John Folau almost appeared for BWSE alongside T-REX

  • We had an issue with background services between march 10th and 15th or there about. This meant the payment services were not linking to automatic upgrades. If you paid for premium membership and are still seeing ads please let me know and the email you used against PayPal and I cam manually verify and upgrade your account.
@Brissie Kid - forgot about Zinzan, would have loved to seen him in a Manly jersey. You could add Wally and Gene Miles to that list as well, signed and sealed by Packer until the QRL tricked them into staying in Brisbane.

What season was that? 1986? You would have to think no Cliffy Lyons legendary career if Lewis had have come.

Arko in 2011 on Manly buying players.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/s...p/news-story/08f6f2bf89fcf4ece3f057563c3ba7b3

1 The Silvertails

WITH no salary cap in the 1980s, the rich bought champions and the poor survived on chook raffles, meat trays, juniors and cheap country imports.

Arthurson had the biggest chequebook in the ARL via a thriving leagues club and superstar Bob Fulton's close friendship with the late Kerry Packer.

In 1980 Arthurson almost destroyed the Western Suburbs Magpies by signing second-rower Les Boyd, hooker Ray Brown and fullback or centre John Dorahy in one swoop. Grudge matches between the two clubs became known as the Silvertails versus Fibros.

But even today, Arthurson still brushes off criticism of the Magpies raid. "Did it ever occur to people that Wests pinched those three blokes in the first place? Dorahy from Illawarra, Boyd from Cootamundra and Brown from the Riverina," Arthurson said.

Still, no other club could compete with them financially. They even tried to pinch Peter Sterling from Parramatta in the mid-1980s and Wally Lewis and Gene Miles from the Brisbane competition.

"I laughed at the Silvertails tag because Freddy Jones used to work on the wharf and Terry Randall drove a truck," Arthurson said. "They were as working class as you could get."
 
Zinzan Brooke from NZ All Blacks. Actually signed a contract under Graham Lowe.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/winwin-birthday-gift-looms-for-lowe-20111001-1l2pd.html

Lowe revealed that, during his early days at Manly, he secretly signed All Blacks legend Zinzan Brooke on a three-year deal - only to tear up his contract. ''I had Zinny signed at the same time as Matthew [Ridge], but then the rugby union got to Zinny and he had a little bit of a change of heart,'' Lowe said. ''I tore up his contract and let him out of it. That would have had a massive impact because he was the star All Black of the time. You hear all these stories of Manly raping and pillaging other clubs, but in this case it was quite the opposite - we had the prize rugby union player of the time … and [let him go].''
ec8c2ae79f63b77c8a046ea95da5d0869e35369f

Wow I didn't know that. One of my all time favourite RAH RAH players
 
What season was that? 1986? You would have to think no Cliffy Lyons legendary career if Lewis had have come.

1986 negotiations for the 1987 season apparently - but the Broncos came into the comp in '88 and they ended up committing there

When Fulton went to Manly, Kerry wanted Wally Lewis and Gene Miles at Manly. "I walked into Kerry's office with Gene and I still remember the size of his hand and the handshake he gave me," Lewis said.

"He put his feet up on the desk and had a ciggy in his mouth and just said, 'How much do you want, son?' I told him that's not how I was used to negotiating and he just said, 'You are in my office now and that's how I do business'.

"He said he wanted to negotiate with me and Gene separately and we both ended up doing deals — signed off to play with Manly — but then Doug Daley said he couldn't tell the other players we were getting as much as we were. Plus we had a agreement with Ron McAuliffe that if he could match the deals we would stay in Brisbane. They matched half of what we really agreed to and we had to stay. But I'll never forget that."

https://www.couriermail.com.au/spor...n/news-story/4503cbc766d657c9bac42b9c4c38b321

https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...s/news-story/1e6bb27f40736418917c5f1911299b68
 
Sounds like a close game against the Saints for our Blacktown boys last weekend. Does anyone know how old mate Tony went?
 
Thanks Global.

Pretty impressive stats for a first up game....20 tackles with only 2 misses......115 metres....5 tackle busts. Interesting to see how he moves forward from here. 30 years of age so theoretically a few years left for a big fella. Wonder if he is angry and aggressive these older days?? Still waiting to see this!!
 
It looks like des has had him in mind all along. The bench is pretty much missing his type of impact and most weeks you could play him for 20 mins with the current bench rotation.

Its a 50 / 50 but if it came off , the upside could be enormous. In reality , we only want 10 - 12 weeks of good footy from him . And the man has some skills. I wonder where his head is. He is the type of player Des gets from other clubs and gets them up, but des hasnt been able to keep rex firing for long periods of time under his tenure. If rex is ready mentally at 30 to step up he just be anything. He must know this is his last jersey

On a few of those old supporters tours i had a few chats with rex. He was a really decent guy. Faaaaarkk i hadnt grown up at 30,

Funnily in the scheme of the things. The players are under enormous scrutiny in public but im sure they thought the supporters tours had a far worse drinking culture than any footy team could have, with average age well above there own. Go figure

I do remember a few players asking a few dudes to come back when the conquer english . Funny as
 
Yes I agree. Could be a major wildcard off the bench heading into the semi's this years. Time will tell....older and limited time now left for him in NRL so who knows what we will get. I think we got a hell of a good bench anyway particularly with Waddell back but Trex is another dimension altogether. Just love to see the guy play angry and aggressive at some point before he retires. Maybe bring Les Boyd back to slap him around a few times b4 he goes onto the field!!!
 
Sure that if T Rex is prepared to have a serious go and play to his strengths fully fit , can not see why he can not come into calculation then as a viable depth option . Always had something worthwhile to offer if he got his act together with some decent coaching guidance thrown in also .
 
Team P W L PD Pts
3 3 0 48 6
3 2 1 45 4
3 2 1 28 4
3 2 1 22 4
3 2 1 15 4
3 2 1 14 4
2 1 1 13 4
3 2 1 10 4
2 1 1 6 4
3 2 1 -3 4
3 1 2 0 2
3 1 2 -5 2
3 1 2 -15 2
3 1 2 -22 2
3 1 2 -36 2
2 0 2 -56 2
3 0 3 -64 0
Back
Top Bottom