We all know what a legend John Woods was at Leigh, and why.

But what were the circumstances that led to him playing for Warrington in 1987-88?

And (before my time), how did that side only end 6th and not win one of the many trophies on offer back in those days?

The side looked strong on paper, with Brian Johnson at full-back, Mark Forster on the wing (I believe he beat Les Quirk of Saints in the fastest player in the league challenge around that time), Des Drummond, John Woods, Les Boyd, Kevin Tamati, Billy McGinty (to name a few...)

Plus a decent crop of youngsters who went on to have solid careers: David Lyon, Paul Cullen, Martin Crompton.

He signed for the Wire while he was at Bradford. SC wont have heard of him as he'd far too young.

Northern were skint and Wire offered £65k which was a decent offer given Woods' age at the time. As things worked out Northern did alright out of the deal and used the money to sign some decent players like Kelvin Skerrett from Hunslet.

John Woods great player.

In answer to your question about Wire not winning major trophies back around 86-88 there were a number of strong teams at that time. Us obviously, Saints, Widnes and Halifax.

Wire probably should have picked up more than they did but would often keep getting beat in the Semi's.

John Woods was/is a legend. I started watching wire in the mid 80s and we had a great side back then until about 89/90. We didnt win much bar the premiership(pre woods)in 86 but i seem to remember us getting to a lot of finals back then only to run into THAT wigan side virtually every time! We had a good record against them in the league though. Seem to recall they went an entire 30 game season only losing twice, warrington home and away.

I started watching in 91-92 when we had a smallish pack (Sumner, Tees, etc as props, Mercer in the second row who had been playing wing/centre only a year or two earlier), lots of industry but not much flair (players like Rudd, Thorniley in the backs, Ellis at half back who was never world class, Shelford who was slow and didn't train properly according to Forster's book etc), yet ended 4th with really a mediocre looking team compared with the one above. Not to mention Mike Gregory was fit in the 80s but absent much of the time in the 90s.

It just surprised me such a decent looking team didn't do more.

Absolutely. 1986 was the year of Halifax's double with them seeing off both Wigan and Saints (yes Halifax - not a typo) after which Wigan and Widnes threw big money around fighting each other for the Championship which Widnes won 1988. Saints were serious challengers at that time.as were Leeds.

Wire were
11th in 1985
4th. in 1986
3rd in 1987
6th. in 1988
8th. in 1989

Woods signed for the latter two seasons and that coincided with Wire falling down the table. He left for Rochdale after that with youngster Rob Turner coming in. His best times were at Leigh where I had the pleasure of seeing him play a couple of times. He won the league 1981-2 with them 18 tries and 146 goals,

Looking this up I saw that Leigh failed to go on to win the "prermiership" after drawing (then losing in a replay) to Wigan. The drawn match was 1-1......

Agree with all that apart from the fact I don't think Halifax did the double.
They won the league in 86, but I'm sure Cas won the Cup (v Hull KR) then in 87 Wigan won the league and Halifax won the cup against Saints (good old John Pendlebury

)

Cas did indeed beat Rovers in 86, mainly due to Jamie Bloody Sandy.

Where did you look that up, because I’m pretty certain the 1-1 draw was against Warrington

Correct ColD....We drew with Wire 1-1 @ Hilton Park and lost the replay @ Central Park 10-9.

Coaching, injuries, team coherence, players attitude, including those who thought they were something but were playing for the money and no pride for the shirt, bad luck, better teams and so on, all influence results.

Warry sneaked past Carlisle in the JP trophy and again past HKR then lost to Oldham in the third rnd whom they'd walloped 42-8 in the Lancy cup some months previous where they got a very fortunate draw to get to the final.
Second rd defeat to St.Helens in the CC
Finished 6th in the league and lost to Wigan in the first rd of the Premiership play offs.

Seems they didn't produce considering the supposed talent, a bit like Warrington with Johns who got bullied by two Hull lads playing in the halves in the play-offs and Johns sulked off with his bag of loot without a bye or leave according to some.

Thanks for that Matty, corrections always welcome. After that we had the dark days of one club dominance. It seemed that the only thing to cheer about was Wigan losing.

I'm not going to look these up but Sheffield beating Wigan in the challenge cup final and Castleford beating Wigan in the John Players?

Not just that, I distinctly remember cheers going up around grounds when the half-time scores announcers announced Wigan were losing in the early 90s.

Not (for me) because I particularly hated Wigan, but because (for a fleeting moment) it seemed someone else might stand a chance of taking the title (Saints in 92-93, Warrington or Bradford in 93-94 etc...)

Best #6 ever

...and playing a crocked Gavin Miller.

i remember hull fc twice bidding then world record bids for woods when bunting was in charge ,it seemed he was a 1 club man/player so i guess something changed ,or just didnt fancy east yorkshire

You can probably commute to Bradford from Warrington/Leigh area for training and matches and stay living where you are. I know someone who has actually commuted to Leeds for work from Warrington for years because he didn't want to move (helps if you have a boss who's flexible about you being late or knocking off early of course). Hull's impossible, though.

Certainly one of the most naturally gifted 6s I’ve seen play rugby pre superleague, woods and Tony myler in my time for sure

Absolutely.

Two very gifted standoffs unfortunately trying for the same GB shirt. Two different styles and both fantastic players.