Really tough one that. I would Normally say Drummond all day in a nostalgia type of way. If they were both on top trump cards it would depend on the categories on the card.
Acceleration
Athletic ability
Speed over 80 yds
Try scoring ratio
International caps
Skill level
God like status ranking
Fear factor
Most punches thrown over carear
Urban mythometer

On those categories Dessie shades it. He was more than just a rugby player. He was a great character and competitor.

Within our twenty; Des.
Within the opposition's twenty; Hicks.

In my time watching the Wire, these two are the best wingers we've had. So can't we just have them both, given a team needs two wingers....?

I actually can't make my mind up, though.

I like Chris Hicks.

And I like Des Drummond...

Is it selective memory or did Des Drummond drop a lot of high balls?

Seem to remember having my heart in my mouth every time a kick went towards him

Now if he caught it clean.........

Yes Dessie was not the safest under a high ball at any given time seem to remember him droping a couple of balls once over the opponents try line in the act of trying to score a try but thats what you got with Dessie!!in defence solid as a rock in full flow with the ball tucked safely under his arm a joy to behold no one since him as created that roar that use to go up when he recived the ball anywhere on the field something that will long live with me.
Chris hicks not blessed with the greatest of pace but my god he can score a try or finnish off a move with the greatest of ease and your heart is not in your mouth everytime he goes up for a bomb!!

i have got these two players as neck and neck it is a great pleasure to have watched them both perform in the primrose and blue..

I Remember that. Very special memories,

Fair to say that if you combined the strengths of the pair of them, then you would have the ultimate winger.

Dessie, fantastic when given a bit of space to run into, pace to burn, immense defence....on the down side, his ball handling was a tad ropey.

Hicks, just very, very dependable....Great finisher, solid defence.

If my life depended on it, I'd go with Hicks, if I wanted box office value, then I'd go with Drummond.

When i first started watching Wire Dessie was my idol,as the Ditch said, the roar of expectation that went up as he received the ball was something i'll never forget.

However Hicks has exceded my expectations and then some... Trully a fantastic winger and IMO one of our finest ever imports..

I'll sit on the fence..Sorry people...

Against a Widnes fan running on the pitch, I would take Dessie any day. Not sure what Hicks would have done in that situation.

Lets not forget Dessie Wholloped Iro nar,nar,nar,na,
not sure hicks could of done the same!!

I think I was about 12 when we signed Des and prior to that he was one of my idols from his stints on Superstars. His appearances on that made him one of the highest profile league players in the country. His best days were at Leigh but he was still pretty awesome for us. Great to see him lift the Regal trophy. His testimonial brochure states he was 5ft 7 and 11stone 5 - How rugby league has changed.

For me, it's like deciding between Fiona Bruce and Susanna Reid. IMPOSSIBLE.

My first ever away game was at Hilton Park in '84, and the noise whenever Dessie got the ball was unbelievable. There was only about 6K on the gate, but it sounded like 30K Leithers were there.
Such a pity our sport was on TV very little in those days, otherwise, the nation would know what a legend DD was.

Hicks is fantastic within 20m, and you'd back him more times than not, that he'd get over the line, see Wembley.

Throw in Richard Henare, who is quite possibly, the biggest waste of a talent in a Wire jersey in the last 30 years, and we've been blessed with 3 crowd pleasing wingers in my RL lifetime

I have to go with Hicks on this one. Drummond's cult hero status meant we overlooked a few faults in his game which have been mentioned on the thread, he did put balls on the deck. I also think the greater number of long range tries he got was due to the game being different in those days, less structured, more spaces to open up. I reckon Hicks would have got his fair share of 60 yarders in the old days. In the modern game though where defences are hard to break down and a greater share of tries are from kicks to the corner, Hicks greater height and catching ability means he is more effective than Des would have been. I do remember Drummond being quite effective from close range though as well, if we got an overlap say 15 yards out, Drummond would duck his head and run straight at the corner flag, he didn't have to stop and cut inside and get tackled like a lot of wingers do because of his strength, pace and low centre of gravity he was hard to knock into touch. Given that there are more tries scored today, Drummond's try scoring record would probably have been better in the modern era.

Drummond was incredibly tough for his size, he was like those small dogs you get who jump at Rottweilers, he seemed to fancy himself as a battering ram despite being much smaller than most players and because of his explosive pace and stocky strength he was effective at breaking tackles or hitting people hard. I remember when Mike Forshaw retired hearing him tell some anecdote about his debut being against Warrington and Des Drummond tackled him with his head and left him winded and thinking "is rugby league the game for me?".

But overall I have to say Hicks has got the most overall class of any Warrington winger I've seen, he's got good pace, very fit and rarely misses a game, his handling is sound, his positioning is good, he's great attacking the high ball (one of Fa'afili's big strengths, and Hicks was an improvement on Fa'afili). He is going to have legend status in Warrington not only because of his overall contribution but he has scored memorable tries in historic games (Wigan semi 09, hat trick at Wembley 10) so he joins the ranks of players like Davies, Langer who were already in their 30s when they joined us but managed to earn respect as a great Wire player. I would have loved to have had Hicks in his 20s here, the younger Hicks at Penrith had pace in the Brett Dallas/Darren Albert category, if he had joined us a decade earlier he would have been one of SLs top all time scorers.

I remember Dessie in his pomp, two things stick out for me.

He was playing for Leigh against us at Hilton Park in the 80's. If we won the game we won the laegue. Dessie had a nightmare dropped everything, bombed sitters. Then in the last minute under his own stick got a rubbish pass on his ankles caught it and went the length.

The other was against Saints in the cup where he ran straight through Phil Vievers twice road runner style. After the first one they game him smelling salts after the second Vievers was lay on the ground with his arms in the air still in tackle position. He was then just carted off.


Dessie was quite inconsistent but the hardest pound for pound player I have seen.
Hicks is the best finisher I have seen for 20 years in a Wire jersey.

For me if I want to win the game its Hicks. If it kicks off on the pitch I want Dessie.

In both cases Dessie and Hicks we got them in the twilight of their careers which is a shame.

Dessie was the one of the toughest players I've ever seen. Loved how he could bounce players 3 and 4 stone heavier than him. Tackling with his head leading wasn't the best technique but was very effective. But, he didn't have the nickname at Wilderspool 'Teflon' for nothing. His handling was often terrible. Bob Jackson told me it that Dessie had problems with his vision and was probably one the reasons why he put so much ball on the floor. Hicksy on the other hand doesn't seem to have any weaknesses, even at 33 he can still outpace much younger opponents. His defence is sound, handling and finishing as good if not better then anyone else in SL. Love them both but would have to say Hicks is/was the all round better winger.