I actually think the Storm's 'big three' are, as individuals, overrated. Don't get me wrong, none of them are out of place in the Australian and Queensland teams; they are all outstanding players. But I believe the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, with respect to the Melbourne, Queensland and Australian spine. They have all had the support of each other throughout most of their careers.
The three of them actually have weaknesses in their games that guys like Hayne and Inglis really don't have. Smith has a limited running game - he is actually pretty slow. Cronk lacks creativity, and Slater is error prone. All three of them lack size.
But the only time a club gets to start from scratch is when they are first entering a competition (or re-entering, in the case of Manly and Souths). So every signing a club makes is in the context of the players already at the club. We signed Ryan because we needed an edge back rower and he was one of the few that was available. His price was what it was and we were in no position to say No Thanks. He was better than what we had, especially in defence. Anyway, $225k is average first grader's money. Ryan was worth slightly less (although he excelled in NSW Cup and had a few good games in the NRL), but we would have gotten him for peanuts in that first season.
The point is, we had to sign Ryan (or a player like him, e.g. Harrison) because we had no kids in the lower grades ready to step up. Now that Tanginoa and Edwards have emerged we've been able to let Ryan move to the UK.
