In the 29 years I have been watching I go for this:

1) JOE LYDON-big match player, at his best a remarkable combination of pace, defensive ability and long range kicking game. Hard too.
2) JOHN FERGUSON-possibly my favourite player to watch in a Wigan shirt
3) DEAN BELL-quick, hard as they come, a leader.
4) GENE MILES-big, incredible hands, tough and no better man to get the ball to..
5) MARTIN OFFIAH-the best finisher I have seen in either code of rugby and a hugely exciting presence on a rugby field
6) BRETT KENNY-mythically good. The best 6 we have had by some distance.
7) SHAUN EDWARDS-Extraordinary competitor, inventive playmaker, prolific try scorer, tough character and a proud Wiganer.


KELVIN SKERRETT- Archetypal front row hard man. Hugely entertaining
9) TERRY NEWTON- Tough, hard working and a consistent try scorer for a 9
10) ANDY PLATT-Turned himself into a state of the art front row. Lead from the front.
11) DENIS BETTS-Remarkable athlete on attack, workaholic in defence, very hard to stop from close range.
12) ANDY FARRELL-Phenomenal range of abilities. Leader, enforcer, goal kicker. Has to be in here somewhere.
13) ELLERY HANLEY-Superhuman. Best British player I have seen.

Going from just players that I have seen and can remember watching.

1 Radlinski
2 Robinson
3 Renouf
4 Carmont
5 Dallas
6 Barrett
7 Lam
8 Smith
9 McCormack
10 O'Connor
11 Cassidy
12 Farrell
13 O'Loughlin

In his early years Boston was very fast and at least as fast as Offiah.

It was only later when his speed deserted him through the age process, that he used pure brute strength to score tries.

I think Mark Preston was possibly faster than Offiah.

One thing's for sure, we've had some cracking players in Cherry and White down the years.

How anybody can pick a Wigan team without Nicky Kiss I don't know.

If Boston was really as fast as Offiah then I can see why he was rated so.

Preston was probably the fastest player I've seen in a Wigan shirt (if you exclude Garry Henley-Smith).

Not only speed, but Billy had a swerve that seemingly allowed him to glide past defenders.

As you rightly say, as he got bigger and lost a yard of pace he had a marvellous "hand off" using his hip, if that failed, he just ran straight over the oppo wingers



I feel sorry for younger fans who never saw him play.

Possibly the biggest load of rubbish i've ever read on RL fans.

Boston was awesome and the best winger Wigan has ever had.

I cannot help but question the inclusion of Gregory in most teams. He was good in his time but very limited, he was a half that could only pass off 1 hand!

Edwards and Lam were far superior halves in my opinion.

Andy Gregory was an exceptional player. Lam was nowhere near the class of 'Greg'.

"[iHis peers also recognised Andy Gregory's talent. When former Australian captain Wally Lewis was asked which English player caused him and his team most problems, he replied "A certain little halfback! That little ! I admired Andy Gregory as much, if not more, than any other player because of the creativity that he boasted and the determination to cause defeat for Australia. He was also one of the toughest players that I ever played against."[11"[/i
[urlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Gregory[/url

Couldn't disagree more mate.
He was a fabulous talent and if he'd of only had someone in charge to help/control the social life he had( and we all know how he loved that side of it) then we'd of been talking about one of the best ever. He was brilliant.

Another disagree here - Gregory played against teams only back 5m so had much less space to work in but could still
split defences as well as anyone. Lam was good but I would have Gregory over him any day of the week.

Edwards was probably the supreme professional and one of the best readers of a game I think I have ever seen but he did not possess as much natural talent (the off the cuff type of play) as Gregory but he worked so hard at his game as to make up for that. That was why I think the combination of the two of them worked so well.

As has been said if you could combine the ability of Gregory with the professionalism of Edwards then you would have had a truly incredible player.

Ellery Hanley

Can't disagree there - Ellery was without doubt the best player I have ever seen play the game.

Totally agree. Greg was the best 7 I've seen at Wigan.

Hanley is the best player I've seen which is strange considering he couldn't kick, wasn't a great passer of the ball and when he moved to 13 he wasn't the quickest either.

Gregory, with Edwards dedication, could have been better than Hanley.

Billy Boston also liked the ale a bit. Not as 'bad' as Greg thankfully. (John Ferguson even had a cigarette immediately after the 1985 Wembley win while he was still on the pitch.)

I can remember being at Odsal years ago. They used to walk from the top down to the pitch. Billy had had a couple of pints before the match. We still won !

Different era.

I don't think Greg would have been as good today as he was then as the fitness of todays players wouldn't have suited him.

Never saw Boston so can't comment, but it's unlikely he would have been able to "run over" his opposite wingers like Hall or even Charnley.

Billy B combined speed like Offiah with power like Inga, that's what made him unique. He's the only man who threw a dummy so good the opposing player tackled the linesman!
But it's Billy's comments that reflect on this discussion...didn't he say something along the lines that you could easily pick a best ever St Helen's team, but there are just too many all time Wigan greats to decide on the best thirteen.

nether were as fast as him

Did Offiah once say that he could not wait to get into the shower with shaun edwards

Hope you don't mind me joining in. I've seen a lot of Wigan teams since mid 70s even though not a Wigan fan as such

My British team would be probably from a similar era, reflecting the strength of the team at the time.

1 Steve Hampson
2 Martin Offiah
3 David Stephenson
4 Gary Connolly
5 Jason Robinson
6 Sean Edwards
7 Andy Gregory
8 Kelvin Skerrett
9 Martin Dermott
10 Andy Platt
11 Andy Goodway
12 Andy Farrell
13 Ellery Hanley

I'm really torn on Sam v Radlinski v Hampson but I went for the toughest tackler and competitor as the attack was pretty well covered elsewhere
Denis Betts was unlucky not to get in too.

I would say though that the over seas team would give them a great game

1 Henry Paul
2 Pat Richards
3 Steve Ella
4 Gene Miles
5 Va'aiga Tuigamala
6 Brett Kenny
7 Adrian Lam
8 Greg Dowling
9 Thomas Leuluai
10 Adrian Shelford
11 Graeme West
12 Ian Roberts
13 Dean Bell

Notable exceptions that I had to drop
Kevin Iro
Steve Renouf
Harrison Hansen(!)

A combined team would be really difficult to decide.

David Stephenson !, have you been drinking ?

Would that be the 1955/56 Cup Semi Final against Halifax at Bradford, it was alleged that Billy was seen outside the ground about 20 min before the kick off. Wigan lost 11-10 with Billy scoring one of the trys.

The week after the match Billy was suspended and placed on the transfer list, he never played again that season.

Possibly


But I always thought he had skills. He wasn't the fastest but I thought he could put a guy away.
I'll bow to a Wigan lad knowledge though.