The Black Pearl

[Bobby DIGital]

We saw ellery outside the ground in Huddersfield a couple of year's back
The man is still a complete axe ... his handshake could pulverise gold bullion
An absolute legend

I saw Ellery up close in 2006 at the NZ Vs GB game in Wellington. His shoulders are massive. He looked like the black Vince McMahon walkin in a cool suit.

Awesome player, and he would be in my all time greatest team. He simply had it all. It's amazing he actually coached GB in 94, then continued playing footy all the way until 97 with the Tigers.

Offiah is the greatest winger of all-time btw. I like the yardie players.

 

[nadera78]

Ellery Hanley was quite simply the best player I've ever seen in Rugby League. The guy was an absolute freak. He had everything you could wish for in a player, a complete all-round game.

Off the field he has always had a poor reputation. From my point of view it's probably that he knew what he was capable of and exactly what he put into his training, and he expected everyone else to do the same. If you tried your best, and worked as hard as you could then great, Hanly would respect you for it and work with you. But if he thought you were coasting along, and not giving it 100%, then he had no time for you. And he was certainly blunt about it.

 

[Brutus]

Hanley's only drawback was the fact he was only dangerous when running to the right side of the field. Had no left foot step and was reduced to a mere mortal by good defences who forced him to play on the other side of the field.

Great player though.

 

[Mr Angry]

Hanley was an awesome player.

Farrar helped Lamb quite a bit in the rub out.

 

[dallymessenger]

Which player was called "the Black pearl"?

Simple qestion, was he any good.

ellery hanley was the original, then steve renouf

ellery was voted recently their (GB) best RL player ever i think

his best footy was at balmain

in 1988 he pretty much got them to the GF with a great solo try vs cronulla

he was then taken out in a cheap shot by terry lamb in the GF to kill off the tigers chances

 

[dallymessenger]

would you say that Ellery Hanley was better than Martin Offiah?

Also, as you know, the best 30 players of the last 30 years in the Australian Rugby League competition (1978-2008) was released not so long ago. I know Hanley did play a bit in Australia, but if he did play his whole career in Australia, where abouts do you think he'd rank in the top 30 list?

yep hanley over chariots

 

[brook]

in 1988 he pretty much got them to the GF with a great solo try vs cronulla

he was then taken out in a cheap shot by terry lamb in the GF to kill off the tigers chances

Not just that game either - Balmain looked no chance at all of making the finals when he joined us in 88 and we proceeded to only lose two game from that time on (one of those being the grand final).

Easily one of the best players I've ever seen

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

Offiah couldn't tackle for sh*t, sometimes he looked scared, that's why he ran so fast.

 

[Mr Saab]

Offiah couldn't tackle for sh*t, sometimes he looked scared, that's why he ran so fast.

Definately...I remember on the 1994 Roo tour he made a run up and saw Sironen and he threw the ball away like it was "kill the dill with the pill".
Where as someone like Jason Robinson in the same series ran it up without fear.
Offiah was a black Shane Whearet...no more no less.

 

[CAS]

Sometimes the mark of a Great Player is by how Much the Opposition would try to take them out.

Hanley used to be targetted with Cheap Shots every Games, i have seen him coming off the Pitch with the Shirt Literally ripped off his Back, he didnt have the Natural Ability of an Andrew Johns, but the Guy was a Freak when it came to sheer Toughness and presence on the Pitch.

The biggest Compliment i can pay him as a Pom, is that over the last 30 years there a few if any Englishmen, the Aussies really feared, and he was at the top of that Short List.

 

[Mr_Ugly]

lol, talk about underselling a player

If Offiah was merely fast, he would've been Shane Whereat or Lee Oudenryn or Matthew Rieck. There are always plenty of speedsters around who are sh*t.

Offiah wasn't one of them. He was the best try-scorer of the modern era. Speed, balance, footwork, the vision to run the right lines, etc. He was one of the all-time great ball-runners, not just fast.

Don't agree (obviously).

To be fair to the bloke, my main exposure to him was at international level, but he was always a passenger there IMO.

Didn't rate him at all. All the press about him at the time was that he was almost fast enough for the olympics, and I thought he was a one trick pony in that respect.

