Just re-iterating to the defenders to get up and square whilst they're in a better position to have some presence over it than the ref is. This bit makes little difference in my view but there you go.

If it's an upright tackle going towards touch they will echo the "held" call as well so defenders are more likely to hear them and not continue to take the attacker into touch (bear in mind the ref's voice could be drowned out by a large crowd, especially when a player is going towards touch so half are encouraging their team to push him in and half are getting on the ref's back to call the tackle complete). This bit makes a difference and can avoid a dragging penalty.

I was born in 91, so that disqualifies me from having decent memories of lots of our modern-ish era greats.

But the only back who I'm struggling to put him ahead of in my time is prime Sam Tomkins. Even then I think there's an argument that Tomkins was playing consistently for a dominant team, whereas French has done it in much more average Wigan teams until the last couple of years.

We'll wait and see how long he's here for and how long he keeps at this level. But if he sees out his current contract he'll have given us basically his entire career, and when you talk about that sort of contribution and the standard of rugby he consistently delivers, I think you're in all time great territory. And that takes some doing at Wigan.

I am...a bit older, and I think, at this stage of his career I still couldn't quite put French over the likes of Hanley. As you say, if he maintains this level of performance and sees out this whole contract he will move up the rankings. Even so, he has already won a Man of Steel, been top try scorer in a season,
broken the super league record for tries in a match and made the dream team 3 times in 4 years in 3 different positions. His individual accolades are already outstanding. I'd say he had overtaken Pat Richards as our best ever Australian import (I can't put Kenny, Miles or Renouf ahead of Richards due to his length of service).

But in terms of sheer enjoyment of watching a player, I can't really put anyone ahead of him anymore. He does things that no one else can and he can do it against the very best opposition as well as in the easy games. I also think his rugby brain is such that he will remain a threat even as his pace declines a bit, just as Tomkins did.

A 60% fit Bevan French is still our best game-breaker and top 3 halves in the league.

No one was better or as good as Hanley that I have seen.
But French is a bloody good one thats for sure.

Offiah and Robinson wer'nt too bad on the excitement stakes.

Only 8.5 games. He was incredible.

Was it only 8.5?

Goes to show what an 8.5 games it was for people to still remember - What could have been if it weren't for that knee injury against the post.

Love watching Bevan probably more than almost any player since the mid 80's when I first started watching Wigan.

Roberts sticks out as someone who was very similar to how Bevan plays but such a shame he got injured as I'm sure he would have been held in similar esteem if we had seen him for a few seasons.

I can't go past Hanley as the best Wigan player I've seen though. Probably the English player the Aussies respected most even to this day.

Can't remember being as entertained by a player since Jason Robinson.

Since 1982:

Ferguson
Hanley
Robinson
Tomkins
Roberts
French

Bevan certainly has an x factor and does things in a game that others cant. What he has demonstrated at Wigan is his versatility too, with performances at FB, Wing and Stand-Off, running in and creating tries in all 3 positions

i'd add Offiah into the overall conversation, whilst he wasnt the best RL player in the world, he could do things that no-one else could (or has done since) in terms of his ability to find the try line from anywhere. He just looked so elegant in full flight and could take virtualy anyone on the outside with a yard of space

Kenny, Miles and Barrett all had great seasons with Wigan, and were a joy to watch but unfortunately we only had them for the short term

overall, my favourite player was Ellery, as he really was poetry in motion but equally hard as nails.

Try tonight won the game again

Bevan is one of the very best ever to play for Wigan.
Brilliant, absolutely brilliant!

The would not have lost