Imports. Which have had the most impact, or flops, here or in Oz?

[Lowdesert]

This was a discussion we had the other day.  Which have been the best value for money, as well as game changers and impact makers?  The names which cropped up, and this is obviously relevant to whichever era, were Peter Sterling and Jason Smith at Hull, Gene Miles making it easy for anyone in support at Wigan, Beetson on his very short spell at HKR, Jamie Lyons impact for Saints.  Withers, not Bill, was great value at Bradford. Boyd for his elbows, knees etc at Wire,.It went on.

Flops?

Now, top flight imports may be a rarity, lesser known players, going under the radar, are sure to come through.  Another Stanley Gene?  Another Marcus Bai?

[ravens88]

Todd Carney:  Injured alot, a turnstile as a defender and makes bad reads in defence.

Lost a step, so isn't really threat as a runner. Just Another Guy (JAG) in a team. 

[Lowdesert]

12 minutes ago, ravens88 said:

Todd Carney:  Injured alot, a turnstile as a defender and makes bad reads in defence.

Lost a step, so isn't really threat as a runner. Just Another Guy (JAG) in a team. 

Can play but lost his way.  TBH, I reckon SCR bought him and didn't know what they wanted to do with him.

[Mumby Magic]

Flops that were Internationals or at the time top notch NRLer's must include Bradley Clyde, Ben Walker and am I right in saying Brett Mullins at Leeds?

At Bradford we've been quite lucky with overseas players over the years. SL wise two that spring to mind are Nick Zisti and Tame Topou. Whilst one was great at ST George, Topou didn't have the best of record anyway. Others may argue Matt Orford but we had a good win ratio with him at S/H before he headed back.

[Lowdesert]

1 hour ago, Mumby Magic said:

Flops that were Internationals or at the time top notch NRLer's must include Bradley Clyde, Ben Walker and am I right in saying Brett Mullins at Leeds?

At Bradford we've been quite lucky with overseas players over the years. SL wise two that spring to mind are Nick Zisti and Tame Topou. Whilst one was great at ST George, Topou didn't have the best of record anyway. Others may argue Matt Orford but we had a good win ratio with him at S/H before he headed back.

Matt Orford wasn't a bad player for Bradford was he.  Busy player.  Could do with him now!

 

[Jacko45]

Gregg Flymo,Leeds have had some right Donkeys in the summer eara.

[bobbruce]

Depends what your after or what you class as most impact. As an example when Saints signed Meninga it was a pleasure to watch him. Taking that Saints team to Lancashire cup and premiership wins. He was only here for three quarters of a season though. At the same time Phil  Vievers came over with him and although he didn't have the same impact, who would, he spent years as a great servant to Saints. 

[Hvy wg]

Flops at Catalans : Pryce, Tonga and Bell.Todd Carney, obviously, though the first year he played excellent for his 5 games! Leon Pryce wasn't plain bad but failed to impress and looked way too nonchalant. Coach favorite, hated by fans. Willie Tonga did nothing. Nothing at all. Bell was in another league though, he was just disgusting.

Tops : Dureau, Chan and Blanch. Dureau doesn't need explanations. Chan became a club legend and Damien Blanch had absolute blinders despite being hated by 50% of the fans.

 

[Rawschach]

Jamie Lyon has to be up there with the best imports in the Superleague era.  Fairleigh was also fantastic.

Matt Orford was a good player for the Bulls, would have liked to have seen him a few years earlier with better players around him

Bulls have had many fantastic Kiwis and Australians over the last 20 years who had an impact on the rest of the team (not so many recently obviously) Gartner, Les, Mackay, Paul x 2, Vagana, Bradley, Peacock, Vaikona, Withers, Morrison.

For Catalans, what about Stacy Jones?  He was class and really established the club.

Warrington had Andrew Johns for a short time - possibly the best player of the modern era. Not really much of an impact due to the short time but it was exciting at the time !

 

[Eagle Warrior]

Ian Lenegan at Wigan was asked after 10 years in charge who was his best signing and he was clear it was an unheralded left centre signed from Newcastle Knights. I suspect a lot of Wigan fans agree that George Carmont was a cracking player over a number of seasons. Cost the commercial dept some money though by chopping off the ponytail before he arrived!

[Allora]

Two of the best.

Brett Kenny at Wigan

Kevin Ward at Manly

[absentee thoughtlord]

Les Boyd incoming. Sam Burgess outgoing.

[northamptoncougar]

Ian Gatley - a brilliant forward for keighley. We also had a young centre called Andy King (I think) he was a class above and played a fair few NRL games after he left us.

