Re: Riley Dean : Fri Dec 09, 2022 1:45 pm  

Uncle Rico wrote:

Without wishing to derail this thread or seem like I'm 'having a go' as I generally enjoy your posts BUT that last sentence is a bit of a 'big' statement...."wrong answer"?

Most questions about who is the greatest are subjective, but sometimes they aren't.

Who is the greatest Wire player in history?
I can guarantee everybody on this forum immediately thought of the same name.

Who is the greatest Wire player of the modern era?
Everybody immediately knows who it is, the difference is some won't like saying it's him, or they might prefer one of their own heroes from an earlier era, which is fine. But they know who it is.

Re: Riley Dean : Fri Dec 09, 2022 1:52 pm  

sally cinnamon wrote:

Most questions about who is the greatest are subjective, but sometimes they aren't.

Who is the greatest Wire player in history?
I can guarantee everybody on this forum immediately thought of the same name.

Who is the greatest Wire player of the modern era?
Everybody immediately knows who it is, the difference is some won't like saying it's him, or they might prefer one of their own heroes from an earlier era, which is fine. But they know who it is.

Who is it?

Briers was a consistent top player for us once Tony Smith arrived in 2009.

There is an argument to support Morley, Johns, Joel Monaghan too.

I guess it's all in the definition of "greatest".

[Uncle Rico]

Re: Riley Dean : Fri Dec 09, 2022 5:20 pm  

Wires71 wrote:

Who is it?

Briers was a consistent top player for us once Tony Smith arrived in 2009.

There is an argument to support Morley, Johns, Joel Monaghan too.

I guess it's all in the definition of "greatest".

This echoes my thoughts you get the impression that Morley raised the standards across the squad and Briers was the player that seemed to define us from the perspective of style when we were at our 'modern' best. But it's subjective and that's the problem I had with Sally's post

It's also difficult to even define greatest but these are apparently going to be the wrong players, yet the qualities that they brought to the team is something, especially in the case of Briers that we've searched for without success

Re: Riley Dean : Fri Dec 09, 2022 5:50 pm  

If by modern era we mean since 1997, then it's Briers. I don't care what Sally or anyone else says, it's Briers.

Re: Riley Dean : Fri Dec 09, 2022 6:53 pm  

sally cinnamon wrote:

There's a risk of overdoing the nostalgia as back in the days of winter rugby the crowds were generally low apart from the big derbies and a lot of games were rubbish, littered with handling errors and the puddles of mickey in the Fletcher Street End would turn to yellow ice because it was that cold.

But we were 'appy and that's what matters!

The part that's sad for me is that the game was making progress for a while. The game in the mid to late 2000s was faster, better attended and a better spectacle than it had been before, even if we didn't have the same characters as the legends of the 80s and early 90s.

Since then things have regressed.

Everybody these days wants to see a maverick creative halfback who bucks the trend of the robotic athletic 'system players' that we see these days, so they quickly mythologise lads in the Academy.

But if you ask who was the greatest Wire player of the modern era, a lot of fans on here will give the wrong answer.

Given that an opinion is subjective I’m not sure how it can be wrong?

Re: Riley Dean : Fri Dec 09, 2022 8:59 pm  

Douglas Black wrote:

If by modern era we mean since 1997, then it's Briers. I don't care what Sally or anyone else says, it's Briers.

He is certainly a player that we sorely miss, thats for sure.

Re: Riley Dean : Sat Dec 10, 2022 12:47 pm  

As a Fev fan who has dipped into this thread to see what we can expect from Dean, could someone clarify if we are discussing his claim to being Warrington's all-time greatest player, or just in the modern era?

Re: Riley Dean : Tue Feb 07, 2023 9:22 am  

Watched Riley play in last night`s game Keighley v Featherstone shown live on Viaplay.

He won the man of the match award for a dominant halfback display.

Re: Riley Dean : Tue Feb 07, 2023 3:05 pm  

Missed the game last night, but made up Dean played so well. Hopefully this loan proves he's up to being a first choice half back at wire(which I believe he is!)

Re: Riley Dean : Tue Feb 07, 2023 4:12 pm  

Well if there’s one coach with the ability to spot a young half-back and get him playing to first team standard, it should be Powell (based on what he’s done elsewhere).

Let’s hope Dean is still firmly in Powell’s thoughts for next year onwards.