[Bullseye]

Re: Jeff Grayshon RIP : Wed Mar 24, 2021 2:40 pm  

finglas wrote:

Fieldhouse and Goodway were the standouts from them. Neither were massive but were great players, Fieldhouse got man of series in one of the series and Goodway played off season down under and got rave reviews. Hugh Waddell must have been around then as well, and you can't leave out Roy Powell.

Goodway and Fieldhouse were more suited to the second row IMO. Although Frank Myler picked Goodway at prop a lot and Bamford picked Fieldhouse there this was because as you said earlier we were a bit short of front rowers - especially with Ward refusing to play. Goodway was very good but had an attitude problem and wasn't really a team man. Fieldhouse I remember was good up until he came up against the 86 Aussies but then nobody really did well against them.

The 84-86 period was before Roy's time in a GB shirt - he began to make his mark after 88.

Re: Jeff Grayshon RIP : Wed Mar 24, 2021 3:47 pm  

Bullseye wrote:

Goodway and Fieldhouse were more suited to the second row IMO. Although Frank Myler picked Goodway at prop a lot and Bamford picked Fieldhouse there this was because as you said earlier we were a bit short of front rowers - especially with Ward refusing to play. Goodway was very good but had an attitude problem and wasn't really a team man. Fieldhouse I remember was good up until he came up against the 86 Aussies but then nobody really did well against them.

The 84-86 period was before Roy's time in a GB shirt - he began to make his mark after 88.

Think in 86 quite a few GB players stood out individually but as a team we were lacking, Bamford a terrible dinosaur of a coach, plus we maybe had 8-9 world class players in the squad, the Aussies had 26 in their squad and a fair few more at home their best prop at the Time Tunks refused to tour, and had a world class coaching team, not a big mouthed Sunday league coach.

[Bullseye]

Re: Jeff Grayshon RIP : Wed Mar 24, 2021 5:03 pm  

I recently watched all three of those 86 Tests - they're on the RL Cares page on Facebook if anyone's interested. They're a real eye opener. We were absolutely awful in the first two tests in just about every aspect of the game.

Squad for that series was Lydon, Ledger, Gill, Basnett, Marchant, Mason, Stephenson, Schofield, Hanley, Myler, Fox, Edwards, Watkinson, Ward, Crooks, Fieldhouse, Goodway, Burton, Potter, Pinner, Lyman, Platt, and A,Gregory just for the 3rd Test.

Re: Jeff Grayshon RIP : Wed Mar 24, 2021 7:17 pm  

Bullseye wrote:

I recently watched all three of those 86 Tests - they're on the RL Cares page on Facebook if anyone's interested. They're a real eye opener. We were absolutely awful in the first two tests in just about every aspect of the game.

Squad for that series was Lydon, Ledger, Gill, Basnett, Marchant, Mason, Stephenson, Schofield, Hanley, Myler, Fox, Edwards, Watkinson, Ward, Crooks, Fieldhouse, Goodway, Burton, Potter, Pinner, Lyman, Platt, and A,Gregory just for the 3rd Test.

basnett the widnes version? mason mel or andy ? fox deryck or Phil , burton chris ?

[Bullseye]

Re: Jeff Grayshon RIP : Thu Mar 25, 2021 10:41 am  

Yeah the Widnes John Basnett - when he was decent - always wondered why he was so underwhelming at Leeds.
Chris Burton
Andy Mason
Deryck Fox.

Andy Mason didn't get a game. Fox got the first two tests but struggled behind a beaten pack, really he was too young for the job but Bamford couldn't pick Gregory until the 3rd test as he was in dispute with his club (Warrington IIRC).

In Bamford's biography he said that although he was still one of the best props in the league in 86 he couldn't pick a 37 year old Jeff Grayshon against the Aussies.

Re: Jeff Grayshon RIP : Thu Mar 25, 2021 6:49 pm  

Bullseye wrote:

Yeah the Widnes John Basnett - when he was decent - always wondered why he was so underwhelming at Leeds.
Chris Burton
Andy Mason
Deryck Fox.

Andy Mason didn't get a game. Fox got the first two tests but struggled behind a beaten pack, really he was too young for the job but Bamford couldn't pick Gregory until the 3rd test as he was in dispute with his club (Warrington IIRC).

In Bamford's biography he said that although he was still one of the best props in the league in 86 he couldn't pick a 37 year old Jeff Grayshon against the Aussies.

cheers don't remember mason being good enough for club never mind country

Re: Jeff Grayshon RIP : Thu Mar 25, 2021 8:31 pm  

Bullseye wrote:

Yeah the Widnes John Basnett - when he was decent - always wondered why he was so underwhelming at Leeds.
Chris Burton
Andy Mason
Deryck Fox.

Andy Mason didn't get a game. Fox got the first two tests but struggled behind a beaten pack, really he was too young for the job but Bamford couldn't pick Gregory until the 3rd test as he was in dispute with his club (Warrington IIRC).

In Bamford's biography he said that although he was still one of the best props in the league in 86 he couldn't pick a 37 year old Jeff Grayshon against the Aussies.

I remember as a kid desperately wanting Bassett to reproduce his Widnes form but he just ended up looking lost as a player at Leeds. Shame cos at Widnes he was brilliant. Leeds might have been better served getting his long term replacement at Widnes a certain Mr M Offiah...

Re: Jeff Grayshon RIP : Mon Mar 29, 2021 12:17 pm  

batleyrhino wrote:

I remember as a kid desperately wanting Bassett to reproduce his Widnes form but he just ended up looking lost as a player at Leeds. Shame cos at Widnes he was brilliant. Leeds might have been better served getting his long term replacement at Widnes a certain Mr M Offiah...

Just imagine how Offiah's career would have gone then!!!!

Re: Jeff Grayshon RIP : Mon Mar 29, 2021 12:54 pm  

Basnett was a 6 ft big strong fying winger at Widnes who was powerful and direct then we bought him.........became a sideways crab who couldnt beat an egg the second he signed.