If I Could Turn Back Time

With the Leigh Centurions gathering the strongest team in living memory, I thought it was time to cast my mind back over the years and dig out some heroes from yesteryear. I have put a provisional starting point of around 1978 which is the first time I can remember going to a match. The only thing I remember is Des Drummond standing on the touchline just in front of me, waiting for a kick off and the strong smell of wintergreen and my fathers Victory V's.

Without any further ado, here we go:

1.       Neil Turley

2.       Des Drummond

3.       John Henderson

4.       Tom Armstrong

5.       Liam Kay

6.       John Woods

7.       Mike Ford

8.       Tim Street

9.       Micky Higham

10.   Fuifui Moimoi

11.   Simon Baldwin

12.   Cory Paterson

13.   Adam Bristow

Fullback - I had this narrowed down to Neil Turley, Paul Topping and Stuart Donlan. Much as I like the other two, Neil Turley was worth the entrance fee on his own. He had tremendous pace and a graceful running style reminiscent of the great John Woods, in the way he could run on an arc to avoid the oncoming tacklers.

Wingers - Des Drummond "Superstar", enough said. Liam Kay is the most exciting winger I have seen at Leigh for a long time. Leigh went through a long period of slow, wingers. At the end of day I would rather see Denny Solomona than Patrick Ah Van. Give me a whippet any day like Mason Caton-Brown.

Centres - I am sure Leigh have had some good centres over the years, but these two gave me greatest joy to watch. Except for John Henderson being caught by Barrie Ledger who sprinted from the other touchline to prevent Leigh from going to Wembley.

Stand Off - John Woods, this is Leigh we are talking about, how many other players have a statue outside the LSV. Tommy Martyn could have been a legend if he had come to Leigh earlier in his career. Someone definitely dropped the ball letting a Martyn go to Oldham.

Scrum Half - Mike Ford was a quality player and he played in Leigh team that liked to play 3 scrum halves at the same time (Jason Donohue and Phil Johnson) (Hooker and Loose Forward in case your interested).

Prop Forward - As a pair of  props my favourites were Tim Street and Lee Hanson. As a ball handling prop, I was a big fan of Derek Pyke. Fuifui is a legend at the club hence my choice.

Hooker -  Leigh have been particularly blessed in this area in recent years, from John Duffy, Sean Penkywicz, Bob Beswick. Micky Higham has done two brilliant but separate stints and had the temerity to have a successful career in between.

Second Row - Simon Baldwin had two great stints at the club. Cory Paterson is only one season in, but what a great player with ball in hand.

Loose Forward -  A position that has lost it's focus in recent years. I used to love watching Harry Pinner or John Pendlebury pulling the strings from the pack. Adam Bristow was not a fancy dan, but he was ever dependable. An all round good guy.

Unfortunately I never saw Alex Murphy, Mick Martyn or Kevin Ashcroft play so that's my team.