That is where it is at it's most devastating. John Ferguson wasn't particularly fast, but he was at his top speed in one step....he could also "side step on a tanner" to quote ray French IIRC.

From way back in the 1940's, I believe that Ces Mountford was also very 'quick off the mark' - The Blackball bullet !

Completely agree with this and your post immediately before it too. If Manfredi stays fit and injury free he could be up there. And if he hadn’t have done to RU Charnley would be streets ahead of any winger in the league.

Shame really. Charnley and Burgess seem like deliberate wastes of talent whereas Manfredi has been unbelievably unlucky.

A fit Manfredi is the best winger in SL for me. But he hasn't been fit, Johnstone was out for the season so Makinson was the stand out winger. He hardly had any real competition. Makinson stands out because of his ability and agility at bringing the ball out. This is where a fit Manfredi is better though in my opinion. You expect any winger to score tries. Even the showboating ones. Johnstone is superb at full length try's and is also very powerful near the line. Bringing the ball out is where his game needs to go to the next level but make no mistake Johnstone is an exceptional winger and could be world class. A lot depends on how he comes back from his injury.

I played against directly Offiah in his Rosslyn Park days just before he signed for us and the only time I got near him was to shake his hand at the end. Up 'till then I thought that I was quick.

The thread is "Fastest Player" so where does Makinson come into that? A good wingman yes but nowhere near the fastest player label.

Not to want to spoil our new found agreements but i disagree about Charnley. I think Charnley also lost some of his speed and some of his agility in his last couple of years at Wigan. Didnt he too suffer a bad injury? I certainly think Charnley peaked at a very young age, around the time we beat Wire in the CC on their ground. Was it 2011, i seem to remember him wearing that awful pink kit? He was a lethal try scorer back in those days. His only weakness was sometimes under the high ball IIRC.

Charnley never was and never will be one of the best wingers superleague has seen. He could never motivate himself to be one of the leagues best, for anything other than short spells. His whole career was summed up in the first 6 months of him being back in rugby league. He was a sensation when he first came back but the shine wears off and he starts to do the usual Charnley thing of going through the motions and it’s back to people watching that ten a penny winger.

Around 1990 ish John Monie arranged for offiah to come to a track and race Mark Preston. And Mark Preston won by an inch over 100 metres!

It was in RL papers that Regan Grace had been clocked as fastest player in SL last season. Marshall not far behind. So if Burgess is out sprinting him in Wigan’s tests then he is up there with fastest in the league. Judging by some comments a good bet to be the 2019 scapegoat

I think Burgess deserves the debates about his game that come his way time and again and whilst you’re right that some will have him as a scapegoat, I believe the question marks over his form and his application are justified. He is spoke about as often as he is because people know how talented he is and when talent like that isn’t showing up on the field, people are going to debate the reasons behind that.

He frustrates the life out of me and that’s not because of any grudge or willingness to have him as a scapegoat, it’s because I honestly think he’s got that much talent that he should be one of the best wingers in the world. The reasons why he’s been nowhere near his best for a long while now are thrown around and that’s plenty of opinions but he needs to stop the debate by producing his best. If he does that then we have a top class winger on our hands again.

Oh why did you have to go and do that?

I disagree and I see there’s another poster I disagree with too. I thought he was fantastic throughout his time with us, always a solid finisher, defender and brought the ball out well. I suppose the debate is null and void currently as he’s nowhere near the leagues best at present anyway.

Lee Oudenryn had a race with Martin Offiah, Martin Offiah lost

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Offiah lost but a number of the GB players won at the bookies...wasn't that the rumour?

He also clearly "stumbles" during the race. Whether that was deliberate or not is another argument, of course.