It's interesting to see the positive reaction to Gleeson coming back here, his reputation seems to have been rehabilitated with us because when he left there was a bit of a bad taste. One of Tony Smith's first moves was to ship him out and bring in Mathers, which was certainly a bold way to start as a new coach, but from what I remember it was regarded by pretty much all Wire fans (at least on here) as a positive move from TS. Wasn't quite "good riddance" but it was seen as a good signal to get him out of the dressing room.

I have mixed memories of Gleeson with us, but I was a big fan for a while. What I remember most was being surprised at just how good he was. Usually if Wire signs a big name they end up being a let down, but Gleeson was better than I thought, and I think we got him when he was going right into his prime.

Before he joined I thought he might be overrated. He'd been in the Huddersfield squad that went down, and Saints picked him up and he had a good first year when they won Super League and he got in the GB team. But then his second year with Saints wasn't as good and I remember he was one of the names that used to get brought up on here when people said David Waite just picked players on reputation, "if he didn't play for Saints he wouldn't be anywhere near". He'd started his third year well with Saints but then got banned and we signed him for the next year, so I wasn't sure whether he was really legit or if he was one of those like Calderwood or Chev Walker who never kicked on from the early hype.

But that first season when he played for us...I was absolutely wowed. He was an even better player than he had been at Saints. He was physically bigger by that point and he seemed to have everything, he had power and balance, great footwork, great hands, he was also a great decision maker. He was one of the fittest players around and never seemed to tire or struggle for stamina. The whole right side of our attack was a handful when he was there. We had Briers, Gleeson, Logan Swann and Fa'afili attacking down that flank...wonderful. The only thing that separated him from the all time great centres was maybe a yard of pace. He wasn't slow but he didn't have searing pace. Still, neither did Paul Newlove and I think peak Gleeson was up there with peak Newlove.

So even though he didn't seem thrilled to have joined us, you couldn't knock what he was doing on the field. He rarely got injured, he was consistent even when the team wasn't. He really did transform the team in 2005 - that was probably peak Super League in terms of quality of teams in the league overall especially at the top end, we came 4th but that was a good team that played excellent rugby, we were streets ahead of where we'd been any time in the previous decade and Gleeson was the biggest factor.

So why had things soured with the fans by the end? I think it was because year by year, Gleeson's performances tailed off a touch. 2005 he was absolutely elite. 2006, not quite as good but still great. 2007, dropped off a bit more. 2008, a bit more. It wasn't a steep decline and he was still always one of our better players but what used to grate was you would then see him play in internationals and he would go right back to his best form and was clearly one of the best players in the world all that time when he raised his game. It was really noticeable in the 2008 World Cup, when I was starting to think he was a player in decline on the evidence of his Wire performances but he dominated that World Cup then came back to Wire and went back to how he had been the year before with us.

It all contributed to a feeling that had been there all along, that he didn't want to play for us in the first place, and he was slowly losing interest as the years went on. It was irritating, but still it's not like he downed tools. There have been a lot of other Wire players who have tailed off far more quickly, and he was still one of the better centres in the league. But you never really felt he bought in to the Wire jersey or wanted to be here. He was just too good to not make an impact.

So when he went, I was one of those like most on here who thought, yes its the right time, he's going in the wrong direction, if we want to transform the culture players like him are best moved out. I remember feeling the same at the end for Kelly Shelford too who was another of my former favourites but seemed to tread water for a while before he left.

But you can't argue with the impact he made on the club and there hasn't been an English centre since who was as good as Gleeson was in the mid 2000s.

There was a reason for those signings in 2007 though

Bit of a shame that you should remember Cullen's Wire career in this way.

I bet it cost you a few quid to get the cab valeted after those 4 had been in the back?

Pretty sure TS and price won trophies though. Great rugby doesn't mean getting beat 36-32. Not in my book anyway.

I don't believe I am being harsh. He was far too pally with the players and they played when they wanted. The Castleford game at home was the culmination of the unprofessionalism.

We played some good attacking rugby for sure but our defence was nowhere near good enough. Monaghan even had to call this out in a Warrington Guardian article I seem to recall. I was at the evening when he was asked if he was going to sort out the drinking culture. He said something like "if you think this is a drinking culture you should have seen it in the 80s".

Cullens coaching career was short lived. Whitehaven, us, then Widnes and done. I don't think he was a particularily effective coach and he was lucky that 2/6 wins at the end of 2002 together with fond memories as a long term Wire player made him untouchable for the next 6 years. We all desperately wanted him to succeed.

The fact is at the HJ he massively under delivered over 4 years with an embarrassment of riches in terms of squad at his disposal. The club sat on their hands for far too long and it was ugly at the end.

I prefer to remember him as my childhood hero. A hardworking, hard tackling centre, not afraid of biff, the abiding memory I have is him getting up off the pitch and chasing after Andy Goodway.