Team of the decade - winger

It appears the attributes and requirements of a winger have grown in recent years. There is no longer a small speedy winger in the modern game who can handle the rough and tough of the middle of the field, as as a result the species that brought us Martin Offiah, Brian Bevan and Jason Robinson are a dying breed. Warrington's Kevin Penny is the last player who earned his first team selection based on speed alone, and while it proved successful early in the young lad's career, he was vulnerable to many aspects of the game and his weaknesses were quickly exploited.

Today, fast paced and speedy wingers are no long an necessity. But they must be successful finishers, calm under pressure, but they must still possess that little bit of pace and acceleration to get past the defence. Just a bit. They must also be build so they can handle the physicality of the modern day game, therefore reducing their speed, but becoming effective in brushing aside the defence.

Ade Gardner
From 2002 Ade Gardner has always been a thorn in the teams playing against St Helens. He scored 114 tries for Saints in Super League and became one of the most respected players in the game. It took him four years to make the Great Britain team making his début in the 2006 international at Knowsley Road against New Zealand in which Great Britain were victorious 46-14. His last international appearance was, ironically, against the Kiwis in the 2008 World Cup, who would later become world champions a week later. But Gardner had already become a world champion himself by this point, playing in St Helens' 18-14 win over Brisbane in the World Club Challenge in which he scored two tries down the right wing. Sadly we may have seen Gardner at his peak in 2006, but during that time he was an effective and dangerous winger.

Brian Carney
There are not too many players who can say they are born and raised in the land of shamrocks and Guinness. Without a doubt Brian Carney is the best player ever to have come out of Ireland, and arguably he is one of the best wingers in the past decade. In his first season of NRL rugby league, he was voted the Dally M Winger of the Year in 2007 after a successful season with Newcastle, a year before he was due to play for the Gold Coast. He was scouted for Gateshead after playing for Dublin Blues RLFC and eventually signed for Wigan where he made his mark on Super League. In 14 appearances for Great Britain he scored eight tries, his last coming in the 2005 Tri Nations against Australia in Hull. But after his successful year in the NRL he made his retirement from both codes of rugby to concentrate on his family life. He later returned rugby union playing for Munster, but was later signed up for the remainder of the 2009 Super League season with Warrington. In four appearances he scored two tries, showing that at the age of 32 he was still capable of performing at a respectable standard. He career at Warrington was short lived after breaking his arm against Leeds, effectively ending his time on a rugby pitch.

Darren Albert
He was once tagged the fastest man in Super League after he won a charity foot race in 2004, and it was very hard to catch him with a ball in hand. In his four seasons at St Helens he helped them to one Challenge Cup win over Wigan as well as a Super League title. Beforehand he played for Newcastle in Australia (at which time was in the middle of the Super League war.) His début in 1996 was against Western Reds in Perth, and in which he scored a try. A year later he would go onto scoring one of the most memorable try in Australian rugby league history in a thrilling ARL Grand Final at the Sydney Football Stadium against Manly. If stats and figures are to be believed, he scored 77 tried in both Australia (ARL and NRL competitions for Newcastle and Cronulla) and Super League in the UK, totalling 154 tries in 217 apperances at first grade level. He showed pace and speed, but also the strength to compete in the middle of the field with the props when he was needed. He was a superb player, and it was great injustice he only ever played one game for New South Wales.

Hazem El Masri
One of the all time great players of rugby league. He broke and achieved a number of records in his career, including the all-time highest NRL career point scoring record scoring 2,418, he achieved 300 career apperances playing for the Bulldogs as well as the most points in a season of the NRL with 342. On top of that, he scored 160 tries at first grade level making him one of the most individual successful players to have played the game. During his time at Canterbury, he was part of a winning NRL Premiership side that defeated Sydney in 2004. El Masri retired after the 2009 season as the best point scoring player of all time against Parramatta in the preliminary finals, but will remain a memorable figure in the game for some time.

Jason Robinson
Jason Robinson left Wigan at the end of the 2000 season, so just about manages to become a nominee for this team of the decade. But before that, he was one of the best three quarters Great Britain had in their attacking arsenal. He had a quick side step and footwork a lot better any I have seen since. And his pace and speed was phenomenal. Eventually he left Wigan and transferred to the dark side of rugby union, where he made a very successful career out of playing that sport playing for England 51 times and the British Lions five times. But in rugby league, he started life at Hunslet before moving to Wigan in 1992 where he would appear for them 286 times and score over 600 points. Between 1993 and 1999 he went on to earn 12 Great Britain caps. A little unknown fact is he is the last person to score a try in a RU world cup final in 2003, as the 2007 final consisted of seven penalty goal kicks.


Lesley Vainikolo
Judging from the size of this bloke, you would never have guessed he played on the wing. But that is exactly what he did, and he did it with style. Along with his team mate, Shontayne Hape, he was part of a devastating left flank Bradford side that made four consecutive Super League Grand Final apperances winning two of them in 2003 and 2005. (Bradford won the 2001 final, but Vainikolo had not signed for Bradford by that point.) He caught the eye of Brian Noble playing for Canberra in which he scored 35 tries in the NRL between 1998 and 2001. This led to the nickname of The Volcano, christened to him by Peter Sterling. Once he settled into English life, he became a force to be reckoned with. He went onto score 135 tries in 136 apperances for Bradford in Super League, once scoring six tries in one match against Hull FC in 2005. A record that has not yet been broken. He left in 2007 to play rugby union for Gloucester but will always be remember for his trail blazing runs down the left flank at Odsal.

Martin Offiah
Martin Offiah left Salford in 2000 after 41 apperances for the club to join rugby union, a place where it seems many a great league winger goes off to collect their pension. He is a Londoner and one of the greatest wingers of all time. He made his name in the 1990s playing for Widnes, Wigan, St George, Eastern Suberbs and London. He scored 501 career tries playng in the UK and Australia, second to Brian Bevan.

For the team of the decade, on the right wing is Brian Carney and on the left wing is Lesley Vainikolo.