Quote: fleabag "It's one of the great travesties that Bill Ashurst played in the time that he did, when RL was at an all time low in the UK. Even so, I and many others still regard 'Sash' as a Wigan legend.
He was a very skilful player and by heck he could could hold his own with the roughest forwards in the World.
I wish we had him today. He could kick '40- 20's' for fun ! He would have kicked them to death.'"
Fleabag I will always remember when he broke into the Wigan team, he started off in the centre at 17 years old and when he was faced by an opponent who thought he could run through a young skinny ( raw boned and all elbows and knees) player, Bill used to get them by the scruff of the neck and rag bone them.
By rag bone I mean he would get them by the scruff of the neck and spin them and slam them into the floor all at the same time.
Someone has mentioned in this thread about his use of the grubber, in this he was supreme. He would get the ball ( sometimes on the halfway line), charge at the opposition and put a kick along the floor and if the defence tried to obstruct him he would take retribution, but when the ball got through and Bill charged through an opposing fullback had to be very brave to stop Bill because he would descend on them like a tonne of bricks.
This makes me say that play is so stereotyped these days, 30/40 yards out the ball goes up in the air, when a little grubber through (not aimed to get to the line but to put it into no mans line between. Defenders do not like to have to run forward for a 50/50 ball when faced by a line of attackers.
Edited , by rag bone I should have said Rag dolled. This changing my mind when I have been out for my usual 3 pints of mild and asked for a pint of bitter for the last pint can be quite devastating for me.
