Was it not Molloy who was miffed at being left out of the 1990 Wembley? Just seem to remember a bit of upset around this.

Especially as he was involved in putting Bob Jackson through to get us there!

He got absolutely pole axed by one of the Widnes 2nd Rows......I cannot for the life of me remember which one, although it could have been Hept Cahill. Brett didnt know which Country he was in never mind the town. He was never the same player afterwards which is probably, in my opinion why he was left out.

In that last year, he did get a lot of knocks to the head.

Absolutely right. Brett at his best was superb but he really was taking some big hits in his last season.

It was Cahill. Hodgson got taken off the field in a neck brace.

He only played one more game after that. Ratchford played fullback in our playoff run where we had good wins over Leeds and Huddersfield - teams who had knocked us out in previous playoffs.

Considering Hodgson hadn't played or trained for a few weeks, it would have been a massive gamble to switch up a winning team to bring him in, if he wasn't 100%. The narrative now is that TS messed up by leaving Hodgson out for Ratchford, especially as Ratchford got injured in the game. But what would have been said if Ratchford had been dropped, Hodgson brought in and then him only lasted 20 minutes or been a liability because he wasn't fit. The narrative then would have been "TS changed a winning team to give his Aussie mate a run out at Old Trafford for his last game, and it cost us in the biggest game."

Also bearing in mind the circumstances in which we got Lee Briers from Saints, I wonder if Ratchford would have wanted out, if he'd been left out whilst in good form to bring in an unfit Hodgson?

Absolutely this as at the time whilst Hodgson was a great player for us Ratchford was in fine form and we would prefer the team selection was based on some form of meritocracy wouldn't we? It's not as though Ratchford was a bit of a kid just filling in whilst a main man recovered from a bit of a knock to gain some experience.

Harsh maybe but I thought it was the right decision based on form and the future

So if briers had missed the two games prior to the grand final and someone like O'brien had filled in and done well, would we not want briers brought back in for the final? Absolute nonsense decision to leave out a fit Hodgson no matter how well ratchford had played for the 2 games previous. Although the story I was told is that smith told Hodgson he was going to be on the bench and he didn't take it to well so was left out.

Yup, my mistake, Snaggletooth. It was Molloy, and he slapped in a transfer request, and went to Leeds, soon after. Harmon followed him, some time later.

Two good props, but, only 2 subs per game at the time. Wires' loss

I felt for Steve Malloy. He was heartbroke. He was our only ball player forward at the time too.
We lost quite a few to Leeds around that time, who had been steadily building since we smashed them a few years before. Andy Gregory masterclass.

Hat-trick for Roberts that day (iirc)
Heartbroken that I didn't go that game, my mate and his dad (driver) couldn't be bothered. Bugger!
That video was pure porn.

I'll tell you what is nonsense Moe comparing Ratchford to O'Brien in the stand in stakes

I'd say it was fair. Ratchford is/was as many planets away from Hodgson as O'Brien was to Briers. Carry on the Ratchford love-in and see where that gets us in a big game not when sauntering past Hull.

We are going to have to agree to disagree (no problem btw). The 'proof of my pudding' though is look where O'Brien has been plying his trade following his release from Wire Salford Toronto and I don't think Gaz was ever in Bennett's or anyone's England plans either

Ratchford was a senior player who had a good season in 2013 so it wasn't a case of weighing up whether to go with the partially fit senior pro for the big game v the young lad who was an unknown quantity in a big game. We had a strong squad that season and a senior player was going to miss out, selection was tough so being part fit was always likely to put you down in the pecking order.

The other context for this was that Tony Smith had been burned in the 2005 Challenge Cup Final when he picked Keith Senior for the final despite the fact he wasn't fit to play, Senior was a passenger and had to be subbed and they lost. Senior felt massive guilt about that afterwards because he felt he'd let Leeds down.

No problem with that point of view at all as i consider myself in the minority. I, however, consider him a massive problem - in that had we either an out an out attacking full back or one with brains we'd have won more finals than lost. He's figuratively 'joined the line' and been found wanting on far more than one occasion.Jack of a few trades master of bugger all