I'm not 100% in agreement with that.

Ultimately it depends what you want from your team. If you want a third pivot, then Hodgson does a great job of that. Radlinksi and Wellens were both different players and in certain teams (ie ones with enough creativity in the halves and loose forward) I would select Radlinski or Wellens for those teams.

I liked Hodgson, but I think the quality of his play was overstated. Some of his 1 on 1 defence was laughable, his kick return could be very weak and slow and his error count could be extremely high. Of course he had a lot of benefits, his calmness and maturity really helped us over the last few years, and his pass selection was usually of the highest order as was his timing coming into the line.

It will be interesting to see what happens now without this style of fullback in the team but if I'm honest I was already preferring the faster and more elusive Ratchford at 1 when he played there and I'm looking forward to seeing Russell.

Hodgson was a very good player and we should appreciate what he did for the team, but he was nowhere near perfect. I should clarify that I saw little of his career before he came to SL so am only judging him on the latter years of his career.

www.laterooms.com/en/p1301/pv162 ... &WT.srch=1

www.laterooms.com/en/p1301/pv162 ... &WT.srch=1

I had occasion a good few years ago to pay a Sunday morning visit to Wilderspool, for what I can't remember, and stood at the counter waiting to be attended to. There was just one person in the office standing with his back to me stroking his lustrous locks and generally admiring himself in the mirror and that was none other than Steve(don't call me Shirley) Hesford...He eventually caught my reflection in the mirror and spun round looking very embarrassed by his display of self-love. Some time later at Knowsley Road the Saints fans were getting on his back as usual and he seemed to lose his rag....At that time Saints had made a premium signing from Cumbria, I can't remember his name but could have been Moorby...The said star signing made a break down the left and *Shirley* decided to vent his frustration and ran across and hit him like a steam locomotive...The player went down and had to be taken from the field by stretcher and I don't think he ever played again...He may have been a good looker but Hesford was as hard as anybody I ever saw.

Hesford was a funny one - We signed him from Fylde RU, and on first impressions he looked a pretty mediocre player. In fact, its fair to say he only made the team because of his exceptional kicking. He was often shunted out to the wing, to keep his involvement in the actual game to a bare minimum.

However, when Derek Finnigan packed up, Hesford got his break, being moved to full back and finally looking worthy of a place for more than just his kicking - We've definitely had better full backs, but I don't think we have ever seen a better kicker.

It was said he was offered a lucrative deal to kick field goals in grid iron football....can anyone remember or shed light on this?

Gerry Helme, the first man to win the Lance Todd twice was a brilliant scrum half. He had a famous tackling technique where he used the momentum of big forwards and throw them in a sort of Cumberland throw. His partnership with Ray Price is the first I have strong memories of. Ray was a pocket battle ship, tremendously strong and hard as nails. St Helens in those days were coached by Jim Sullivan and were very physical and games with them were wars of attrition. We never finished with thirteen men and Danny Naughton sustained a career ending broken leg. Ray Price revelled in this atmosphere and dished out so many pastings that, in 1956, Saints bought him off us. On balance though for sheer footballing entertainment I thought Edwards and Greenough were brilliant to watch and my personal favourite combination.