WARRINGTON Wolves second-row star of the 1970s Tommy Martyn has died.

Martyn, 69, who gained representative honours with Lancashire, England and Great Britain during seven seasons at Wilderspool, died yesterday after a short illness.

The Leigh-born ball-handing forward, with a penchant for the Cumberland Throw tackling technique, scored 51 tries in 220 appearances for Warrington between 1975 and 1981.

For his services to the club, he was inducted into the Warrington Players' Association Hall of Fame.

His son, also Tommy, won Challenge Cup Finals, Super League Grand Finals and a World Club Championship with St Helens, while his elder brother Mick was the first to set the pathway into professional rugby league and became a record try scorer for his hometown club Leigh.

Martyn, who developed as an amateur with Leigh Miners, started out with Batley and Leigh before Alex Murphy brought him to The Wire in January 1975.

It was a transfer that ignited his career and set him on the road to cementing his reputation as one of the game's greatest second row forwards.

He was a member of the Warrington Challenge Cup side defeated by Widnes in the Challenge Cup Final at Wembley four months after arriving at Wilderspool.

A tour of Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea followed with England that summer.

The following season Martyn was the club’s player of the year and shortlisted for the first of two occasions for the First Division Player of the Year Award.

In the summer of 1979 he toured Down Under again, this time with Great Britain, but was forced into heading home with a dislocated shoulder after making five appearances.

He helped Warrington win the Lancashire Cup against Wigan at Knowlesy Road, in St Helens, in 1980 with a sensational try, storming 60 metres from a kick-off.

And then he was man of the match when The Wire defeated Barrow in the John Player Trophy Final at Central Park, Wigan, in his final campaign with the club.

Murphy took him back to Leigh in the summer of 1981.

Very much like his brother, Martyn was a damaging wide runner but he was also a brilliant passer of a ball, particularly in the tight confines of a game played under the old five yards rule.

Former Leigh and Warrington international hooker Kevin Ashcroft, who played alongside Tommy at both clubs, recalls: "Tommy flitted about a bit but once he got settled at Warrington he really showed what he could do.

“He revolutionised forward play, he would run at you, bang his shoulder down and he'd be off again.

“And passing? They used to say Tommy could squeeze the ball out of his backside ¬- he was incredible, a magician.

"At Leigh and Warrington they'd always tell you to follow Tommy if he made a break, that was the golden rule.

“The tries he used to create were incredible. He was a hard player, really hard, in a tough Warrington pack.

“They might have invented the word 'uncompromising' after him. But off the field he was a gentleman, one of the nicest men you could ever meet. He never strutted about but could look after himself. He never started anything but you didn't mess with Tommy.

"He was at his peak at Warrington. He developed an art of running with the ball, dropping his shoulder, releasing the ball. He was a nightmare to defend against.

“He was like a horse in a long distance hurdles race, he simply never stopped going, whatever the state of the ground. He had an incredibly economical style, he was like a thoroughbred in a field full of carthorses.

"He once complained to me of a shoulder injury after slipping the ball so much in the tackle and getting banged by the defender. 'Mine's the same after so much hooking,' I replied. 'Don't be daft,' he said. 'You never put your arm over in the scrum, you're always after the loose arm.'

"Tommy was a long distance lorry driver but never missed training or games. He was naturally fit. He hated going off the field and wanted to play every game. He was a delight to play alongside."

Martyn also kicked a drop goal during his 220 Wire appearances but arguably his most memorable days in rugby league were still to come.

"He'd played at Wembley in the losing Warrington side in 1975 and toured in 1979 with Great Britain only to have to return home early due to injury. He'd played for England, yet hadn't won the honours his talents deserved," Ashcroft added.

Martyn re-joined Leigh in a straight swap deal for Tommy Gittins at the start of the 1981-82 season with Murphy back at the helm at Hilton Park.

It was arguably Leigh's most memorable season - an early Lancashire Cup Final success over Widnes followed by a long, eventful and ultimately successful pursuit of the holy grail - the Championship that Leigh had only won once previously, back in 1906.

Murphy moved on, but Martyn remained and in the final game of the 1983-84 season, his last game, he left an enduring legacy.

Leigh against Warrington, Martyn's final game, was the last game of the season.

And at Hilton Park, a few hundred yards from his house, Martyn single-handedly destroyed The Wire that day in a quite outstanding display of ball-handling second row play.

Martyn played 165 games for Leigh, scoring 23 tries.

"He was one of the best players the town has ever produced and a gentleman," Ashcroft concluded.

"Shy, unobtrusive, unassuming but a genius on the Rugby League field. For all he achieved in the game that Championship season at Leigh was his proudest moment, without a doubt. Another legend of the game has gone, and I don't use the word legend lightly."