Bloody Hell, are we talking about a different John Henderson ?

I saw him score one of the greatest ever Leigh tries in a defeat to Widnes (Think in 84) and he cut straight through the Widnes team and left Joe Lydon for dead.

He wasnt a great defender though

It was a toss up between him and Warren Stevens. Warren just got in because he is the only person I have ever met that has an IQ that keeps falling.

Well my memories of John Henderson are not the same as yours, was never a wingers centre, was a greedy try scoring centre who defo had a real turn of pace.

Alan
Mason. Legend

He was garbage G
Not as bad a Mark Mcghugan tho

You loved Alan Mason Ste







Now, was it Dave Smith ??

Who remembers his drop goal attempt at Rochdale with a Minute to go, even though we were 3 behind !!

I remember Barry Ledger catching him and stopping what looked certain to be a match playing try when we played Saints in the CC semi at Central Park.

Had Henderson scored I think we were Wembley bound


Henderson only had to look to his left and fend Ledger off and he would have scored!

We were stood behind the posts towards which Henderson was running. If he'd had tripped up he would have scored!!!!

Sorry I must be getting confused here. Who was the aussie who played left ?

This will be my 64th Season supporting Leigh and I have seen many great players play for us and, some not so great


My Best side would be;
1/Neil Turley

2/Des Drummond
3/Trevor Allan
4/Steve Donlan
5/Phil Fox

6/John Woods
7/Alex Murphy


8/Dave Chisnall
9/Kevin Ashcroft
10/Stan Owen
11/Charlie Pawsey
12/Mick Martyn
13/Tommy Martyn Snr

The fullback position was difficult to call and I chose Turley for his all round ability !
Other candidates were, Ledgard,Risman,Tyrer,Eckersley,Johnson and Hogan, most of them were GB internationals too!

Ive not selected more than thirteen however, there are many hundreds of other very deserving players

There was a kiwi around that time called Robert ( Bob ) Henson who played a few games, only one with a similar name I can think of. Other overseas centres around that time were Steve Halliwell, Robert MoiMoi, Paddy Tuimavave, Jimmy Viekoso with Troy Clarke and Dean Hanger just after them. Also think Simon Brockwell played a few games in centre but was really a backrower.

Team Of Leythers;

1/Neil Turley
2/Ian Hodkiss
3/Ray Fisher
4/Steve Donlan
5/Mick Stacey

6/John Woods
7/Tommy Martyn Jnr

8/Alf Wilkinson
9/Kevin Ashcroft
10/Derick Pyke
11/Tony Cotterll
12/Mick Martyn
13/Tommy Martyn Snr

Great Leythers all of em

The bell has just rung.. Not a clue why I had him down as Henderson. Ahh well.

Cheers.

saw my first game in 1950
My best:-
Jim Ledgard
Frank Kitchen
Trevor Allan
Gordon Lewis
Des Drummond

John Woods
Alex Murphy

Dave Chisnall
Kevin Ashcroft
Stan Owen
Mick Martyn
Charlie Pawsey
Peter Foster

wudda been unbeatable

Do you mean Mark McCulley?

Steves right.

We had Mark McGugan and McCully.

Both were rubbish !!!!

Mark Mcgughan played in the worst team this club has ever had coached by the worst coach ever in Ian Lucas. The team beaten away at Chorley with Mike Oneill and Dessie wing centre partnership for Chorley both near or over 40.

Matt, interesting how we've both watched the team for so long and our selections are so alike


Your choice of Ledgard and Kitchen, (both World Cup Winners in 1954) differs from mine of Turley and Fox!
Turley's all round game was brilliant and I've rarely seen a safer fullback under the 'High Ball' ! Phil Fox was vastly underrated outside of Leigh he was exciting and stylish when running the ball and a prolific try scorer!
Gordon Lewis was a particular favourite of mine however, Steve Donlan's all round game and, he captained England also although, Lewis may have captained Wales too?
Peter Foster who tragically died in a car accident at the height of his career was a top player and GB representative too however, I've never seen anyone get a pass away like Tommy Martyn Snr, I'm sure he could have managed a pass wearing a straight jacket


How lucky we are to have seen these wonderful players represent our Club!

I normally avoid these type of all time greatest threads because of posts like this. Okay I will bite.

Leigh have had some brilliant loose forwards. One of my favourite was Bill McFarlane, but my all time favourite was Peter Foster who had just made the GB squad, sadly taken from us in a car crash that Micky Martyn thankfully survived. Foster would have achieved great things in the game, he was on the road to greatness. The closest I saw to him was young John Westhead. However he was hammered from a young age, over playing in the first team whilst still developing physically, but he was very skilful.

Adam Bristow? He fails into insignificance. Never made it here or in his homeland, one of the major criticisms of him was his defensive frailties that opposition coaches exploited. He would not bend his back.

Ask Neil Kelly. When he was Dewsbury coach, he told Barry Eaton to run at Bristow and run at him all day long and every time and get under him. What did Eaton do in that Grand Final at Gigg Lane, automatic promotion to SL at stake. Runat Bristow, who swung at Eatons head, Eaton ducked under Bristows lazy attempt and romped under the posts to touch down.

Arrgh so close to SL that year, losing by 1 point undone by Bristow at 13 being targetted, that was the margin.

Mmm John Henderson or Trevor Allan, I will ponder that one.

FOR A MILLIONTH OF A MICRO SECOND!!

Incredible team !

No need to bite Harold as we all have our opinions.

At the age of 44, I cannot comment on Murphy, Allen and Lewis so it would be wrong for me to do so, but having met Gordon, he his a lovely man with HUGE Hands !!



I get where you are coming from i regards to Bristow, but he was a super player hence the reason he was targetted. I could quite easily blame Sid Baldwin for that defeat to Dewsbury for that stupid kick through but I wont. Its History and even the best have their off days. Quite a few did in that Dewsbury GF final but we will never forget the occasion.

Before we end this little trip down Memory Lane

I thought of all the Leigh born RL players who never wore a Leigh shirt! The great Oldham team of the 1950s was full of Leigh born lads such as; Bernard Ganley, Alan Davis, Frank Pitchford who were all GB Tourist's Frank Stirrup was Oldham Capt and had a ten year career with them he did however play a short while for us before going to Oldham!

These are some of the players I can recall but, i'm a few positions short, perhaps someone can fill them in?


1/Bernard Ganley, Oldham & GB

2/Martin Murphy, Oldam & Eng

3/Darren Wright, Widnes & GB

4/Alan Davis, Oldham, Wigan & GB

5/Dom Manfredi, Wigan

6/Billy 'Daz' Davis, Swinton,Wigan & GB

7/Frank Pitchford, Oldham & GB

8/Norman Herbert, Workington & GB

9/Scott Moore, St Helens, GB & HMP

10/

11/

12/John Cooke, Swinton

13/Norman Turley, Warrington

Don't think Norman's son Steve ever played for Leigh.

Westleigh