Good man Rogues and regards to your mam. I look forwards to hearing your stories later and I'm sure my chums from Saints are all really looking forwards to hearing them as well.
In the meantime here are some of my favourites:
One of my first memories of rugby league was a derby in the first season I was watching Wire (1989/90). We won our first 6 games of the season and were top of the league, and Widnes, who had just won the World Club Challenge against Canberra, came to Wilderspool for a Lancashire Cup semi final. This was a very eagerly anticipated derby as at this point it was thought that Warrington and Widnes would be the sides to beat that season, and we had a crowd of 10000 plus at Wilderspool which wasn't common those days. The atmosphere was amazing. Warrington played Widnes off the park - they weren't even in the game, and Greg Mackey who had just arrived on a short term deal from Illawarra Steelers, bossed the game and was class. I remember the feeling walking away from that game, and what people were saying in the stands, was that we were on the verge of something special. We won the Lancashire Cup against Oldham a week later. Unfortunately a few weeks later we had our first loss of the season against Saints (the first team I saw beat us), Greg Mackey's deal expired and he got signed by Hull, and we went on a disastrous run of form and went careering down the table. We managed (with the help of a lucky draw) to rescue some pride that season by getting to Wembley but we were soundly beaten by Wigan. This was one of two moments (the other being in 1995) when Warrington were close to being able to kick on and be a top side, but just lost momentum and lost key players.
Other great memories
- a Challenge Cup tie at Thrum Hall in 1994, this was notable for a second half comeback that featured two spectacular solo tries from Jonathan Davies. If there was ever a game where one man turned it round it was Davies, he was at the absolute peak of his game then.
- a home game against Saints in 1996, Saints won by one point, it featured memorable tries from Jon Roper and Richard Henare. Henare's try was from a scrum on our line where Scully flicked it out to him on the short side, and he just burned straight down the touchline - right past where I was standing - and did everyone for speed. I also remember that day, because it was my last day of school in Year 11, and after the game I went to a party, and experienced my first close encounter with the opposite sex...I was still buzzing off Henare's try when I was getting down to business and I reckon it took me about as long to finish as it did for him to run the length of the field
- Nigel Vagana bursting onto the scene with a hat-trick in a win over Wigan in early 1997 (this was before people had realised the pies were going crap), we had started the season disastrously and Jon Dorahy got sacked, Paul Cullen took over as caretaker coach a few days before the game and we roasted Wigan, Vagana was superb
- ending the unbeaten run of the "Unbeatabulls" Bradford in 2000 who had started off that season looking like they were going to run away with Super League, they were well ahead at half time and we thought we were in for a roasting but Allan Langer put on a masterclass in the second half and Bradford couldn't deal with it. Also our forwards really got stuck into theirs and they lost the plot, Brian McDermott got sent off for a high tackle on Mark Hilton and there were some of the best fights I've seen, with Hilton, Nutley and Farrar going toe to toe with Vagana, Lowes and the Bradford pack. Robbie and Henry Paul had been strutting around in the first half but in the second with things going against them and the Wire fans getting in to them they lost their cool and were pointing and ranting at their own players. That was the day we really saw what all the fuss was about regarding Langer, a genuine great playing in a very ordinary side.
- Andrew Johns' debut in 2005 at home to Leeds, the expectation and build up for that game was on a different level to anything I'd seen, and it was probably the most intense first couple of minutes I've ever seen in rugby league, it felt like State of Origin or Superbowl at the start of the game, with a massive roar for about 30 seconds before Johns kicked off, then he kicked off, a Leeds player dropped it, we got the scrum and scored off the first set of six in the game and the place was absolutely bouncing. Probably my favourite 2mins ever as a rugby fan.
