I had a long - if drunken - chat with H last year about where he sees his future, and he said he'd love to stay at Wigan given half a chance and be paid the going rate which I think is fair

He also said he'd stay at Wigan on less money than offered elsewhere because he loves the club. For a player of his quality, if we were to let him go then there's some poor management gone on for sure. Top notch player who should be snapped up, let alone having to think about it

Excellent !

We used to see Bills family at CP.

They used to scream and shout "there's our Bill".

So hard to imagine he is now a devout Christian.

Good for him !

He was a real hard case.

A true Wigan legend.

If the 40- 20 had been around in his day, he would have kicked the opposition to death. They would have never got out of their own half for sure.


And as an aside...........if he still drinks, I would love to buy him a pint for shutting up STEVO off Sky.

I would have Ian Potter in any Rugby league team to block up the middle. Second choice would be Mick Cassidy.

Just like the backs, these blokes don't come along every few weeks.

Quote ="Pemps"Not only the best back rower but probably the best player I've seen. Weird really because he couldn't kick particularly well, his passing wasn't great and he wasn't a tackling machine. He had something very special about him though and I think he could make a decent job in any position on the field.'" Hanley was hard to pigeonhole in every respect. I spoke with my old Dad this evening, and he still follows Wigan on Sky. His all time number 13 was Billy Blan, another all time Wigan legend. www.wiganwarriors.com/WPlayerP.a ... SquadID=11 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Blan My Dads school mate is second from the left back row - Martin Ryan. No not Ken Gee. My Dad can go back to the 1920s with Wigans history.

Quote ="Pemps"Not only the best back rower but probably the best player I've seen. Weird really because he couldn't kick particularly well, his passing wasn't great and he wasn't a tackling machine. He had something very special about him though and I think he could make a decent job in any position on the field.'" Hanley was hard to pigeonhole in every respect. I spoke with my old Dad this evening, and he still follows Wigan on Sky. His all time number 13 was Billy Blan, another all time Wigan legend. www.wiganwarriors.com/WPlayerP.a ... SquadID=11 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Blan My Dads school mate is second from the left back row - Martin Ryan. No not Ken Gee. My Dad can go back to the 1920s with Wigans history.

I have also seen this mentioned.

I sincerely hope he is being helped by family, friends, and the RL community.

Shame to hear. There must be over 150 different players that have come and gone over the years in my time of watching the club (1982) and the vast majority just simply slip back into obscurity. There are a few exceptions,those who have gone into coaching (Edwards, Farrell, Wane, Betts..etc), those in Management (Rads, Bell, Lydon...etc) and then those that still follow the club as a supporter and you see at the DW regularly or just in the town itself (Andy Greg, Westy, Martin Crompton...etc).

I've heard that some players that once their careers have finished don't necessarily want anything to do with the game at all, one of these I believe is Derms. But everyone is different I suppose!!

Finally, good to see Gilly at the DW in recent seasons, my particular favourite being when him and his son danced on the pitch in front of the Wigan fans at the HJ after the cup semi win against Saints!!