Ian Tonks & Tony Tonks

Such was the consistency of Stuart Dickens that he went through many front-row partners during his Rovers career. Just look at this list and see how many of these names you can remember:

1998: Chico Jackson, Mickey Clarkson.

1999: Hitro Okesene.

2000: Maea David.

2001: Gary Lord, Craig Booth, Gavin Morgan.

2002: Ian Tonks, Jimmy Carlton, Robin Jowitt.

2003: Chris Molyneux.

2004: Andy Jarrett.

2005: Nathan Sykes.

2007: Gareth Handford.

2008: Tony Tonks, Sean Hesketh, James Houston.

2010: Iain Morrison, Ross Divorty.

2011: Michael Haley.

2012: Anthony England.

Two players on that list who share a surname although they are not related are Ian and Tony Tonks. Between them both players starred in the Featherstone front-row for ten seasons offering uncompromising graft and whole-hearted endeavour. Unsurprisingly, both players won the affection of the Rovers faithful.

Ian Tonks began his career with hometown Castleford in 1993 where he played for nine years, making a total of 82 super league appearances. He signed for Rovers at the start of the 2002 season and slotted into a front row alongside Dickens, Craig Booth and hooker Richard Chapman. After Chapman’s departure, Ian was appointed club captain by coach Gary Price. After six full seasons in the first team Ian played very briefly in the same side as Tony Tonks at the start of 2008 before retiring. He made a total of 172 appearances, 131 as starting prop, and scored 12 tries.

Before the start of 2008 Rovers picked up another promising front rower called Tonks. Tony’s career had started at Bradford before playing at Doncaster and Oldham from whence Rovers signed him. Distantly related to our famous prop of the 1960s Les Tonks, Tony  soon established himself with his strong running and enthusiasm. He played in the 2010 and 2011 Championship finals, managing a total of 105 games over four seasons, including 81 as starting prop. He also scored a healthy 18 tries in that time. He then signed for super league side Huddersfield Giants but had no luck with injuries, breaking his arm early in his Giants career. He is now of course back in the Championship at Halifax, and will be at Sheffield next year.

Stuart Dickens

Stuart made his debut in the front-row during the successful 1998 season under Australian coach Steve Sims and credit to the coach he saw real potential in the young player and kept him in the team for the rest of the year. 27 games in the front row in his debut year, a Championship final and to within a whisker of super league was a phenomenal start to Dickens’ career. By the middle of the following season, still a teenager but now firmly established in the front row alongside Richard Chapman and Hitro Okesene, it was already hard to imagine the Rovers team without Stuart’s reassuring presence. In 2003 he took over the goal-kicking duties after the retirement of Jamie Rooney and had two good seasons with the boot. After seven years and over 200 career games already, the call of super league came and he signed for Salford City Reds for the 2005 season. Hampered by injury and with the coaching staff unable to get the best out of him, Stuart came back to Featherstone within a year, where he was welcomed with open arms. 

From 2006 he took over where he left off, leading from the front and taking over the kicking duties. David Hobbs appointed him club captain, a position he held for seven years. He developed a reputation for lengthy on-field spells in an age where props rarely do more than short bursts. He held the kicking duties for four more years, his best year being 2007 when he kicked 128 goals. That was also his benefit year after ten season service and he celebrated by leading Rovers to playoff success at Headingley and taking Rovers back to the Championship. He later of course captained the side in three successive grand finals in 2010, 2011 and 2012. 

He finally retired at the end of last season and he was elected into the Rovers Hall of Fame. His career total of 632 goals and two drop-goals left him second only to Steve Quinn on Rovers’ all-time list. His points total of 1,550 was also second only to Quinn. His durability was remarkable as he rarely missed a match through injury, and therefore inevitably played regularly through the pain barrier. Over fifteen seasons he managed 421 games, third only to Ernie Barraclough and Jim Denton, players from a bygone age. Without his brief spell at Salford he may well have beaten them both too. He now coaches Wakefield Trinity’s Academy team.

Steve Molloy

Oldham-born Molloy had started his career at Warrington in 1988 before signing for Leeds in 1990. At Leeds he won honours for both England (two caps) and Great Britain (he made his debut against France in March 1993). Part of a huge investment to coincide with Rovers return to the top flight, Molloy joined Featherstone for over £100,000 at the same time as Andy Currier (£150,000 from Widnes), Gary H Price (£100,000 from Wakefield), as well as New Zealand imports Iva Ropati and Gavin Hill. In retrospect after four years’ solid service for Featherstone it was probably Molloy who gave the club the best value for money of all those signings.

