Craig Innes if i remember rightly he had just played in the RU World cup and he was a highly thought of ALL Black

He was a top centre and could have become a great player for leeds if he had not walked out of the club to go to Manley , always felt robbed not seeing him develop into a top RL player

Biggest signings are Peacock, Hanley, Harris, Lauitiiti, Schofield.

I always think the significance of Keith Senior's signing and his contribution to our success gets overlooked. He was the best British centre in the competition for over a decade and amongst the best in the world in the early to mid 2000s.

Probably came to Leeds eventually

In terms of groundbreaking then signing Mullins and Clyde in the same off-season must be up there! Granted Mullins was a total bust and Clyde a partial bust but at the time they signed it was a big deal.

Going back a bit further that period of cliff Lyons, ET and Sam Backo was pretty special both on paper and on the pitch.

Backo was a great signing on paper , on the pitch for us he was Garbage !

Ha, I knew someone would slate him. Agree he didn't have the impact we had hoped. He will always stay with me for that try he scored where he seemed to drag half the team over the line.

Only telling the truth , he came with a great reputation , he scored a try in each of the three test matches against G.B IN Australia . I think the try you were on about was in the Yorkshire cup semi ? maybe against Hull ?

Peter Jackson


THREE THAT SIGNED WHO WENT WELL WITHOUT THE HYPE

Mark McGAW
Terry Webb
Mark Laurie

I'd say it was, because he & Paul Caddick same the club from near certain oblivion.

Remember John Gallagher, making the headlines in most national news papers and the national news headlines, regardless of how it turned out, in terms of impact it shook the Rugby world, think it gave the Southern Hemisphere and NZ RU a real chill down the spine as they where not used to their sham amateur players being poached and where not too bothered when league was raiding and weakening South Wales and some extent England and Australia.

Ellis was a big signing, in terms of the up and coming hot property, as you say, leeds and bradford, and Warrington were linked to him, we'd obviously spent a huge amount on gleeson a few months earlier, so were getting thrown into contention.

i was in norway for xmas and got more than a few disapointed texts from friends when it was announced he'd signed for leeds.

Amazing player, easy to admire from the away terrace.

I would include Fleary, Farrell and Powell in there, as players that made a difference though not considered big signings.

terry newton r.i.p

In my time the top 10 that made me instantly think "Wow!" are Grothe, Schofield, Gallagher, Hanley, Harris, Senior, Clyde, Mullins, Peacock, Buderus. Shame that Clyde was always injured, briefly showed what he could do in that fantastic Challenge Cup quarter final win at Hull and I don't think he lacked for effort (unlike Mullins).
Others such as Innes, Lauitiiti and Webb were exciting but I couldn't pretend that I knew all about them BEFORE they signed for us.
If we were talking about any club then Wakey signing Wally Lewis still beggers belief.