The NRL referees are fortunate they are refereeing in the politically correct game it is today.
Because if they had to try to control former Wigan and Great Britain halfback Andy Gregory they wouldn't know what hit them.
Andy not only played the opposing team but also the referee -
he gave them plenty to think about every time.
In one game against Leeds, after being penalised at every scrum in the first half for incorrect feeding, he offered the ball to the referee and suggested he feed the next scrum.
In another notorious incident at Hull he grabbed a spare ball and rushed it up to the referee.
He suggested the ref should give the ball to Lee Crooks, the Hull captain, because that was the only way his team would get to see the ball.
But he didn't always get off scot-free and in one match was sent off for swearing at the match officials.
I went along with him to appear before the judiciary committee in which we both thought he would receive a hefty fine and be suspended for a match.
We made that assumption because - strangely enough - it wasn't his first appearance at the judiciary.
But, as only a cheeky halfback could do, Gregory delivered a version of events that eventually brought an apology from the referee.
Gregory was free to go.
However, as his former teammates Tony Iro and Dean Bell will tell you, Gregory was a great player with the best long pass to his outside backs you could wish for.
He was also one of the best halfbacks I've known for firing up his own forwards on the field.
In one game against Widnes he kicked their Kiwi hardman forward Kurt Sorensen in the heel and made out it was one of our Wigan forwards. Kurt went berserk, but it ignited our own Wigan pack into action.
Gregory was as much a great character as he was a great player and a showman.
Today's referees don't know how lucky they are.
