You're just bigging Williams up Tony because he was your mate at Salford.

Williams was a decent player, but to use the term "class" is very much exaggerated rubbish, Hesketh, Richards,watkins, fielding, was "class" williams was nowhere near those 4.

I don't know who you think I am but I can assure you that you are mistaken...

Class is obviously subjective, seeing as you rated Talau in a Salford shirt I'd say any gravitas you had in your argument falls a little short. Williams was a class act for us, it's just that Hesketh, Watkins, Fielding etc were, at the time, probably world class and I'd agree they are a step-up from Williams but it still doesn't take away the fact that Williams was class.

Talau...

What a devastating loss some will feel when they have no more rubber bullets to fire out of their repeater riffles!

Peter Williams was class Centre, even though he signed late in his career . he wasn't the quickest on the field but he had a bag full of skills , a great step , he's always created space for his wing or runner by comitting the defender to tackle him and then time the pass to create the gap, could also put in good chip kicks & grubbers behind the defence . His pretty solid in what at the the time was a fairly leaky defence.
I can't name that many centres that rely just on power & speed , if you remember Matt Gidley @ Saints, slow as a carthorse but had the unnerring ability to create gaps for his Wing Partner Ade Gardner to score a hat full of tries.

so key skills for centre
1. Good enough to get to that try line 10 yards out on in 1 on 1 / even 2 on 1 situation
2. to be able to create space and gaps with good hands ball skills & Step
3. To be a solid defender
being fast comes a fair way down the order

I can't believe what i'm reading

There is no substitute for speed. Williams couldn't run. If he was class Darryl Powell and Carl Gibson wouldn't of been prefered in the Great Britain team. Gee Whizz

Paul Carige was a much faster player than Peter Williams.

When my son was growing up,we watched Peter Williams,and I think that was the first time I told him
"There's no substitute for class"
Of course PW was class,we had him very late in his career,but it oozed from him.

Gleeson is still in good nick and although he's 32 he has had a couple years off so won't have the same wear and tear as a general 32 year old. Partner him up with Broughton and he will score close to 20 tries in the season for you off the back of Gleeson's play.

Okay if Peter Williams oozed "class" and Hesketh was a step above being "World class", which "class" does the likes of Keith Senior, Joe Lydon and Paul Loughlin ( proven internationals ) belong too because the latter three were a step above PW. And with the great Chris Hesketh being "world class" greg Inglis, Brett Kenny, Mal Meninga must be "universal class".

I think the term "class player" is over used today, there's no doubt PW played well for us and had diverse skills. Today in the British game the centre has evolved into a much more strength, powerful and mobile (pace) position more so from the days of PW when evasive skills were more at hand from the centre.

Williams was a good player
Hesketh was class
Keith Senior, Joe Lydon and Paul Loughlin where very good players

Hesketh was part of team that beat the Australian for ths ashes and the world cup
something Keith Senior, Joe Lydon and Paul Loughlin did not do

It's all subjective. Which was my original point anyway. Being pedantic to make your point fit is a bit weak.

On to your other point. You're right in saying that the role of centre has evolved and changed, which means that drawing comparisons between players of different eras is pointless anyway. They can only be judged against the players that played at the time, or the players they played with to keep it in context. You say so yourself in your last sentence.

All this back and forth has been pointless as you have your opinion and others have theirs. You're not got to change it, neither are we.