These players were before time as I only moved to Warrington in 1999.



Over the years I've often heard these names mentioned and get the impression that this was our most revered front row of all time?



What was special about this front row? Were they partiuclalrly talented individuals or did they all bring something different to work well as a unit?



Thanks

They were all hard men and nutters side story on tamati - I got stabbed in warrington and ran into a taxi rank and who was stood there yes Kevin tamati he rushed outside and kicked the chap out of the 2 people that did it got my bag back plus one of their caps then drove me to hospital an amazing guy

Like a bumble bee...Les Boyd defied physics and did things that his size and stature shouldn't really allow. He had a great step and could make a clean break as good as any centre. He was the type of player every opposing fan hates....hard, skilful and not afraid to dish it out. He rescued his reputation by moving to the UK. In Australia he probably should have gone to jail for some of the things he did on the pitch.



Jackson was a work-horse type of a player...run all day..into were it hurts most without a backward step. Not as skilful as Boyd...but his heart was as big.



Tamati was a gent off the pitch...gently spoken etc etc. Get him on the pitch and like Boyd and jackson, he'd run into brick walls all day long and dish it out big style if any tried it on. More skilful than Jackson...but not as mobile.

Les Boyd was one of the best footballing forwards I ever saw. It is a pity in some ways that he is best remembered for his penchant to mix it with anyone who would oblige.



Bob Jackson has got to be one of the best pound for pound signings we ever made. An eighty minute grafter week in and week out with en excellent and effective defensive game. One of the first names on the team sheet for me.



Kevin Tamati was a tough, dogged character who had good distribution but lacked pace, He too was an eighty minute player who would be in your face all the time. A bit like playing a pit bull who wouldn't let go.



They certainly blended into a formidable front row and are deservedly the stuff of Wire legend but it would be unfair to many other past players to say they were the best of all time.

Yes, some good summaries there. Boyd caused havoc down under before he came to us. He was over the top in an era when players could get away with most things - unless they actually killed someone. But he was a wonderfully gifted player as well - go back and have a look at some of his footage when he was in his prime in Oz. By the time we got him he was already running to seed, and looked almost as wide as he was tall. He had a great step and dummy, together with sticky hands. My abiding memory is watching him running deceptively fast through centre field, his huge jersey billowing out behind him, looking like an escaped frame tent in a gale. Well, that and his fighting of course - put Shelford and Boyd together and there would only be one outcome.

better than Morley, Monaghan, Carvell ?

....easily

....oh yes...sir les was m.o.m in the 86 premiership final against a halifax team that won the league...kt worked as a butcher and a taxi driver who was as previousley stated a gentleman off the pitch..big bob gave our crowd a bottle of whisky which he won at wigan for the lancs player of the year award...what wonderful days

Kevin Tamati coached me at U15/16s at Woolston Rovers circa 1986-87, really great guy too.

I need a lay down in a darkened room.



Could you imagine just how good these 3 would have been, if



a) They trained/ate/exercised as the players of today do

b) we got all 3 of them, five years earlier



Boyd was an animal, yet with a fantastic rugby brain. A proper shortbottom for a prop/second row (he was a secondrower for his GB Ashes tours), but mixed it with people much bigger. Showed decent pace.



Tamati was a class act as a dirty Wid



Jackson. 100% every week. Just a pity he played at Wembley when he clearly wasn't up to it, healthwise.





I LOVE NOSTALGIA THREADS.



Now, who was the dashing secondrower who packed down behind them......MANLOVE

Didn't Morley, Monaghan and Carvell win three Challenge Cups, a heck of a lot more than Boyd, Tamati and Jackson.



They were also playing in a league where everyone was full time professional.



Back in Boyd, Tamati and Jackson's day it was largely a semi professional competition hence one team won everything, and it wasn't us.

Boyd, Tamati and Jackson also played in an era when front rowers played 80 minutes, and didn't go running off for a rest after half a dozen runs with the ball and a short spell of tackling....





Personally, if you are ranking those six, then Boyd is undoubtedly the best - A fantastic player, he could do most things bar kicking.... Run in with the ball, beat a man with a step, pass a slick short ball, throw a top class long ball out wide, tackle and, best of all, he could intimidate about as much as any RL player I've ever witnessed.



Morley was/is class, but, compared to Boyd, was/is a massive one-trick pony... Carvell is the same, just not as good as Morley.... Bob Jackson was the traditional workhorse prop - Pretty average compared to Boyd, but was an excellent foil to him. He was a quiet assassin, he never did a lot that would get a mention in the pub after the game, but I imagine he was one of those that opposition players fully respected and quietly dreaded coming up against.



As for the 2 hookers, its impossible to compare, because if one position as changed the most in the SL era, then its the number 9 one - Monaghan is head and shoulders over Tamati skill-wise, but if I got into a bit of trouble with an opposing player, or a side needed to put a bit of Wigan-style intimidation on an opposition, then I'd be more than happy knowing that Tamati was on my team.