I remember him - Hussein M'Barki from Morocco originally. He was always trying to trip people up and was a total house and finger pointer. It was as if he was still in the playground telling tales to the teacher.

Also, a certain Stuart Raper played in that game as Oldham's loose forward.

Not overly convinced by that. Don't forget, Leeds were doing what Wigan have been accused of constantly, and spending millions signing players from Australia and Rugby Union, as well as older players from other RL clubs including Wigan (Hanley, Gregory, Shaun Wane to name three), and for a time became a real threat - possibly the ONLY real threat - to Wigan at that time.

A common misconception is that we kept signing superstars. We didn't. We had a great youth system, but also a great talent for scouting for youngsters with other teams who hadn't fulfilled their potential. Wigan had a massive talent for turning these good players into great players, as well as a great team ethic.

Look at the 1992 GV v Aus test when we stuffed them 33-10. Wigan formed the backbone of that side, including the ENTIRE pack, and there were no superstars amongst them, bar Martin Offiah. These were simply a bunch of good, well drilled players who knew each other's game inside out.

91 mission impossible I worked in London - difficult to comprehend now but I could not get any updates for the widnes game on the Tuesday - no mobile phones, no internet, ceefax didn't do score updates, no sky sports news and no coverage by BBC or London radio. I rang central park but no one answered!

My best teams were 82/83 punching above their weight a trophy and gave the aussies there closest game; 86/87 a few changes in personnel made a good team great;92/93 so close to winning the lot and great competition with saints; 94/95 a clear cut above the rest.

That Widnes game was fantastic. Nearly 30k on at CP, genuinely world class players on both teams. Those were the days. God I miss Central Park!

When I say there was a power vacuum at the top after the demise of Widnes which allowed Wigan to clean up after the early 1990s, Im not saying that to try and lessen Wigan's achievements, I mean in terms of comparing the Wigan teams of 92-95 with the teams of the late 1980s, I think that has to be taken into account. Like you say Leeds signed more 'big names' than Wigan did however I think the Leeds team under Dougie Laughton was like Warrington under Cullen, they would sign more internationals every year but the mix somehow wasn't right. It was an assortment of big names where Wigan like you say, were a real team unit. It was as well that Hanley joined Leeds because that at least gave the rest a bit of hope, without him Leeds would have been a real flop in that era. If Wigan had Hanley from 91-95 it would have been clean sweep unbeaten seasons.

I thought the leadership of Dean Bell and Edwards was fantastic in terms of getting a team unit together, there was no way a big name could come in and rock the boat or act up at Wigan, they would have got put in their place instantly. I still think Bell is one of the best role models in RL, pretty quiet unassuming guy but up with Hanley for toughness and he was a superb ambassador for the Wigan ethic at that time.

I think the Wigan team today has got a good team ethic to it, there are no real big names, the better performers are similar types of characters, low key low profile, so I think Wigan have got back up there again in that respect, the difference between now and that team of the late 80s, early 90s is there aren't the world beaters.

Here's a follow up question for Wigan fans as well,
who out of the current team do you think would have been a regular in the late 80s-early 90s era
and also, who out of Wigan's less successful era (2003-09) do you think would have been a regular then (other than Radlinski and Farrell who were anyway). I can think of say Lam, O'Connor, maybe Craig Smith.

Out of the current team Lockers would have been in there, I think he is a better player than Clarke was to be honest but late 80's early 90's with a back row of Betts, Goodway and Hanley he may of ended up on the bench. As soon as I saw the question I obviously thought Sam but when you think about it it's not that easy (apart from the Atcheson era of course).
The 2003 - 09 years I'm sure Newton would of been there, arguably a better player than Hall and Dermott.

It depends on which rules you play under. With the old 5 metre rule, todays scooter hookers would be mullered. Only the likes of Monaghan, Cameron Smith etc would get a game at hooker. Roby would be a loose forward.
Dermott was in a class of his own from a distribution pov. If you read John Monies book "The Ice Man" he says that a lot of Wigan success came from fast accurate passing from dummy half. That allowed the decision makers (Edwards, Gregory etc) to play.

I think Clarke was awesome.

Agreed. The best British defensive forward I've ever seen. Betts, Clarke and Hanley was the best back 3 line up ever in British RL.

When Hanley left and Clarke took his loose foward role the pressure would have destroyed lesser players. I have a great deal of respect for Lockers, he's massively underrated (disgracefully so for many years by many Wiganers, though that has changed and he has growing respect now from all RL fans) and is one of the few genuinely world class players in the British game these days, but Clarke was a better player. There were games when he seemed to be everywhere in defence - he won matches by almost single-handedly (it seemed!) tackling the opposition to a standstill rather than by scoring brilliant tries like Hanley. He wasn't as good as Hanley but then no British player from the modern era was (or is), but Clarke was a very, very good player indeed. If he were playing today he'd be the best forward in SL.

Spot on about Dermott. His distribution was the best I've ever seen and he couldn't half tackle. The only thing is though, Monie had a bit of a downer on him. He wanted Bobby Goulding to develop as Wigans hooker as he didn't think Dermott was up to it. Derms proved him wrong though.

So true. Jonathan Davies was a particular favourite of mine (unless he was playing Wigan!). What a player he was, so naturally gifted, it was like he was born to play rugby. For me he came closest to Hanley in terms of sheer skill and rugby genius in that era. Like Hanley, like all great players of team sports, Davies just seemed to have more time than everyone else and could do things that other players couldn't.

I'd have loved to have seen him in the Cherry and White, but then despite the ridiculous myths, Wigan didn't buy up all the great players...

i remember being locked out of a mid week cup replay v Leeds @ 1964/5 ish.
iirc it was an afternoon kick off on a wednesday......all the town and his dog wanted to attend....my school closed early and i went........it was a lock out.

but hundreds, if not thousands, broke down a fence near the duggy behind the Kop, and hundreds more climbed over the school wall on Wigan lane.......i got in through the broken down fence.
Crowd was officially @ 42,000......but imo it was a ground record...50,000+

We won..just......and Eric Ashton and Lewis Jones got sent off for fighting.........Happy days

*edit*
was actually 1961.....we won easily...32-7
just looked at the team sheet on Cherry and white........so question

who were the left side bacl line pairing.......(without looking it up?)
clue...winger was an Incer.....grave digger
centre was playing out of position......

I don't agree that Clarke was a better player than Lockers. I agree that he was a very good player, but he played in arguably the best team this country has ever seen. I'm sure if their roles were reversed Lockers would be considered a greater player. You have just got to look at Nathan Browns comments comparing him to Wayne Pearce.