Quote: sergeant pepper "Some of our recruitment has been bad and some has been good (Flower, Taylor, Clubb). The thing that stands out like a sore thumb for me is that the Wigan club simply do not produce top class props.
It's a topic that I've often thought about creating a thread on - who was the last great prop to be produced through the Wigan junior system?'"
SP, that is quite a question you pose there, I thought Itchey Arsenal's answer was being a bit frivolous until I had a good think and said to myself he may be right.
I went to a football only school in Atherton but they had a maths teacher who as well as being passionate about RL was also a linesman whose name was Fred Howker. One day he came in class and produced a bundle of tickets and said they were for the Leigh v Wigan match at the coming weekend, as always out for nowt I took one.
That is when I saw the great Ken Gee and I was hooked on RL from that day on, when I started going to Central Park a couple of years later (my Wigan supporting neighbour talked me into it) was the time Brian Mac came onto the scene. The first couple of years watching him he was in the second row and some older fans said that he spent a few years in the A team after starting at centre (I cant find proof of that).
I know I have strayed off the beaten track but it made me think what a good question SP posed, I can name a lot of great props who have played for Wigan in close on 60 years since but they weren't raised by Wigan.
Maybe someone like Rouges can help with something like this, but then the question would arise asking if these forgotten players were great.