yeah hands up harolds ex paper boys

Fair point, my best English team (as I'm not always sure who is local and who is not) is:
1. Les Sheard
2. Andy Fletcher
3. Keith Smith
4. Andy Mason
5. Lyndsey Rotherforth
6. David Topliss
7. Danny Brough
8. Trevor Skerrett
9. Alan McCurrie
10. Nigel Bell
11. Andy Kelly
12. Gareth Ellis
13. Mike Lampkowski

14. Ryan Atkins
15. Michael Jackson
16. John Burke
17, Keith Rayne

Ryan on the bench partly because the backline needs some power. Speed to burn but not really a lot of umph.

and if Lampy had played in the modern era, I think he would have been one of the best hookers in the game - great pass (England RU scrum half after all - top tackler - and made yards from dummy half for fun, though I'm not sure his nose would agree!)

Billy Conway, Phil Fox were unlucky not to make the cut.

Plenty of players played good rugby as an old man like Steve Norton, Len Casey and Nigel Stephenson but obviously by the time they were with us they were past their best, even though I enjoyed watching them.

1. Geoff Wraith
2. Berwyn Jones
3. Keith Smith
4. Neil Fox
5. Andy Fletcher
6. David Topliss
7. Mike Lampkowski
8. Trevor Skerrett
9. Alan McCurrie
10. Darren Fritz
11. Bill Ashurst
12. David Solomona
13. Ray Price

Did Gareth Ellis play in the centres? He played his best spell for us at stand off in the top 6 season after Rooney broke his leg at Castleford away.

He was really good, and well past his best when he played with us.
I thought the thing that stood out about him was that he made intelligent decisions. He didn't just run it back at speed, he always seemed to make the right choice when faced with two defenders and a winger outside him etc.

Think he went back home to Oz though. Think he worked at Parramatta back room for a while.

Here I go again. Sorry but how can Mark Graham be included. Only played from September till November in his one and only season for Wakey and decided to call it a day. Now onto Steve Ella although a great player he did not make it through the full season. Had a recurring shoulder problem. We won all our games at the end of that season to secure survival when he was not playing. Chris Mortimer. The story went that we thought we were getting his brother Steve and ended up with Chris. As I remember it we thought we were getting a flair player. He turned out to be a tackler and I think he settled in at the back of the pack eventually. Big disappointment. Sorry If I upset folk with this but my excuse is I am having a bad day and this post has made me feel a little bit better. I love these debates!

Didn't we also have Brent Todd in the same team as Mark Graham and Steve Ella? Imagine if we had all 3 in their prime?!!

Does anyone remmber Tracey Lazenby? On his day a match winner.

Yes but when they played for us they were poor. It is no good saying that when Brent Todd went back to Aus he was brilliant. That is of no use to us Wakey fans!

I seem to remember Ella had a decent first half of the season, but both Todd and Graham were poor?

Not having that sir! You cannot tar Zip Zip with the same brush as Brent Todd.

It was not true that we won all our games later in the season - we won the first 3 and stood top of the league. Zip Zip also played in the double header over xmas against Fev which turned our season around.

Of the 3 named, one was held in high regard by most, one was seen as an opportunity lost and one was hounded out of town. Deffo not having the 3 mentioned as the same!

Both Todd and Graham were gone November ish. The former after an alleged coming together with a local journalist.

We had just been promoted and were looking to make a big impression...

Mark Graham was the keynote signing backed up by Steve Ells... who signed afetr another failed attempt at King Wally... but we also lined up Mark Elia and Ian Roberts... both pulled out of the deals after they were announced... Todd was a direct replacement for Roberts and was signed on the advice of Mark Graham.. In the early season both Graham and Ella were excellent... however when it turned sour for Todd it seemed to have a detrimental effect on Mark Graham... and over the course of the winter lost interest... (although I believe he stayed well into the new year!)

Graham was a fantastic player who never really settled.. Todd was a young, bnrash Kiwi who came over on holiday and never did the hard work. Ella was all class!!


And for the record for Jason... I dont know if you remember Phil Fox but he was an excellent, excellent winger for us who gave several years sterling service to the club!


Are you thinking about Peter Fox... ???