was about 20 and at Castleford; playing in the same pack as Malcom Reilly and Dennis Hartley. Rocky Turner was the coach. Brian said that in training one night, Turner was laying down the law and was lecturing Malcom and Brian. Brian could see what was going to happen next and started running just as Turner copped Malcolm with a shot. Not long after, at Bramley, Brian got a man of the match award. Feeling full of himself he went up the steps as it was in those to the dressing rooms at Bramley. Waiting for him at the top and glaring was Turner, who said to him "you think you're good, but I've shit better than you." With that he hit Brian with a haymaker that sent him all the way down the steps. All the players were scared shitless of him; and Malcom always says that his aggression was part of the way he was brought up as a young player under Turner. Mind you I don't think Malcom needed much encouragement when it came to the biff.

courtesy of Tony Adams great book The Hitmen - A tribute to League's tough guys.

He face many rugged opponents in his day, but nont troubled him more than noted English hard man Derek Turner.

"He was the hardest player I faced" Wilson said after his retirement. "One day he caught me around the throat with a stiff arm and I thought he'd taken my head off."

Former Saints, NSW and Australian team-mate Johnny Raper still remembers that tackle

"It was a killer and I think that was the only time I ever saw Blueys legs buckle" Raper says. "He was really stung by the blow and was gone for a while. But, to his credit, he came back for more later in the game and gave Turner as good as he got."

The clubs Rocky played for are Ossett rugby union, Hull Kingston Rovers, Oldham and Wakefield Trinity. Plus Yorkshire, England and Great Britain. He later coached at Castleford.

Once a baby faced Mal Reilly told him he had just played a great game, Rocky said you don't even look like a forward and punched him in the nose.

Now you look like a league forward said Rocky.

Last of the really hard men in the bash and barge days of league.

He said of the 1967 GB test pack to play Australia that he could 'do' everyone of them with one hand tied behind his back.

[Kittwazzer]

Brilliant post. Got to hold my hand up and say I wasn't aware of any of it. Great tales though. Remind me of the tales Ernie Ashcroft told me about Charlie Pawsey. I spent a lot of time with Ernie at the Fishergate in the weeks before his death. Charlie turned up a few times. Its true. He was a dapper man with a pencil moustache and an effete manner who called everyone 'Love', male or female! But according to Ernie, the most savage man ever to grace a rugby pitch!

[cpwigan]

Depends on where you live really re Derek Turner; in Aus he is held in the same regard as Vinty and co, in Wakey and Oldham too. In places here he is far less revered but was just as vital a cog in the best ever GB teams from 58 to 62 as Brian Mac, Vinty etc.

[butt monkey]

Some fans have romanticized visions of players.

Sorry, I cannot remember him during his 2 year stint at the club (which was hardly the club's most enamoured). Nothing but a reserve grade player who made a handful of first team appearances without setting SL (or Wigan's first team) alight

They are welcome to him, he will be a great replacement for James Graham :sly:

[cpwigan]

Some fans have romanticized visions of players.

Sorry, I cannot remember him during his 2 year stint at the club (which was hardly the club's most enamoured). Nothing but a reserve grade player who made a handful of first team appearances without setting SL (or Wigan's first team) alight

They are welcome to him, he will be a great replacement for James Graham :sly:

To be fair after spending virtually his entire Wigan career in the reserves, he announced he was leaving and Noble started to select him in the firsts. He actually did ok.

[yoda warrior]

He was pretty much an unseen player. An excellent defender but never did much with the ball. He was in the first team for about the last third of the '09 season.