Gene Miles.
His combination with Offiah was exceptional.

, my favourite then, and still my favourite today, others have come close, McTigue, Ashurst, Gregory, Bell, Hanley, but none have yet reached the great man. (IMO)

Am I on the Warrington board?

no but the thread was originally

Mark Cannon.

Pretended he was a second rower to get in the team.

Took his place at Stand off in the cup replay against Bramley (After a Shaun Kilner drop goal attempt went inches wide in the last minute of the first game).

Got us to Wembley that year and effectively started the glory era.

Replaced the next year however by the even better Brett Kenny.

Agreed. The best ever centre-wing partnership (certainly that I've seen) in RL. Miles' power and unbelievable handling skills and Offiah's blistering pace and elusiveness were a perfect combination. It was so exciting to watch. When we first signed the big Aussie I thought we'd made a massive mistake - he was slow and just couldn't really get into the games. As the season wore on and he got fitter and faster with every game, he just got better and better and better. I didn't want that season to end. IIRC Offiah scored five tries in one game and didn't even get the man of the match, Big Gene was just incredible. By the end of the season he was playing rugby on a different planet from everyone else, every time he got the ball we had a real chance of scoring. Offiah played with some great players but when asked in interviews who was the best player he ever played with, I've only ever heard him reply "Gene Miles".

(If we'd had a centre-wing partnership as good as that on Friday night we'd have beaten Wire. As I said on the other thread, if your backs are unbelievably good then you can still win, even if your pack is beaten, because players as good as Miles and Offiah are capable of scoring tries from anywhere.)

I agree with that, those two are the best centre/wing partnership I have ever seen.
Second best would be Newlove and Sullivan, or briefly, when both were fit, Hape and Vainikolo (the back end of the 2005 season those two cut through everybody)

Would loved to have seen him play, but was born too late!

I have met him though on a few occasions and feel privileged to have done so, he is a true gentleman.

Can't dispute this. Miles and Offiah were sensational. More like the Harlem Globetrotters when they got going.

Neil Cowie or Mark Preston or Inga

The guy who epitomised the era - not the biggest, fastest or most skilful, but ultra professonal, tough, a team player with a fierce will to win at all costs. Mean Dean.

In that team there were three players who hated losing more than they enjoyed winning,
Dean Bell, Ellery Hanley and Shaun Edwards

With you there Rogues Edwards was the reason I started following Wigan and then when I saw the black pearl I knew I'd picked the right team to watch.

long term--edwards
short term--kenny-simply the best
mention for nicky kiss aswell