Probably worth a thread in its own right.
I think expectations play a huge part.
Leo Casey was a solid enough prop, but the large transfer fee created an expectation he couldn't libe up to.
Etu Uaisele was a decent NRL winger and looked the part, but never really settled.
Ryan Verlinden's reputation just got bigger and bigger the longer we waited for his visa. Disappointment was bound to follow.
Tales of Joey Leilua's amazing pay packet created an unrealistic sense of what he'd do.
Cam King, Nu Brown had injury histories and so perhaps seemed relatively unheralded. They were allowed to settle and get on with it.
As has been said, Brett Daunt had an impossible act to follow, but Mark Aston's transfer was set up to fail.
With Currier, the injury was unlucky, and he was nowhere near the same level as the player he replaced. But who was? We'd have been better grabbing an import like Greg Austin or Iva Ropati with no transfer fee and making do. But the pressure was on the club to make a big statement.