Wigan coming to the aid of Halifax in July 1999 that is, by signing Chris Chester and Gavin Clinch and then going onto to "poach" a young David Hodgson.

All in all a sizeable chunk of cash came into the Blue Sox coffers, and administrator Peter O'Hara was a happy man!

It also meant the Warriors had a surfeit of halfbacks and some adjustments to make to their salary cap.

Amazingly one of the blokes that, inbetween coaches, they decided was surplus to requirements was one the best professionals to play for Halifax in recent times, Greg Florimo, who signed in November 1999 and played just the one season.

There was plenty of dialogue between the two clubs at the end of that year despite a spat when the Hodgson signing initially leaked out which saw the Halifax board boycott the boardroom when they visited Wigan for a Super League game.

But by the end of the campaign the Halifax board and CEO were visitors to Central Park Alliance fixtures to try and spot players who could be used in an exchange deal.

As it was Mike Peters made the move to the Shay for the 2000 season but that was unconnected with the Hodgson transfer.

So did Brett Goldspink, and so did "Flo".

As part of his severance package he kept the house in Wigan and they agreed to pay part of his wages with the Blue Sox paying the rest.
What a revelation he was.

Coach Gary Mercer and assistant Martin Hall soon had him installed as captain and he led by example throughout despite the fact it was only rarely that he actually played at stand-off or loose forward, where he had made his name in Sydney.

Florimo played most of the season in the right centre with Martin Pearson and Andrew Dunemann the preferred halfback pairing for the first half of the season.

When Pearson was banned for drug misuse both Daryl Cardiss and Marty Moana partnered Dunemann with the latter usually getting the nod.
Florimo was played wider because Fax had a real shortage of quality centres at the time.

Phil Hassan and Marvin Golden, both former colleagues of Mercer at Leeds, both flattered to deceive, while others to play alongside the consistent "Flo" in the centres were Jamie Bloem, Damian Gibson, Danny Halliwell and Jim Naylor.

And who could forget Florimo's emotional departure when he symbolically left his boots on the halfway line after the final game of the season against Huddersfield, which was also Paul Rowley's Fax finale, and stride off towards 'Mad Monday'!

Florimo is still in the game as general manager of North Sydney - thanks for Ben Fisher, by the way!

Mercer thought he had plugged the gap caused by his departure by signing Gavin Clinch from Huddersfield to be the "dreamticket" pairing at halfback alongside Dunemann.

And new deputy Steve Linnane reckoned that he had solved the centre problem and the gap left by Rowley's departure with the signings of Stuart Donlan and Micky Higham from Leigh…