Best ever Imports

[maxta]

Arguably up with my favourite Manly player ever - Big Kevin Ward - gave Manly so much steel and watched him beat up a Massive Souths pack in his own with no a powerhouse display of rugged old school footy.
You just knew when Ward took the field you would not be bullied in the middle....what a tough competitive leader he was.
Another nomination is Ellery Hanley who was unstoppable at Balmain and when Manly played them, I was scared every time he got the ball - up with the best runner of the footy I've seen...if not the best

 

[sheridanstand78]

Kevvie Ward was phenomenal for us for the 2nd half of the 1987 premiership and a huge reason why we won that season.

I would say Mal Reilly would have to be our best import from the UK, he as Arko always say, "He is a genuis!!""

 

[Captain Moondog]

Kevvie Ward was phenomenal for us for the 2nd half of the 1987 premiership and a huge reason why we won that season.

I would say Mal Reilly would have to be our best import from the UK, he as Arko always say, "He is a genuis!!""

Yep, Mal Reilly

 

[HoldenV8]

Depends on if you class Kiwis and Islanders as imports as well.

And Queenslander's

IMO the best Poms we had were Mal Reilly and Kevin Ward (do we class Bozo and Ian Roberts as Poms since they were born there? )

The best Kiwis/Islanders were Matthew Ridge, Kieran Foran, Steve Matai, Jorge and AFB.

And the best banana benders were Fatty, Rowdy, DCE and Kerry Boustead.

 

[Seagalatos]

I would add Matt Balin, Owen Cunningham, Paul McCabe, Martin Bella and Chris Close to the banana benders.

Add Marty Tapau and Mark Broadhurst to the Kiwis/Islanders

Add Phil Lowe to the Poms.

And Peter Peters and Jim Sedaris representing the Greeks.

 

[eagle66]

Our worst English imports would have been Andy Goodway And Hugh Waddell. I have a soft spot for Grahame Williams but can he be counted as he came from Norths? All the others, top notch!

 

[Stuey Davis’s Socks]

Unfortunately my favourite Pommy player never played for us. Garry Schofield was an absolute legend. With the Tiges 85-87 and played a big part in establishing a winning mentality that set them up for their premiership tilts in 88 and 89. Scored 28 tries in 47 games. Always played well against the Kangaroos, would’ve looked great in maroon and white.

 

[Chip and Chase]

Unfortunately my favourite Pommy player never played for us. Garry Schofield was an absolute legend. With the Tiges 85-87 and played a big part in establishing a winning mentality that set them up for their premiership tilts in 88 and 89. Scored 28 tries in 47 games. Always played well against the Kangaroos, would’ve looked great in maroon and white.

Had a mate who was playing with the Tigers in late 80's, he reckoned "Guddy" was a gun. He was a great player and one of the better imports we had come out here. Definitely in the conversation when it comes to best imports

Tigers seemed to get a good share of Poms, they also had Gareth Ellis who was very good for them too. He was still going around last year in England

 

[Ron E. Gibbs]

Another nomination is Ellery Hanley who was unstoppable at Balmain and when Manly played them, I was scared every time he got the ball - up with the best runner of the footy I've seen...if not the best

Terry Lamb certainly stopped him in the 1988 Dogs vs Tigers Grand Final. Turns out you can't run without a head.

Yet another reason to hate the Dogs.

 

[jbb/james]

Deveraux was a shocker

Tigers had another one i liked. I think it was david topless or similar. Gareth ellis wasnt too bad.
Sam burge an graham were freaking awesome.
Was bozo a pom . One of the gregorys the foward went ok.

I thought adrian shelford played well for us.
Ridge probably my pick as a kiwi , matai next

 

[globaleagle]

Bozo
Reilly
Stacy Jones
The black pearl Ellery
Chariots Offiah
Adrian Morley

-Just throwing some others in the mix.

 

[Uk eagle]

Andy Currier was really good at the tigers around the same time as hanley

 

[Shnorky]

Mal Reilly and Phil Lowe
I guess if you had to Samantha would be up there having won the Clive Churchill as well

 

[Freddo]

I always thought Steve Norton was a great player for us. Clever and tough but doen'st get many mentions.

 

[manly al]

I would add Matt Balin, Owen Cunningham, Paul McCabe, Martin Bella and Chris Close to the banana benders.

Add Marty Tapau and Mark Broadhurst to the Kiwis/Islanders

Add Phil Lowe to the Poms.

And Peter Peters and Jim Sedaris representing the Greeks.

Steve Bell and Bruce Walker , Danny Moore , then earlier era , Ken Day and Mick Veivers , [ from Qld ]

 

[Woodsie]

There have been plenty of really good imports ... so for me the distinction is for those that not only played well themselves ... but by their presence .... consistently raised the whole team to a higher level ...

So my 2 are Mal Reilly and Ben Kennedy ...

 

[manly al]

Maybe not on every Manly fan 's favourite list but John Ribot was a banana bender too , Originally a speedy lock in the Brisbane comp then a permanent winger . Quite a transition actually .

 

[maxta]

Andy Currier was really good at the tigers around the same time as hanley

Yep Tigers have had plenty of joy with Pommy imports over the years and in the current NRL, the Raiders have done very well....as for duds mentioned earlier, that Goodway done nothing and add the NZ fullback named Yogi ?? Had a shocker and then as would hope he was gonskis...,
A funny import for Knights was this apparent NFL star who sold his story and got on the field somehow - terrible would be a compliment and found out later he may have had a few college games

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Regarding how good Ellery Hanley was, that's why Terry Lamb took him out. The Sharks did the same to Mal Reilly. They had no choice actually, if Reilly plays then Manly win, he was that good. (Luckily we still had Bozo!)

Knocker Norton was also in the very highest class, other pommies of note include Morley and a bloke called Mike Stephenson, @Freddo would probabaly remember him well

 

[Freddo]

All I remember of Mike Stevenson was he was Penrith hooker that scored a lot of tries close to the line. Remember our blokes standing on the line yelling out "watch Stephenson, watch Stephenson" every time he touched the ball. He played with another pom at Penrith at the time Bill Ashurst.
I'll chuck another one in Big Jim Mills, he makes Morley and Reilly look like choir boys. I think he was banned for life in NZRL for stomping on someone's head. It was said Manly wanted him but he went to Norths. He was huge, lumbered along but it took about 4 to put him down. Another import of note was Fred Griffiths a huge man who played fullback for Norths. He was South African I think and even captained/coached Norths. He had legs like 44 gallon drums (even bigger than Beetson's) and could kick goals from anywhere. A 17 stone fullback yikes!
BTW I could reply directly to your post SER8 because it said I wasn't allowed.