I'd go for Mathers - a much 'classier' player with a wider range of skills. I too liked Lee Penny and he was quick and could finish off moves well.

The question on Mathers - is was he actually playing in the right position? He played stand off for England Academy versus Aussie Schoolboys when we won and if you look at his skills then they were more suited to stand off.

Also - the game has changed a bit in that it's more important the wingers are good under the high ball than the full back - with the full back playing more as an auxilliary pivot. (I know it's helpful that full back doesn't spill a high ball! But I think you get my drift in terms of what skills are more important for the role now.)

Splinters up bottom for me on this one

Penny rarely let anyone down. As people have posted before, great under a high ball. A pretty good tackler. Often won us matches (Wigan '97 and '01)with well taken tries at the death, but blew a few as well, with his reluctance to pass the ball when we had an overlap on the opponents line. My main gripe with Penny, was his failure to really push Radlinski for the GB no1 jersey (he certainly had the talent).

Mathers did OK for the majority of games I saw him in P&B, bar the "brain farts". However, I never really got all the praise that was heaped upon him, whilst at Leeds. I always (including his time with us) found him to be a "Emperors New Clothes" type of player, with Eddie & Stevo raving about him, and me thinking 'well, he did OK, but that's about it'

What does Lee PEnny do now? A lad i was talking to on holiday in Benidorm from Wigan said hes a bit of a jack of all trades - electrics / DIY etc.

Anyone know?

I never thought Penny was close to pushing Radlinski for GB spot but he was a good club man. Like people say he was safe under the high ball but I wouldn't list that as a positive, it's a minimum you expect from a fullback, it's like saying a front rower was good at driving the ball in without dropping it. I thought his best aspects were like laboratoir garnier says, he had good upper body strength which meant he was a strong tackler and also it helped his try scoring record as his strength used to get him over the line sometimes. His support play was good and he got his fair share of tries.

Mathers had more to his game and when he was on loan with us in 2002 he looked promising, I thought he was going to be a star and was disappointed that the deal Plange had tried to arrange where we signed him permanently, didn't materialise. He'd been on our books as a schoolboy before signing for Leeds. His tackling was good and he could join the line as a second standoff. I think without having had injuries at the wrong time he would have played internationally and could have had a better crack at the NRL. I don't remember him being error prone at Leeds but when he came back with Wigan it seemed like he had a hard time with putting in high tackles and also teams found out he was prone to making mistakes under kicks. With us he had his crowning glory moment at Wembley when he could easily have got the Lance Todd on another day with his hat trick of try saver tackles so whatever happens in the rest of his career he has got that.

Overall I reckon Mathers was better than Penny but he probably got moved on from Warrington because he makes more errors and was a target for other teams. Maybe if Penny had come through ten years later he would have been our first choice still now, in our backline today he would have scored 15 or so tries a season and wouldn't have been a player other teams could target so we might not have looked to replace him.

Lee Penny was one of the worst Fullbacks we have ever had at the club and wouldn't compare to anyone I'd even put Bridge at fb before Penny !

WELCOME BACK....WE'VE REALLY MISSED YOU

PADDERS....

What were you watching when Lee Penny was playing? Safe as houses and scored 100 tries for the Club. Beats Mathers any day for me.

Lee Penny and Kevin Penny are not related its ok to say something positive about Lee....



anyway Dave Lyon.....

Lee Penny was dependable but i never thought he was anything special, compared to guys around in his time like Steadman, Hampson, Ford, Radlinski even Gary Connolly. I would have had any of those at Wire over Penny.

Mathers only problem was consistency, he was capable of far more than Penny but equally capable of far more mistakes than Penny.

On their day Mathers is head and shoulders better than Penny but just not as consistent.

I'd rather take the risk that the other guys would chuck in and win the game and go for Mathers.
Look at Mathers in the CC final this year, top drawer.