 

          In his first year under Australian coach Steve Martin, Molloy formed a front-row combination with Richard Gunn and Leo Casey. He did well enough in that debut season to pick up another Great Britain cap versus France. His strong running offered go-forward to the team and he also showed real leadership skills. After another solid year in 1994/95 with Steve coming close to a Wembley final, the super league bombshell dropped and Rovers were demoted. Although the club inevitably suffered the wholesale departure of a large number of their star players, Steve Molloy was one of the few players who decided to stay, alongside Martin Pearson and the returning veteran Deryck Fox. In the centenary season Molloy led the pack manfully, aided by new signings Roy Powell, Jon Sharp and Richard Slater. He was appointed Rovers captain for the first summer season and achieved the almost impossible feat of being selected for the Great Britain tour to New Zealand despite playing outside the top flight. On that tour he won two more GB caps off the bench.  It was apparent however that he wouldn’t stay outside super league for the rest of his career and after being unsettled during the 1997 season was determined to move. He was one of the early beneficiaries of the Bosman ruling as applied to rugby league when he moved to Sheffield Eagles. He had played a total of 128 games for Featherstone and scored 23 tries. After Sheffield’s horrific merger, Molloy played a further two years with Huddersfield before moving to Batley, then to his hometown club Oldham in 2003 where he was appointed player coach. On retiring he continued to coach there until he was sacked in  2004.

Leo Casey

 With veteran Jeff Grayshon established at number eight in the mould of an old-fashioned, ball-handling prop forward, the team also needed some real power and go-forward and looked to Leo Casey to provide this. In reality, Casey turned out to be less of an impact player, but more of a grafter with his own handling skills who, despite not really living up to his big transfer fee, nevertheless made a solid contribution to the team over five seasons. 

 

Leo’s career began at his hometown club Oldham in 1985 and after five seasons and 71 games was just coming into his prime as a prop forward when Rovers decided to take a gamble on a potential future international. In his first year at Featherstone he took his time to settle down with the weight of expectation on his shoulders. He started to make his mark with hard work and intelligence in a successful front-row combination alongside Grayshon and kiwi hooker Trevor Clark. His quiet, unassuming style won him less headlines than one of that summer’s other purchases, firebrand Brendon Tuuta, but that probably suited Leo fine. The following season was spoiled for Casey by a broken thumb which interrupted his progress, and following the departure of Peter Fox who had signed him, the year ended with Rovers surprisingly relegated. However Leo played his part in Rovers’ Championship winning side of 1993 under Steve Martin. That year our front row was Leo, Australian prop Wayne Taekata, and hooker Mark Wilson. Back in the top flight in 1993 Casey had his best year yet in a new look front row alongside Steve Molloy and Richard Gunn. He then won his first international caps for Ireland in the 1995 Emerging Nations World Cup, and played five times in all for his adopted country. 

  After almost getting to Wembley with Rovers in 1995, Casey initially stayed with the club in the wake of the super league fallout. He started the short centenary season with Rovers, but after receiving an offer to go back to Lancashire he left to join Swinton. In total Leo played 147 games for Featherstone and scored nine tries. After Swinton, he later joined Rochdale before finally going back home to Oldham in 1999 where he finished his career three years later. His son Callum Casey currently plays for Halifax.

Jeff Grayshon

When he arrived at Post Office Road, Jeff Grayshon, whose career had begun in 1968, was popularly believed to be ‘past it’ at 39 years old. If there was one coach in the league who would know how to get the best out of him, it was Peter Fox. Grayshon’s career had started as a centre, but he quickly made the move into the pack, and starred for Dewsbury in their Championship winning side of 1973 at second-row. He duly received international recognition, playing for England in the 1975 World Cup. It was, however, as captain and prop forward at Bradford Northern (under Peter Fox) that Jeff really made his name. Bradford won back to back Championships with a team that included Grayshon in the front-row alongside Jimmy Thompson and Keith Bridges. His form was strong enough for him to win Great Britain caps on the tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1979. 

 

Grayshon then had a spell at Leeds (with Peter Fox again) where he became the oldest ever GB international at 36, winning the last of his 13 caps. When he broke his leg in October 1987, it appeared that retirement beckoned. But by the following September he had made his Featherstone debut. Showing remarkable durability and commitment, Grayshon played 34 of 35 games that year alongside Karl Harrison and Trevor Clark in Rovers’ front-row. His vast experience and ability to inspire others allowed him to slot naturally into the role of pack leader. The following year he played all 36 games with Glenn Bell and Alan Dakin as his regular front-row companions. The following year he managed 30 games from 33 alongside new boy Leo Casey. Three terrific seasons where he had clocked up 100 appearances. His understandable lack of the full 80 minute match fitness was compensated by his general nous about how the game works, offering ball handling options to Deryck Fox’s distribution, regularly off-loading and putting his team-mates into gaps. In April 1990, he enjoyed a historical game when Rovers faced Bradford and Jeff lined up against his own son Paul. 

In the summer of 1991 now aged 41 Grayshon was allowed to leave, a move which apparently annoyed Peter Fox enough for him to quit the club later that year. Grayshon’s remarkable career continued at Batley until 1995 when he was 45 years old. His astonishing total of 776 professional games has been bettered by only three players in the history of rugby league. He became the second former Rovers player after Laurie Gant to be awarded the MBE.