Can't argue with any of that fella

except maybe I was fortunate enough to watch Chris Hesketh.

yup I hear he was a bit special to!

Yeah and before the great,brilliant chris hesketh,what about them two Salford centres and Mr Les Bettinson and Salfords finest Ernest Critchley.Yep we were sh.. then but them two guys were Salford through and through.

And that just sums up it all up does`nt it? We havent had a class centre for fu//ing donkeys years.Williams was sh/t in his first year after signing from Sale,Second year improved some.Remember he was playing in a top team then,no screaming when he fuc,,ed of to wigan then aye,unlike Moon.

Are we talking about the same Williams? He didn't come from Sale, he didn't go to Wigan, and made a pretty much instant impact for Salford.

Came from Orrell. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Will ... gby_player) ex wiki for confirmation

Came from Orrell. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Will ... gby_player) ex wiki for confirmation

I didn’t want Gleeson due to his past, especially the drugs part (not a good example for a “family sport” to set ).
But after all the problems we have been seeing at the club I find myself quite upbeat about the signing.
And due to a couple of comings and goings, could this mean the takeover could soon be over?

After playing only three matches for Salford in 1988/89 season Peter Williams was put on stand by for the Great Britain tour down under. so it wasn't such a bad start as you say.

He signed for Salford in March 1988 and made his debut on 23rd March against Leigh,he scored a try on his debut and scored five tries in his first five matches and as has been stated earlier he was signed from Orrell RU.

He made 154 appearances( inc 8 as a substitute) and scored 35 tries and his final match was on 24 April 1994 versus Featherstone away.

Remember MM that facts are a piece of verifiable information, please check them first.

We've had one saying Talau was the best thing since sliced bread and now another saying Williams was rubbish and getting all the facts wrong...

...and they wonder why they lack credibility when they post.

Williams was class for us.

I think impending announcement of the tie in with Oldham speaks volumes for the takeover being close.

You're just bigging Williams up Tony because he was your mate at Salford.

Williams was a decent player, but to use the term "class" is very much exaggerated rubbish, Hesketh, Richards,watkins, fielding, was "class" williams was nowhere near those 4.

I don't know who you think I am but I can assure you that you are mistaken...

Class is obviously subjective, seeing as you rated Talau in a Salford shirt I'd say any gravitas you had in your argument falls a little short. Williams was a class act for us, it's just that Hesketh, Watkins, Fielding etc were, at the time, probably world class and I'd agree they are a step-up from Williams but it still doesn't take away the fact that Williams was class.

Talau...

Just like your gravitas has fallen short in this argument as the 4 world class players mentioned above are more than a step up than williams, if i can remember rightly PW wasn't even selected 1st choice for the Lancs squad nevermind the national squad. Class players stick out like sore thumbs in bad teams, PW didn't. Like i've said earlier give williams an extra yard or two of pace then we wouldn't be having this argument.


Gladys Howard

What a devastating loss some will feel when they have no more rubber bullets to fire out of their repeater riffles!

You're arguing something that I agreed with. As far as his pace is concerned I'll give you that. To say he didn't stick out can't be right though if he got selected for Lancs and GB, in fact, the fact that we are talking about him now means he must have stuck out. I never said he was world class, just a class above your average player.

Why do you keep calling me by random names?

I don't really get it.

Peter Williams was class Centre, even though he signed late in his career . he wasn't the quickest on the field but he had a bag full of skills , a great step , he's always created space for his wing or runner by comitting the defender to tackle him and then time the pass to create the gap, could also put in good chip kicks & grubbers behind the defence . His pretty solid in what at the the time was a fairly leaky defence.
I can't name that many centres that rely just on power & speed , if you remember Matt Gidley @ Saints, slow as a carthorse but had the unnerring ability to create gaps for his Wing Partner Ade Gardner to score a hat full of tries.

so key skills for centre
1. Good enough to get to that try line 10 yards out on in 1 on 1 / even 2 on 1 situation
2. to be able to create space and gaps with good hands ball skills & Step
3. To be a solid defender
being fast comes a fair way down the order

I can't believe what i'm reading



There is no substitute for speed. Williams couldn't run. If he was class Darryl Powell and Carl Gibson wouldn't of been prefered in the Great Britain team. Gee Whizz

Paul Carige was a much faster player than Peter Williams.

When my son was growing up,we watched Peter Williams,and I think that was the first time I told him
"There's no substitute for class"
Of course PW was class,we had him very late in his career,but it oozed from him.

It's not all about speed for a centre. There's defensive ability, positional play, creativity, and power to name a few. Speed is a bonus but not a must for a top centre imo. Those skills I've named rank higher for me when it comes to centres.

Gleeson is still in good nick and although he's 32 he has had a couple years off so won't have the same wear and tear as a general 32 year old. Partner him up with Broughton and he will score close to 20 tries in the season for you off the back of Gleeson's play.

Dearly Powell - renowned for his pace?

Okay if Peter Williams oozed "class" and Hesketh was a step above being "World class", which "class" does the likes of Keith Senior, Joe Lydon and Paul Loughlin ( proven internationals ) belong too because the latter three were a step above PW. And with the great Chris Hesketh being "world class" greg Inglis, Brett Kenny, Mal Meninga must be "universal class".

I think the term "class player" is over used today, there's no doubt PW played well for us and had diverse skills. Today in the British game the centre has evolved into a much more strength, powerful and mobile (pace) position more so from the days of PW when evasive skills were more at hand from the centre.

Williams was a good player
Hesketh was class
Keith Senior, Joe Lydon and Paul Loughlin where very good players

Hesketh was part of team that beat the Australian for ths ashes and the world cup
something Keith Senior, Joe Lydon and Paul Loughlin did not do

It's all subjective. Which was my original point anyway. Being pedantic to make your point fit is a bit weak.

On to your other point. You're right in saying that the role of centre has evolved and changed, which means that drawing comparisons between players of different eras is pointless anyway. They can only be judged against the players that played at the time, or the players they played with to keep it in context. You say so yourself in your last sentence.

All this back and forth has been pointless as you have your opinion and others have theirs. You're not got to change it, neither are we.