Best pommie imports

[Alan]

IMO there have only ever been 5 great pommie imports.
My ranking system is as follows

1) Malcolm Reilly (2 Premierships with Manly)
2) Kevin Ward (Premiership with Manly)
3) Steve Norton (Premiership with Manly)
4) Gary Stephens (Premiership with Manly)
5) Phil Lowe (premiership with Manly)
Ellery Hanley Won nothing .. can bugger off
Sam Burgess Has won nothing .... can bugger off
Tommy Bishop Won nothing .. can bugger off
Cliff Watson Won nothing ... can bugger off

 

[HappilyManly]

Manly knew how to recruit better than anyone

I remember Offiah prancing around in short shorts for Easts.
Also Schofield for Balmain, I think he was the Uk Captain too.

Adrian Morely is the only Pom to win a GF. But then again, it was with Easts, so irrelevant

I liked all our Poms although Riley was before my discovering Manly in 76.

Little Gary Stephens was my favourite, so quick and clever. A precursor to our homegrown 2v

 

[Killer03]

In the last 15 or so years I think Adrian Morley has been the best pommie import. I don't think the Roosters win the comp in 2002 without him. The Roosters lacked a real enforcer in their forwards, they had plenty of workers in Ricketson, Fletcher, Cayless. But no one who genuinely scared people....Morley did!

In fact it was the GF where Villisanti clobbered Fittler (with a flying headbutt), that saw Morley go 'alright then' and start smashing their forwards.

 

[Alan]

Can't argue that killer, Morley went OK when under control.

For mine one of the best one-off performances was Kevin Ward's return for the grandfinal. Loved his work.

---

Manly knew how to recruit better than anyone

I remember Offiah prancing around in short shorts for Easts.
Also Schofield for Balmain, I think he was the Uk Captain too.

Adrian Morely is the only Pom to win a GF. But then again, it was with Easts, so irrelevant

I liked all our Poms although Riley was before my discovering Manly in 76.

Little Gary Stephens was my favourite, so quick and clever. A precursor to our homegrown 2v

Ellery's shorts were black ... you just thought he wasn't wearing any

only joined Manly in '76, you're a HM come lately. I was playing u/23's in '76.

And just because it's a slow day and I love controversy, I will go on record as saying I think Malcolm Reilly was the best "footballer" ever to play for manly. I'm leaving out any of the current players.

Just thinking I have probably made enough spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes for that pest @Globaleagle to wear out a red pen.

 

[HappilyManly]

Reilly's days are well and truly over, the MRC would have his name engraved into the weekly charge sheet

Martin Offiah is the one with the short shorts, Hanley is the one that Bah Lamb took a shine to in the GF

My love of Manly Beach, when I left boarding school in 75, led me to Brookie. So happy with my addiction

I agree that its so lame having these breaks in the Season - boring!! :dodgy:

@globaleagle is probably hallucinating another bear in the garden, as we speak

 

[anthonyb1965]

Craig Innes?

 

[HappilyManly]

He's a Kiwi - we met him last year at the MWTS do in Auckland.

What about Manfred Moore - the Yankee guy with the Newtown Jets - he lasted a handful of games then disappeared

 

[Alan]

Craig Innes?

Craig Innes was a ripper. When he left to go back and play for the All Blacks I was gutted.

 

[TWO DOGS]

IMO there have only ever been 5 great pommie imports.
My ranking system is as follows

1) Malcolm Reilly (2 Premierships with Manly)
2) Kevin Ward (Premiership with Manly)
3) Steve Norton (Premiership with Manly)
4) Gary Stephens (Premiership with Manly)
5) Phil Lowe (premiership with Manly)
Ellery Hanley Won nothing .. can bugger off
Sam Burgess Has won nothing .... can bugger off
Tommy Bishop Won nothing .. can bugger off
Cliff Watson Won nothing ... can bugger off

I agree with your ratings Alan. The other pommies of note to play out here were Huddart, Lockwood, Stephenson, Ashhurst and Topless.

 

[Peter C]

Best pommie by the length of the straight, Bozo!

 

[Alan]

In my dotage I forgot John Gray ... manly saved him by rescueing him from Norths. He went OK to.

 

[HappilyManly]

The Pommie Kicker, how could he be forgotten

1:48 A Cameo of his best work for Manly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI5UnfxPe5Y

Technically, Bozo and Gray were not imports - they were already living here when they came int the fold.

 

[globaleagle]

In my dotage I forgot John Gray ... manly saved him by rescueing him from Norths. He went OK to.

"rescuing"

 

[Alan]

In my dotage I forgot John Gray ... manly saved him by rescueing him from Norths. He went OK to.

"rescuing"

Gotchya

 

[RiverEagle]

Geez we've had some quality Poms, haven't we?!

I loved Kevin Ward (tough as your grandad's old work boots!)
But all mentioned were great.

I was a bit young to see and appreciate Mal Reilly, but know he's spoken of with awe in so many circles.

He must've been tough as teak too, coz he wasn't that big a bloke.

John Gray must've been one of the first around-the-corner kickers in 1st grade too.

(Morley probly was the best non-Manly import, but I must confess to liking Ellery Hanley's work too......would've liked him at Manly, but we had God at no.6 anyway!)

 

[eagle66]

I see Lockwood mentioned earlier. He nearly signed to play for Manly in 1975. We could've won the comp that year, even against the hot Easts team. Phil Lowe had a pretty good season that year but both he and Eadie would have unstoppable with Lockwood in the side. See attached article [attachment=807]

 

[endzone]

Malcolm Reilly
Bill Ashurst
Jim Mills

 

[jbb/james]

John deveraux ,jonathon davies , phil clarke, bobby goulding, andy platt, dennis betts,lee crooks, are some others. Lee crooks went really well. Very much like kevin ward, kevin pringle and of course the current crop, and des drummond,ans two brothers through about super league time one was a blonde second rower, the other a fat half back. What were there names. The forward played for the sharks i thing. And andy goodway

 

[Hamster Huey]

Craig Innes?

I struggle to think of another outside back who came out from the UK, that was as good a footballer as him. Was better than Carney, and he was a good player. Big loss for the Reds, and unfortunate we couldn't keep him longer either.

 

[HoldenV8]

John Deveraux in 1993 was a big disappointment. Great Britain and Welsh international and the only thing of note he did here was get an forearm/elbow to the head from Mal Meninga when we played Canberra at Brookie that cost Mal a suspension and caused him to miss the first test against NZ in Auckland.

John Gray was reportedly the first around-the-corner style kicker.

I saw Martin Offiah play at the Adelaide Oval in 1991 when the Dragons beat the Tigers 16-2. He scored a try that night but never got the chance to show his speed. Still, his legendary defence was on display (not that Balmain could take advantage of his fear of tackling, they were hopeless).

I think most people, even non-Manly fans (especially those who saw him play), would tell you that Mal Reilly was the best Pommy import to play in Australia.

Andy Currier who played for Balmain in the late 1980's wasn't too bad.

One player I always enjoyed watching was Jonathan Davies. Just a pity he played for the Scumdogs and Cows.