Don't hold back, Yed.

Can you put the knife down please.....PLEASE[size....PLEASE[/size [sizeyou are right, tho. The fella is a todger[/size

no thats untrue.Anyway tthe main thing about this staue concept is about the sport of RUGBY LEAGUE getting some iconic recognition.Imagine foreign visitors ,Americans for instance coming over to support the annual NFL game and seeing a statue similar to the Bobby Moore statue then reading the plinth.It would be great for our games history being memorialised in that world famous stadium.Hanley or Jim Sullivan would still be my preference

Offiah's defence wasn't 'bloody awful'. How come Wigan didn't get bitched down his side? It might not have been the strongest part of his game but he was decent enough. It's like saying Hanley's passing and distribution was 'bloody awful' because he wasn't Brett Kenny.

So the RFL are to fault for 'forcing him into RU'?

Why didn't Wigan offer him a job then?

Total up the money that Ian Millward was on plus Jerry Seu Seu, Vaealiki and Denis Moran, none of those guys are likely to be high up Wigan's pantheon of greats, surely that cash would have been enough to tempt Shaun away from Wasps RU?

JEFF LIMA!

Agree 100% (and imo you are not being a "dick", just a normal person)

Are you saying it isn't true? It appears that's what you are intimating. It was actually published in the St. Helens Reporter (or St. Helens Star) as a thank you by the man who he helped. It was also after he Edwards finished playing for Wigan.

I've met Edwards too, along with Tuiguamala, one the friendlist, down to earth blokes you'll ever meet.

Any hatred of him from opposition fans is borne purely from the fact he didn't play for them; same as Sam now.

There's a very good interview with Shauns mum in tonights Evening Post.

"In reality he didn't leave Rugby League, Rugby League left him"

It appears that he paid his own way to spend some time working with Wayne Bennett, and was promised a job with England at U21 level, but that was then given to someone else. Rugby Union saw his coaching potential and the rest is history.

I remember that, it must have been 10 years ago because it was the 2001 season and Warrington were looking for a coach to replace Darryl Van de Velde. Shaun Edwards had a column on Teamtalk and when Iestyn Harris left Leeds for union Edwards who was down in Brisbane at the time said he thought Leeds had signed an even more talented player in Ben Walker....odd how Walker never really kicked on after a bright start. Anyway, I digress...Warrington appointed Neil Kelly as coach then Kelly backtracked when Widnes came up and left us up the swanny. There were some stories in the local papers that we interviewed Shaun Edwards but the club weren't willing to allow him to live down south and commute, they insisted that he moved up north and he wasn't prepared to do that. I later heard from someone (fairly reliable source) that that was untrue and we had never interviewed Edwards so I'm not sure what to believe.

I do remember though our fans being split on the issue of Edwards potentially being our coach. I think most people sensed he would be a good coach because of the type of player he was, he had a reputation as being virtually a coach through his playing days, most Wire fans thought if Edwards turned out to be good he would have done 2 seasons or so with us then gone to Wigan, which is probably true, but I would have still taken him at that time.

I wonder if Shaun's next move, will be to replace Martin Johnson as England supremo in RU.

I seem to recall that Shaun wanted to stay near his young family... I think that was the main reason for him not coming back to RL. Can't really blame him for that. But people will always go for conspiracy theories. If he had gone to Warrington, he probably would have ended up at Wigan, and at a very interesting time. Radlinski refers to Shauns intensity even in training, and alludes to the fact that Shaun did lead many of the training sessions.

And now he works in Wales?

and now his family is not as young.

*Facepalm*

I see.