I always found him lacklustre in attack, generally only doing something when it was created for him. They say there's nowhere to hide on a league field, but he always managed to find somewhere in defence too.

He was always the only pommie with a clean white jumper at the end of 80 mins.

And you're right, we wan't an Oudenryan - Oudenryan proved that over 100m (at Parra?) that time.

 

[Mr_Ugly]

Definately...I remember on the 1994 Roo tour he made a run up and saw Sironen and he threw the ball away like it was "kill the dill with the pill".
Where as someone like Jason Robinson in the same series ran it up without fear.
Offiah was a black Shane Whearet...no more no less.

Jason Robinson ... now there was a quality player!

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

Jason Robinson ... now there was a quality player!

True, but what did he achieve Vs the Kangaroos?

 

[Mr_Ugly]

A very damaging player in attack, both for GB and Wales. Nothing wrong with his defence either from memory.

Was a stand out in the backs - I'm sure I can recall him putting on a few pork pies against us. Would be interesting to see the stats.

 

[In-goal]

Terry Lamb had his measure...

One of my best mates still thinks that Lamb and Gould should be banned from RL for life after that incident.

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

Robinson was good but even English fans were saying before he left he'd been found out, I remember him scoring some tries against us, but I don't know if he ever played in a winning team against the ROOS.

Yet the media always says he done everything in Rugby Union/League, but he never won an ashes, tri nations or a RLWC in RL.

 

[mightybears]

Hanley and Chariots can't be compared, obviously both did their best work in the UK.
Martin was a very quick very good winger, great to watch. Hanley could play everywhere bar prop if needed- but comparing him to Hanley is like a Lockyer v Sailor comparison, meaningless.

The reason Baa Baa is so loathed by Tiger fans, Hanley was the player that the tiges needed to fire during the last half of 1988 and he did, he lifted the [dare i say NOT BRILLANT] balmain backline [and M.Pobjie was a favourite because he gave hope to all that a non quick, defensive knuckle man with limited natural ability but lots of controlled agro could play first grade!] and they looked the business all the way in the final-up to the thugging-the lost promise.

 

[anjado]

Ellery Hanley was one of the greatest players ever and probably had the best fend ever. He carried Balmain's backline in 1988 in an attacking sense. If they had him in 1989 i have no doubts they would of won the comp, The guy was compared to Lewis and Sterling at the time which just about says it all really. He also did an outstanding job at a terrible Wests side.

Martin Offiah is the best try scoring winger since Ken Irvine really the guy scored over 500tries in his career. Played 3 seasons out here though in his last in 1993 he only played half a game. In his two half season stint's here 1989 with Easts and 1991 with St George he scored 20 tries in 26 games. He had 9 in 12 games for the Roosters in 1989 and 11 in 14 for St George in 1991 and neither of these teams were really in the hunt for the semi final's in these two seasons. If he played on the end of a better backline he would of had an even better record.

So you know the main criticism of of English players not coming out here and not proving themselves in Australia cannot be levelled at him. Calling him a black Shane Whearet is completely laughable the guy who probably most resembles Offiah in an attacking sense is probably someone like Rhys Wesser. Someone who has plenty of pace fantastic excelleration a great swerve. The only difference between the two is that Wesser is a fullback and nowhere near as consistent.

He also had a great test Series against Australia in 1992. In the first test he made 2 clean Ettingshausen stopped him both times though only just. Second test he scored the last try running straight past Ettingshausen from about 40 out. 3rd test he scored a 70 or 80 metre try.

Also in 1992 Great Britain toured New Zealand and he was awesome in that series too.

1990: He didn't do much but he got injured in the 2nd or 3rd test i think it might of been the 2nd test.

1994 : He didn't have much of a series but he was past his prime by this time and finished as an international footballer.

Jason Robinson was also a fantastic league player and always did well against Australia it was a big loss to see him go to union. He also never played for Wales i think the poster is confusing him with Alan Hunte or Johnathan Davies.

 

[Mr_Ugly]

He also never played for Wales i think the poster is confusing him with Alan Hunte or Johnathan Davies.

No - was definately thinking of Robinson. You're right, but I could have sworn he'd played for Wales, and always found it odd that he then played union for England. Must be going senile!:crazy: