Soward ... meh
Morris was out
I hate Soward. He's a whiney little b*tch who is so hot and cold depending on his confidence and depending on how the team is playing. But you cannot deny that in 2010 he was excellent - he and Hornby made an excellent halves pairing. That team under Wayne Bennett's tutelage exceeded all expectations to go from a pretty average team on paper to one of the best defensive units in modern history, as well has having quite potent attack, in part thanks to Soward.
Don't even try to pretend you wish he wasn't in Rooster colours when all you had was that hack Pearce. And while I don't like him, Soward definitely had the last laugh after that Premiership win.
And for Melbourne:
1. Aiden Tolman - excellent prop, surprised he hasn't played Origin yet...sad to see him go, has a huge future ahead.
2. Michael Crocker - the heart and soul of our side 06-08. An inspiration, as well as out good luck charm - iirc he won about 92% of the games he played with us? We didn't lose when he was on board.
3. Tawera Nikau - needs no lengthy explanation. He was responsible for that second half in the 1999 premiership. A true NZRL legend.
4. Jeremy Smith - our iron man. No surprises Wayne wants him at Newcastle - he makes their pack pretty intimidating now.
Like LESStar, I can't think of any more than 4. We've lost a few others, but I can't really list them as huge losses:
1. Greg Inglis - yes, he's a fine player, in fact top 5 right now. But the game as a whole is better off with him elsewhere. At Melbourne, stuck at 5-8 (and to a lesser extent centre) he just wasn't that great. It's good to see him play well at fullback now...except against us!
2. Israel Folau - at the time quite disappointed - youngest Aussie rep, and seemed like a genuinely good guy. But now we've learnt he has no loyalty. First he ditches Melbourne for Brisbane for family reasons - what happened to the family when he went to GWS? Then ditched GWS for the chance to play with Parra, but then ditches them for big money in Union. Glad to see him gone.
3. Dallas Johnson - played with so much heart, and tackled very hard....but can't help to think that we aren't missing out on very much with Hinchcliffe at lock?