Unfortunately for us after that Leeds defeat they vowed to rebuild and rebuild they did and have never been a million miles off since.

You obviously don't know Andy , at present he is training very hard to compete in his Testimonial year , which has some great events coming up , and I know for a fact he hasn't touched Beer for a couple of months now ,only one 7 better than him ever , Sir Alex M.Charlie knows .

It certainly was.

It took a long time for Leeds to get things right. They spent a long time trying to compete with Wigan by signing big stars but not having Wigan's relentless winning team culture. At the start of SL they were way off the pace. I would say the rebuilding of Leeds as a real force started when they signed Iestyn Harris from us and brought Graham Murray over as coach.

Agreed but that was said following that game.
It was Leeds defeat to end all like defeats.
Bit like what Dr Kockrash said after we smashed them too.

We beat them at Central Park AND Wilderspool - We were the best side in the league at that brief moment by a long distance..... I think its fair to say you had to be there to realise how good we were, the simple stats don't do it justice.

You have to realise the feelgood factor that there was about that side.... We had ended that previous season on a roll, destroying the champions, Halifax, in the Premiership final - Yes, we started the season slowly, but we were on a huge run form-wise, cruising through the Regal Cup (or whatever it was called back then) and looking nailed on for at least a couple of trophies.

Once Gregory went, we never recovered despite the best efforts of an old Ken Kelly and the signing of Keith Holden, which, at the time, was scant consolation for losing Gregory to Wigan.

Of course, its all what ifs, but Gregory behind THAT pack would have taken a hell of a lot of stopping.

So what we are agreed is that Andy Gregory was a one off great player the best individual of his generation and streets ahead of John Woods who could nowhere near match him, which is the reason Wigan went on to win everything and we faded away.

They were completely different players,, one was the scrum half, who worked off the back of a dominant pack, bringing strong outside (and inside) runners into the game and the other was an off-the-cuff stand off, who could be anonymous for 79 minutes and then produce an individual moment of magic to win a game.

Now Woods at stand off WITH Gregory at 7 would have been an absolute dream.....

John Woods was in the twilight of his career when he was at Warrington, Gregory was at his peak but Woods was still the better all-round player, and person. John devoted most of his career to Leigh & Bradford and I'm sure he would have commanded better salaries, and more GB caps, elsewhere but stayed loyal.

These things are subjective but Woods was the better player for me - a wonderful running style, elegant passer, a great kicker, wonderful individual talent but a great team player too. If John was still playing now he'd be a very rich man.

Andy Gregory
John Woods
Phil Blake

What if...what if.

So close to netting the best ever since Murphy in one season.

Enough, please stop! I'll have to put the plastic sheets on the bed again.

Watched it a couple of months back. The cheek of us smashing them in their kit!

The year after Andy Gregory left we added John Woods and Des Drummond and we finished 6th then 11th. Then the next two years (after Woods had left) we were 8th and 9th.

Surely quite disappointing finishes considering we had a side that was ready to dominate rugby league in Wigan's place, if only Andy Gregory stayed....?

Sally our league positions on paper look disappointing, but we had good runs in all the cups so we racked up quite a few wins.

If Andy Gregory had have not just use Wire as a plinth, he would have been playing behind the best pack I ever saw in RL ever.

So close it pains me still.