No, I don't think you could possibly infer that from my post. Some of them were average to reasonably good players in their day like Ford and Lyon and others were good to fantastic like Whitehead, Johnson and Davies. The point was, Padders places them all above Hodgson which was a) completely wrong and b) comparing apples with pears. Hodgson is a different type of full back and the only one who could have played a simialr game was Davies.

Just can't let a discussion on best Wires full back go on without remembering the tactical genius of putting Lee Briers there !

Well they are all fullbacks (apart from Davies didn't play there much for us) so its fair enough to compare them, he said Hodgson wasn't in the top six for him, people challenged him to say who was better and he named some names that were credible contenders, not like the Hulse, Teitzel or Fogerty analogies you made. For me Hodgson is the best I've seen but Padders is entitled to have his own controversial view without everyone making fun of him.

I started watching just after Johnson finished (he had just become coach) so the fullbacks (that played a decent number of games there, not occasionals like Hunte) of my Warrington supporting lifetime in order would be:

Hodgson
Harris
Grose
Lyon
Cardiss
Penny
Reardon

A range of opinions is fine, but if a post is clearly ridiculous, people put themselves up there to be shot at, metaphorically on a message board like this. Saying they are all full backs is simplistic as it doesn't take into account how a role can change (sometimes significantly) over time. There is evidence of functional change, sometimes quite radical, in a number of playing positions from the 1970's to now.

In terms of your list I agree with the order for those players. It was a pity we got players like Readon and Cardiss at the point at which their best days were behind them. Both were excellent full backs in different ways at their peak.

There's no right answer in 'Who's the best player you've seen' questions.

My favourite Batman is Adam West. My lad goes mad at me. He nearly combusted when I told him Cesar Romero is my favourtite Joker.

Favourite and best you've seen are always objective if the players you compare are of similar talent.

Yes and we got them in their mid 20s too so should have had them in their prime. With Cardiss injury took its toll which was a shame because he was superb to watch at Halifax, great pace and agility.

Not sure what the situation was with Reardon but he had looked a terrific prospect during his brief loan spell at Salford in 2002, winning the Harry Sunderland medal in the 2003 Grand Final and then having a Ryan Hall-esque start to his international career in the Tri Nations 2004. I thought he was a superb signing for us when we signed him. But he was a shadow of his former self with us. In the latter years of Cullen's rein there were a few players in our squad that had taken a step down from top clubs and seemed to be treading water with us: he was one of them.

I just googled Stuart Reardon to see where he is playing now. Turns out he is a model and some of his pictures are a bit NSFW so be careful if you google image search him.

Paul f'ing Ford better than Hodgson!!!!!!!!!!

I obviously missed the re-writing of history in which Paul Ford became anything more than a half decent back-up.

Reardon had great upper body strength but didn't seem to have any confidence or creativity going forward when he joined us. I remember Cardiss looking so elusive only a year or so before he joined us but seemed again to loses his confidence on attack. Both could have been really good with a little bit of luck.

In terms of a surprise package I think Brent Grose takes that one. Some of his displays and 'that' length of the field try will always live in my memory.

I seem to remember Cardiss starting pretty well for us, he came in a couple of months before the end of the 2003 season and helped give us some impetus in our charge for 6th spot. Then 2004 came round and he wasn't the same, I think he had long standing injury problems after that and was never properly fit.

Grose in his first season at fullback was right up there with Hodgson, the difference between him and Hodgson was Grose had one outstanding season and two rank average ones and Hodgson had two outstanding seasons and one good season. In fairness to Grose though he had had two very good seasons at centre before that.

I agree with you there Sally - that's 3 times this year.
Wierd !



The club cut Cardiss's contract short by a year - same with John Wilshire who played well for Salford.

Re Grose - I came across an Ausie wensite that were 'dissing' Grose as the worst player ever !
Unbeliveable and total cr@p

Back up centre who then played a few games at FB and played the first 20 minutes of the 1986 Premiership Final. after that he was virtually never heard of again. Certainly nowhere near the top 10 fullbacks I've seen at Wire.

Quite right. We've missed his defence and he has great hands too. Not as slick as Brett in attack though. Both great guys too.

Mathers arrival was probably the best regular fb we had had in 2 decades.

Id still have him now. We wouldn't have won the cc in 2009 without him.

I forgot Mathers. I would put him in between Lyon and Cardiss on my list.

Mathers was pretty good but he was error prone.

Forgot Rob Myler! Had all the potential in the world, took a bad knock to the head and was never the same again.

if i had to pick a top 3 it would be
1st hodgson
2nd johnno
3rd hesford
as for players like dave lyon paul ford they were good full backs and very reliable...any one go maine road on a freezing monday night against barrow..sure paul ford played in the halves..could be wrong ,memorys a bit vague

All the fullbacks mentioned have different attributes, so i suppose it depends what you're looking for. Personally, my priority in a fullback is to be a superb last line of defence. So it's johnson all day for me(to young to have seen whitehead or hesford play).

If I remember rightly it was a very late hit by an opposition forward, and you're right - he never was the same. A real shame, but I don't think he played all that many games for us at f/b.
I think he played more on the wing (could be wrong there).

Yes, most of his first team career was as a winger (Outside Jiffy for a spell in 93/94)... Was playing full back in the reserves, but was never seen as likely to oust Lee Penny, who was quite highly rated at that time.

Derek Finnegan was the best defensive full back I've seen at the Wire, steve hesford best under a high ball and Derek Whitehead a superb attacker with the best side step I've ever seen

Totally back up re. Derek Whitehead. He was brilliant at bringing the ball out after a kick. His side-step was magnificent. We signed him after he ran through the whole of our team playing for Oldham. Sometimes he wouldn't side-step ... and this seemed to work as well.

I once heard Colin Clarke say of Whitehead that you knew he was going to step you but still made you look a mug by sending you the wrong way

Absolutely brilliant attacking fullback, not so much by coming into the line, but by running the ball back after a kick. You just don't see his type of player anymore.

Billy Slater

I never get this thing about the fullbacks main job being the last line of defence. Fullbacks don't make that many tackles and when they are in a position of being last line of defence it means the line has been broken and more than likely there's a two on one so the fullback is not going to be able to do anything about that.

Last line of defence really only comes in when there's a breakaway where nobody has come in support of the attacker. When I was at school and uni that situation would happen quite often and a good fullback making a solid tackle would end an attack but in the pro game how often do you see that? Professional teams will usually have back up. Not saying its not a bonus if your fullback is a good tackler but I think its more important to be a solid tackler at centre.

In terms of defensive duties I think its more important for a fullback to be able to field a range of kicks, high, along the ground, bouncing, intersecting fullback and winger etc, and then return them well. The best way a fullback can help the team defensively is if he makes yards and takes the ball away from his line, especially if he can get out of his in goal or turn a kick fielded on the 5m mark to a tackle on the 25m mark.