Boredom buster

Have seen this going around so thought I’d chuck it on here too

Name your favourite player from each club. Be it any era of your life time.
Just follow my lead.

Brisbane Broncos : Steve Renouf

Canberra Raiders : Brett Mullins

Canterbury Bulldogs : Mark O’Meley

Cronulla Sharks : Andrew Ettingshausen

Eastern suburbs/Sydney City: Brad Fittler

Gold coast Titans: Preston Campbell

Manly Warringah Sea Eagles : Cliff Lyons

Melbourne Storm : Glenn Lazarus

Newcastle knights : Andrew Johns

North Queensland cowboys : Matt Bowen

New Zealand Warriors : Stacey Jones

Parramatta Eels : Jamie Lyon

Penrith Panthers : Mark Geyer

South Sydney Rabbitohs: Sam Burgess

St George dragons : Mark Gasnier

West Tigers : Benji Marshall

And if you go back far enough

Illawarra Steelers : Rod Wishart

Balmain Tigers : Paul Sironen

West’s Magpies : David Gillespie

North Sydney Bears : Mario Fenech

 

Brisbane Broncos : Tonie Carroll

Canberra Raiders : Ruben Wiki

Canterbury Bulldogs : Sonny Bill Williams

Cronulla Sharks : Preston Campbell

Eastern suburbs/Sydney City: Adrian Morley

Gold coast Titans: Kevin Gordon

Manly Warringah Sea Eagles : Ben Kennedy

Melbourne Storm : Marcus Bai

Newcastle knights : Timana Tahu

North Queensland cowboys : Matt Bowen

New Zealand Warriors : Iafeta Paleasina

Parramatta Eels : Fui Fui Moi Moi

Penrith Panthers : Tony Puletua

South Sydney Rabbitohs: Greg Inglis

St George dragons : Nathan Blacklock

West Tigers : Benji Marshall

 

I recall when Tallis gave that brutal, over the top, hiding to that Penrith player it was Puletua who stopped him. Either Tallis was all punched-out or he simply wasn't having a go at Tony.

As for my favourites, they are strictly 'of the time'. For example, as the years have passed, I think Whizz Freeman was a dirty player. I still like him though.

Brisbane Broncos: Paul Hauff

Canberra Raiders: Brent Todd

Canterbury Bulldogs: Jarrod McCraken

Cronulla Sharks: Kurt Sorenson

Eastern Suburbs/Sydney City: Gavin Miller

Gold Coast Titans: Brent Todd

Manly Warringah Sea Eagles: Hoppa

Melbourne Storm: Glenn Lazarus

Newcastle Knights: Sam Stewart

North Queensland Cowboys: Jake Granville

North Sydney Bears: Mark Graham

New Zealand Warriors: It has to be Manu.

Parramatta Eels: Eric Grothe Sr.

Penrith Panthers: Mark Geyer

South Sydney Rabbitohs: Craig Coleman

St George Dragons: Rod Wishart

Wests Tigers: Gary Freeman

I treated merged clubs, and replacement clubs (i.e. the Gold Coast), as one and the same.

Any Kiwi rated highly back in the day! Hence 'Toddy' at the Raiders and Gold Coast.

 

The defunct clubs of the modern (NRL/Super League) era:

Western Reds.
South Queensland Crushers
Hunter Mariners.

Any more?

 

Adelaide Rams

 

Brisbane Broncos : Steve Renouf

Canberra Raiders : Noa Nadruku

Canterbury Bulldogs : Daryl Brohman

Cronulla Sharks : Kurt Sorensen

Eastern suburbs/Sydney City: Roger Tuivasa Sheck

Gold coast Titans: David Mead

Manly Warringah Sea Eagles : Craig Innes

Melbourne Storm : Marcus Bai

Newcastle knights : Paul Harragon

North Queensland cowboys : Matt Bowen

New Zealand Warriors : Ali

Parramatta Eels : Eric Grothe Sr

Penrith Panthers : Brad Fittler

South Sydney Rabbitohs: Mario Fenech

St George dragons : Nathan Blacklock

West Tigers : Benji Marshall

 

Some good names being thrown around so far, seems like plenty of names from the glory days of the Winfield Cup

 

Re Graham at Norths. He left in '88 to play in the UK. That was unfortunate, for him, the club and Kiwi league fans.

