98 season

Quote: sally cinnamon "On Henry Paul....how good do you think he was, really?

I have never made my mind up on whether he was just very good (eg Robbie) or absolute world class.

He had a bit of Cristiano Ronaldo about him, in that he wasn't just content to be a ball playing talent, but developed a rock solid physique, made sure there weren't really any flaws in his game. He also had that swaggering arrogance.

Was his departure for Bradford the key factor that tipped the balance away from Wigan to Bradford over the next few years?

It seemed to weaken Wigan a lot when HP left, but Bradford seemed to take it in their stride when he left them. Maybe the way they were winning games meant that they were less reliant on a great 6. And also was why it was a bad business decision for them a few years later to tie so much of the salary cap in bringing Iestyn Harris in.

When Jon Dorahy was at Wire, he seemed to be searching for a Henry Paul for us. He brought two young New Zealanders over

I think Henry Paul was at his best when he first joined Wigan. He was like a ghost moving across the field and he scored his best tries in those first couple of seasons. In his last couple of years he seemed to lose a bit of spark, still a great player but not quite as dangerous. Then he joined Bradford and seemed to recapture his form.

I have fond memories of Paul always scoring tries against Saints, usually ones that sealed the game for us. He could be very quiet in a game and then just step forward and ghost through the defence.

He was certainly the most stylish player ive ever watched. Almost everytime he took the ball to the line he looked to spin out of the tackle. His balance was superb, almost like he was floating in zero gravity at times.

He was world class but not in an orthodox way. He had a unique style and way of playing the game that ive not seen before or since.