The one that came back to bite you on the bum

[Futtocks]

We've probably had this thread before, but which one player did your club sell who then became a colossal thorn in their side?

I'll kick off with Wigan selling Sean Long. And that's from a long list of good players we've let go over the years.

[Waynebennettswinger]

17 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

We've probably had this thread before, but which one player did your club sell who then became a colossal thorn in their side?

I'll kick off with Wigan selling Sean Long. And that's from a long list of good players we've let go over the years.

My Grandad always used to say that Wigan never let a good’un go. Not saying he was always right and there weren’t exceptions but this started to change around Long’s time (perhaps before with Goulding-although there may have been other reasons for that.) 

I always thought Saints shouldn’t have let Sonny Nickle go but that helped us get Newlove and Sonny came back a more consistent player from Bradford. 
 

Gary Connolly would be the big one for me. Terrific player for Wigan and Great Britain, one of the best defensive centres I have watched. Loved watching him for GB and, along with Radlinski, admired him as a Wigan player (well most of the time ) both absolute top drawer IMHO. 

[JM2010]

Cas letting Darryl Clark go was a big loss

[DavidM]

Not my club but …

https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/dally-m-winner-johnathan-thurston-how-the-bulldogs-let-leagues-next-immortal-go/news-story/5e306212347cf9429514e63db55dd9b1

[Harry Stottle]

Never understood why Wire let Dwyer go, if he plays the whole game he is a great asset, if he is brought on from the bench invariably he makes a huge impact.

[Barry Badrinath]

1 hour ago, Harry Stottle said:

Never understood why Wire let Dwyer go, if he plays the whole game he is a great asset, if he is brought on from the bench invariably he makes a huge impact.

Cos he wanted a lot more money than his running around like a headless chicken dog chasing a car warranted.

[bobbruce]

3 hours ago, Waynebennettswinger said:

My Grandad always used to say that Wigan never let a good’un go. Not saying he was always right and there weren’t exceptions but this started to change around Long’s time (perhaps before with Goulding-although there may have been other reasons for that.) 

I always thought Saints shouldn’t have let Sonny Nickle go but that helped us get Newlove and Sonny came back a more consistent player from Bradford. 
 

Gary Connolly would be the big one for me. Terrific player for Wigan and Great Britain, one of the best defensive centres I have watched. Loved watching him for GB and, along with Radlinski, admired him as a Wigan player (well most of the time ) both absolute top drawer IMHO. 

I’d add Platt was a tackling machine at Saints he added a bit of size once he left and became one of the best props in the world. 

[Chrispmartha]

18 minutes ago, Barry Badrinath said:

Cos he wanted a lot more money than his running around like a headless chicken dog chasing a car warranted.

He took a pay cut to join Leeds. Warrington offered him a big contract.

[Cheshire Setter]

3 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:

Never understood why Wire let Dwyer go, if he plays the whole game he is a great asset, if he is brought on from the bench invariably he makes a huge impact.

He is fairly talented, and wanted (and deserved) a starting spot at a top club. He was too old to be an academy understudy but was never going to oust Daryl Clark from that 9 position. Best move for both player and club. I like Dwyer's attitude, but replacing him with Danny Walker (who is arguably slightly better for his age and has a half-back's skill set) has worked for us.

[Cheshire Setter]

For Warrington you'd have to pick Paul Sculthorpe, even above Iestyn Harris. A bit sad we had to sell both to survive. What a team you could build around those two. Or maybe we would have just drowned them in the beer culture at the club during that bad period.

[daz39]

We didn't sell him but Martin Gleeson turned out ok after he left the Giants.

As did Chris Bridge, Toby King, Jake Connor etc

[Barry Badrinath]

1 hour ago, Chrispmartha said:

He took a pay cut to join Leeds. Warrington offered him a big contract.

Any evidence on that?

 

The word at the time was he was mithering for an big increase,  then got frozen out in favour of Morgan Smith who started playing bench hooker

[Chrispmartha]

16 minutes ago, Barry Badrinath said:

Any evidence on that?

 

The word at the time was he was mithering for an big increase,  then got frozen out in favour of Morgan Smith who started playing bench hooker

Yes, from Dwyer himself on Jon Wilkins podcast.

[Blind side johnny]

Alex Murphy, Ellery Hanley, Joe Lydon, Martin Offiah must all have caused some anguish to their original clubs.

[Hela Wigmen]

I don’t think we ever saw the best of Shenton in a Saints shirt, which is quite sad as I was really happy when we signed him. 

[The Blues Ox]

Mickey Higham went on to have a pretty decent career after Fax technically let him go. Paul Anderson was probably the main one for Fax managed about 15 games in 4 or 5 seasons with us then went on to star for Bradford hardly missing a game.

[paulwalker71]

Where do I even start?

Every time I switch on a SL game I see players who came through our Academy and slipped through our net largely due to incompetent and dodgy owners.

 

[M j M]

2 hours ago, Chrispmartha said:

Yes, from Dwyer himself on Jon Wilkins podcast.

No I don't think he quite said that. He turned down a huge Wire offer to extend his contract a year or so before it ended. Then had a poor season and the same money wasn't on the table. And he signed for Leeds on what was originally a pretty cheap deal which has since been upgraded a bit.

[M j M]

For Leeds the obvious choice is James Lowes. Dean Bell's worst decision by far whilst he was involved at the club.