He scored two tries in the 1984 final as Widnes beat his future club 19-6.

But for Lydon, the key to Wigan's record-breaking run that began in 1988 and ran until 1995 was not the individual brilliance of the players or the tactical genius of the coaches.

For Lydon, it was a shock defeat to Oldham in the 1987 tournament that proved to be the real catalyst.

Here, he explains all to BBC Sport:

"I have so many fantastic memories of the Wembley finals I was lucky enough to play in. It's like a photo album in my mind.

"The most special was 1988 - the first for my home-town team Wigan.

"But had we not been beaten on a cold, snowy night in Oldham the year before, who knows what might have happened?

I got the feeling other teams knew we would always win Joe Lydon

"That Wigan team of 1987 was the best never to play at Wembley.

"And I think that result laid the foundations for us going on to win the final eight times on the trot.

"It wasn't that we were complacent before the Oldham game but defeat certainly made us a much more determined side the next year.

"We weren't going to make the same mistake again and we became impossible to beat because of our mentality.

"One year, we were losing something like 22-4 at half-time to Hull.

"Back in the dressing room before the start of the second half, Dean Bell told us that if we didn't shape up we'd lose.

"Other sides would have already thrown the towel in at that point, but not Wigan.

"Just after the break we scored a try and knew it was only a matter of time before we took the lead.

"There were lots of Cup ties like that. The opposition would throw everything at us and look set for victory only for us to dig deep and win.

"I got the feeling other teams knew we would always win.

"There were plenty of laughs, too.

"The night before one final, we were all bored and decided to take it out on local radio presenter Malcolm Lord.

"He was hosting a one-hour programme from the team hotel and we decided that we would all give him just one-word answers to every question.

"With only five minutes of an hour-long programme gone, he hardly had any questions left.

"Then he turned to Andy Gregory and asked: 'You've been to Wembley for a walk around today, what did you make of it?'

"'Greg' replied: 'I think the goal-kickers will have a lot of problems tomorrow.'

"Malcolm's eyes light up. Finally someone with a proper answer and the suggestion of some controversy, too.

"But I don't think Andy's subsequent explanation was the one Malcolm was expecting.

"'They haven't put the goal posts up,' replied 'Greg'."