Norths were outstanding during that superb Winfield Cup Era, late-80s/early-90s. Not only would Graham have played finals but he might've been the difference for Norths, who never quite made a GF during that time.

 

We can add North Sydney too, and tecnically, the Northern Eagles. I worked at North Sydney Oval (NSO) during their last year or two in first grade. Small crowds, poor results, a merger with Manly a sure thing.

In hindsight, I should've taken some photos of those Bears' last days. NSO was a great ground, both in day and night.

I was a casual GC fan throughout all those years of failure and rebranding. King Wally was there in '92, for that Seagulls launch. As was Rowdy Shearer. Two Maroons legends.

I'm going to look at the Adelaide Rams roster now, I'm intrigued.

 

There is a classic clip of Tony Iro running 40m backwards to run out the clock in a game

 

Brisbane Broncos : Glenn Lazarus

Canberra Raiders : Brad Clyde

Canterbury Bulldogs : Paul Langmack David Gillespie

Cronulla Sharks : Gavin MIller

Eastern suburbs/Sydney City: Bryan Fletcher

Gold coast Titans: Preston Campbell

Manly Warringah Sea Eagles : Ian Roberts/Michael O’Connor

Melbourne Storm : Scott Hill

Newcastle knights : Paul Harrigan

North Queensland cowboys : Matt Bowen

New Zealand Warriors : Steve Price

Parramatta Eels : Brett Kenny/Peter Sterling

Penrith Panthers : Mark Geyer/John Cartwright

South Sydney Rabbitohs: Mario Fenech/Les Davidson

St George dragons : Mark Gasnier /Paul McGregor

West Tigers : Robbie Farah



Illawarra Steelers : Paul McGregor, Brett Rodwell

Balmain Tigers : Paul Sironen/Steve Roach

West’s Magpies : Steve Kearney

North Sydney Bears : David Fairleigh/Gary Larson

 

Every time I read someone else's reply I often think to myself, 'maybe that player was my favourite, not the one I picked?'

Price at the Warriors, for example. What a champion pick-up for us. I'm so glad he had crackingly good years there.

 

I tried to stick to 1, but couldn’t... not having Stacey, Mannering, Luck, Campion, Ali, Etc for the Warriors was weird, but I loved everything about Price, he was a champion in every sense

 

that early 90s Bears team was terrific, Fenech, Fairleigh, Larson, Moore, Florimo etc... just Penrith and Canberra, then Brisbane had a bit extra. Same with late 80s Souths, Fenech, Davidson, Boyle, Andrews, Roberts, Chisholm Colman, Blake... and the Dogs of War my favourite era tbh

At full strength, something like Boyle, Fenech, Roberts, Chisholm, Davidson, Andrews... what a pack... bit then the Dogs had Kelly, hooker?, Tunks, Dunn, Gillespie and Langmack

Always loved Perith though, perennial losers the signing Dunn, Clarke, Kelly and Mortimer to mentor their brilliant juniors. Geyer was a monster until the Ben Alexander tragedy

 

Agree, agree, agree. There was a sort of non-de script-looking winger for Norths at that time, average height and build, brown hair, wispy mustache. Beave has mentioned him a couple of times in the recent past. He was scoring tries at an alarming rate for the opposition.

I can't help but make a direct comparison between Penrith's 1992 season and the Warriors' 2009. Both sides had outstanding seasons before, only to fade badly the following year. The key would be the tragic deaths of the young stars, Ben Alexander and Sonny Fai.

Incidentally, I drove through the suburban intersection where the former died, every day for a year. I was just on my way to Mt Druitt TAFE (Polytech). There's a small plaque there but I never got close enough to find out who had died there. Only later, when I did some morbid research, did I realise that was the scene of the accident.

 

David Hall would be the man you’re thinking of. Sad the Bears aren’t there anymore, they were the first footy jersey I got while at primary school. Unbelievable that they went back to back in 1921 and 1922 and never made another grand final. So many might have beens as well, think it was 1991 when Halligan kicked 0/5 and they got bundled out, and 1997 as well when Seers was in the clear to seal the game and Albert got him a few metres out. 1 of my favourite club game memories is Taylor knocking over a drop goal to end Brisbane’s reign in 94

Going through the garage the last few days came across a DVD of “Big League, the Winfield Cup years” and also a 1991 year in review, keen to throw both of those in the player during the lockdown