Thats fine as long as you admit you're wrong

. As the post above says I'll take lockyers word over yours any day

.

1. Cowie
2. Newton (but whatever he did then is insignificant now)
3. The rest of them

I really liked Edwards. One of the few opposition players I liked to watch when I was a kid.

Edwards, Edwards, and Edwards

1. Judas
2. Judas
3. Judas

Many are the Wigan players I've hated down through the years, but ultimately it's only a game and you forgive/forget about them as they move on and the next generation of hatees moves in to take their place. There is a special place in hell reserved for this man however that goes over and above any petty and conventional notions of rivalry. He's the one and only rugby player I think I could cheerfully spit in the face of, even now.

At that time players had to negotiate for themselves and clubs took (or tried to take) advantage.

Players are now more savvy and employ agents to do their negotiating. Saints tried to screw Connolly (my now sadly deceased brother in law told me what happened) and Wigan stepped in. It wouldn't happen today.

Of course - that mercenary Saints board cold-heartedly offering him more money than any other Saints player before him, and the saintly Judas selflessly holding out and playing them off against the Pies, and like a Good Samaritan delaying announcing his decision to accept a big chunk of the Central Park retirement fund just long enough to prevent Saints from being able to sign Newlove (or anyone else) as a replacement when he did go.... What a true legend and gentleman the man is...

Players have to look after themselves and it's a short career etc., and I'dve still been upset even if he'd moved in the right way, but I and every other Saints fans would have gotten over it and eventually forgotten/forgiven a la Platt. And we all know what an utter collection of clueless clowns Saints' management was at the time and I'd find it hard to begrudge any player wanting to escape that insanity. The way he went about it however was utterly disgraceful and beyond the pale and was a knife in the back to both the club that made him and to the fans who idolised him. I genuinely hope bad things happen to him, I really do.

How dare a pro sportsman want to maximise his earnings.He didnt want to leave Saints,he was going to go down under and would of taken less then he was being offered there but Saints sold him to Wigan,he wasnt playing one off against the other,for him Wigan wasnt in the equation until Saints jumped in.

You really do need to get a grip,wishing someone bad things for bettering what is a very short career really is beyond belief.

At the end of the day I dont blame any player in rugby leaving a club for better money, it's there job and it's a short career so take what you can while you can.

I think with the Connelly situation was the fact he went Wigan that got to the fans and I think the player and club could have handeled it better.

Players need to make as much money possible in the shirt time they have as a player.

I'm a st Helen's lad who's saints mad but as a youth player I turned saints down to sign for Widnes because they offered more money and I was only 15/16 at the time so I can see why Connelly did it 100%.

Ive allways said fair play to him for doing it,i dont blame him at all for going.Gary is a nice down to earth lad who has allways been polite whenever ive had dealings with him but has endured allkinds of verbal abuse and had his car scratched and vandalised several times.

Maybe it could of been handled better,maybe it would of been better if Saints had let hm go down under and not sold him to Wigan,thats all water under the bridge now anyway.However i really do think its time people just let the Judas thing go.

I've always said if I'd been good enough to play pro at a top class standard I would have followed the money (even if that would have meant playing for the dark side). Do you remember Warrington splashing the cash on players our age? several of your Orrell team mates went there iirc

Causey, carney, Newton, Stevens all went there.

Re Farrell and Sculthorpe, isn't the sad fact that both of them played their international careers largely surrounded by very poor players? As a result they were both asked to do things they shouldn't have been - i.e. carry the whole team on their shoulders. Farrell was everything a back row should be, plus with a bit of a rugby brain. The GB solution? Make him the playmaker. Not his fault. Sculthorpe was similarly hampered.

Anybody who knows anything about RL would say that neither would have been out of place playing for Australia. Sadly, their international records reflect the wider state of the game in England.

Really ? Goodway is probably my favourite ever non-Saint ............. when I first started watching the game as a neutral, I loved his combination of skill and toughness.

As for the question of top 3 hated Pies ........ well hate is too strong a word but

1) Terry Newton ....... dirty player
2) Shaun Edwards ..... annoying, especially that nodding head celebration
3) Andy Farrell ....... the way Sky used to fawn over him was very irritating.

I find it funny that there are elements of truth in most of the comments made regards Gary Connelly .......and yet there is a lot of, less than accurate comments too.
It is water under the bridge now and should be let to lie (it wont be though). I always thought the chanting was OTT and during my time of standing in "compost corner" never once found myself able to rant along with others

Assume you're on about Connolly?? Would you really spit in his face and if you did, how daft would you feel after you woke up in hospital??

im telling you its a fact....he played for orrell st james and they were the best team in the country by a long way, followed by hindley then us blackbrook. we were a good team, but orrell used to put 30 or 40 on us nearly everytime we played. we played them in a lancashire cup game and roughed em up a bit, one of our second rowers called john henry gave him a big hit and it kicked off a bit on the pitch, then in the second half one of our props gave him a big hit and he knocked on, we formed the scrum and he was kicking his legs hard, so i chinned him, put him on his backside, it kicked off big time, his dad dragged him off the field having a go at the ref in doing so. we got beat 13-8 that day, but to us it was a victory. he wasnt even the best player at orrell, they had a big bugger called carney, and another called cairns i think if i remember right. one of em had a wopping desperate dan chin!!!

freddie fletcher was my coach. his son alan was our scrum half, i played with jay johnson, badger, bozzer, haughy if you know any of em.

I know John Henry and I was mates with carney.

Yes I know some of them, I played for north west counties with badger, jay Johnson and I beleive joey Harvey took Little flecs spot at 7.

I also know Chris cook.

yeah i know cookie.....badger, jay and jonh henry were my best mates at brook, cause we went to school together. did you play at brook then?

For short time.

I hated Billy 'Fat Belly' Boston, for the simple reason he could run in ankle deep mud.

And then there was the 'Terminator' Mick Cassidy, he never knew when to give up,,,,,,

And my all time hated Wigan player Joe Lydon, for simply being a poser...


Regards,
Jock.

PS, my Mother's side hate me coz they all come from Pemberton...

Just to chip in on the whole Farrell/Sculthorpe debate, since I'm struggling to concentrate on my OU.

If GB had a decent stand off, in 2001-04, I would have thought Scully at 13 and Faz at 12. Mainly because Faz would be more effective as a wide running second row. There is no mistaking Scully was the better running 13, like a large, old fashioned stand off, but Farrell had the better range of passing, kicking and was choosen as captain for a reason.

Summary Farrell was the more complete player and led a team, but Scully was exceptional at what he did. Let's face it they were both game changers and you'd have each in your dream team.

Oh and I'd go with:

Offiah - complete w@nker
Barrie Jon Mather - like Offiah, only in it for himself and never a team player.

Classic Bailey he was the ony player slagged off on here who was not a Wigan player,By the way it was not one of you lot who nicked 4 of his GF winners rings was it?

Actually no ........... in my dream team Scully gets in at 12, but Hanley would be my loose forward.