Many true compliments have been paid to Dave this week. One I would very much go along with is that he should have had a lot more than his four Great Britain caps. We must have been very well off for stand-offs throughout the 20 years of his career.

One thing I remember well is running into him shortly after his resignation as Wakefield coach in 1994. His idea was that he would take a year or two out to concentrate on his business and then look for other coaching opportunities.

But time moves on, the era of the full-time coach had well and truly arrived and Toppo never found that opening. Mind you, I don't know where he would have found the time. Apart from always being on his way to some match or other, he was constantly busy with rugby-related stuff that people had asked him to do.

He also worked as hard on his fitness as he did as a player, with daily walks and gym sessions and fiercely competitive touch rugby. You had to chase Toppo around the field a few times to find out how quick a 50-something could be. It makes you think.

Peter, Neil Fox and Mick Morgan all had plenty of good things to say about David at what would otherwise have been a straightforward celebration of one of the most remarkable coaches the game has seen.

You look at the Featherstone sides he took to Wembley, or the Bradford outfit that won two championships and wonder how some of those less gifted players achieved that level of performance.

That was Foxy's great gift. He was the patron saint of the average player and could get more out of them than looked to be there. Plenty of them were there on Tuesday - along with a few who would have been good under anyone's coaching - and they all have plenty to thank Peter Fox for.