[Wiganfan]

8 hours ago, Eagle Warrior said:

Ian Lenegan at Wigan was asked after 10 years in charge who was his best signing and he was clear it was an unheralded left centre signed from Newcastle Knights. I suspect a lot of Wigan fans agree that George Carmont was a cracking player over a number of seasons. Cost the commercial dept some money though by chopping off the ponytail before he arrived!

Got to second that, a very consistent player in every game. Was on peanuts when he first arrived as well. Craig Smith, Brett Dallas, Adrian Lam and Ryan Hoffman were also excellent 

Flops - Jamie Ainscough was a massive flop 

[Davo5]

Biggest flop has to go to Mark Carroll,what he wasn't going to do to soft British forwards !!!!

[bobbruce]

14 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

Biggest flop has to go to Mark Carroll,what he wasn't going to do to soft British forwards !!!!

Yeah that didn't go well did it. It wasn't just the likes of Barry Mac that got the better of him. He seemed to get a pasting every time he played. 

[Lowdesert]

11 hours ago, Hvy wg said:

Flops at Catalans : Pryce, Tonga and Bell.Todd Carney, obviously, though the first year he played excellent for his 5 games! Leon Pryce wasn't plain bad but failed to impress and looked way too nonchalant. Coach favorite, hated by fans. Willie Tonga did nothing. Nothing at all. Bell was in another league though, he was just disgusting.

Tops : Dureau, Chan and Blanch. Dureau doesn't need explanations. Chan became a club legend and Damien Blanch had absolute blinders despite being hated by 50% of the fans.

 

Greenshields?

Tonga's done nothing since!

[Hvy wg]

Just now, Lowdesert said:

Greenshields?

Tonga's done nothing since!

Greenshields and Jones I expected them to perform as they played NRL regularly.

Dureau was anonymous, Chan only had a handful of games and Blanch came from SL, performing better than the Aussie hacks we had. 

But yeah reallitiscaly, I forgot Greeny, Jones and Steve Menzies! Zeb Taia and Whitehead. Adam Mogg. 

And I don't know, can we add an another category to it? Imports hated by fans for nothing? Cause I got two there. Jason Ryles and Dallas Johnson.

[Lowdesert]

6 minutes ago, Hvy wg said:

Greenshields and Jones I expected them to perform as they played NRL regularly.

Dureau was anonymous, Chan only had a handful of games and Blanch came from SL, performing better than the Aussie hacks we had. 

But yeah reallitiscaly, I forgot Greeny, Jones and Steve Menzies! Zeb Taia and Whitehead. Adam Mogg. 

And I don't know, can we add an another category to it? Imports hated by fans for nothing? Cause I got two there. Jason Ryles and Dallas Johnson.

Menzies would be still scoring tries even now!

[Old Frightful]

         

[Dunbar]

I would say the best way to categorise these are the players with high expectations failing and those exceeding expectations. Hanley, Ward, Kenny etc were great players and did well as expected. 

British player with big reputation who didn't perform in Australia = Sean Edwards. 

British player who exceeded expectations = Andy Currier. 

Australian player with big reputation who didn't perform in Britain = Bret Mullins. 

Australian player who exceeded expectations = Gavin Miller.

Plenty more in each category of course.

[bobbruce]

56 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

I would say the best way to categorise these are the players with high expectations failing and those exceeding expectations. Hanley, Ward, Kenny etc were great players and did well as expected. 

British player with big reputation who didn't perform in Australia = Sean Edwards. 

British player who exceeded expectations = Andy Currier. 

Australian player with big reputation who didn't perform in Britain = Bret Mullins. 

Australian player who exceeded expectations = Gavin Miller.

Plenty more in each category of course.

British player who didn't perform I'd agree Edwards

British player who exceeded expectations Widdop. Bit of a cheat but when he went out as a youngster nobody (apart from maybe him and his family) had any expectations he'd go on to achieve what he has. 

Australian player who didn't perform. Mason

Aussie who exceeded expectations has to be Withers. 

[Rioman]

For Wakefield I'd have to say Jason Demetriou.  Never played top grade in the NRL, came over to UK and started with Lancashire Lynx.   A good solid player, heart as big as a bucket, great club man and decent bloke.

[roughyedspud]

14 hours ago, Lowdesert said:

Matt Orford wasn't a bad player for Bradford was he.  Busy player.  Could do with him now!

 

Seriously? 

He played a dozen games then cried off back home!

I got into alot if trouble off Bradford fans on rlfans when they signed him cos I said "if he lasts a year I'll be shocked", how he won the dally m the season before is beyond me?...Michael Monaghan was the heart,soul and mastermind of that manly side and they had a dominant pack...it was easy for orford to look good behind that pack....even id look good..

Well I was proved right,orford played half a season for Bradford and went home "injured"...

[Allora]

Winners

Adrian Vowles at Castleford

Adrian Morley at the Roosters

Flops

Bobbie Goulding at the Roosters