Frano Botica was not a star name when he signed from Union.
He changed (won) a lot of games.

Juan - you seriously don't remember Jonathan Davies, Devereux, Bateman, Terry Holmes, Alan Tait, Craig Innes, John Gallagher, Scott Gibbs, Scott Quinnell et al? You don't remember them being high profile union players - far higher profile than Eastmond has yet in the general sporting consciousness? You don't remember these players joining RL from the mid-80s to mid-90s? Wow.

Jonathan Davies was WRU's golden boy at the time he signed for Widnes. Basically Sam Tomkins in reverse, except more people would have heard of Davies than know Tomkins due to the relative profiles of the sport. Did he bring thousands of extra fans to games wherrever he went? I don't remember that being the case.

38000 in 57 Rogues.There was also another big one in 1961 CC 1st round

Terry Holmes was a star and a good player but not in the game changer class IMO.

Jonathan Davies did have that class in abundance and joined Widnes as defending champions and helped them become the first official World Club Champions in his first year (88/89) and a second successive championship the following year won on the last game of the season in front of a capacity crowd. They also won the Premiership.

Yes Widnes did have financial problems resulting in the sale of 25 first teamers to balance the books but this was due to some poor management. The sale of Offiah to Wigan raised £440K which meant another star had contributed a huge positive effect. Offiah was another star with game changing abilities as many Leeds supporters will be able to testify.

Superstar Davies moved to Warrington and turned around the struggling club which had dwindling support until his arrival. In his first season he almost took them to the championship missing out on points difference. He was twice player of the season and also once Man of Steel. He also scored that memorable try in GB's last defeat of Australia at Wembley in 1994.

So Davies and Offiah proved for at least two clubs apiece their signings were not just a short term boost. In fact just the opposite as they boosted attendances, boosted results and displayed their world class skills to the delight of the supporters.

I agree this is no longer the era of players like Lewis Jones or Jonathan Davies or Martin Offiah and mores the pity. The world has moved on but not necessarily in the right direction. There simply are not the players of real class available to sign any more which is my point. I would agree that signing hyped up so called stars without the real class may only bring a temporary benefit.

Of course I remember these players and I mentioned Jonathan Davies twice in this thread as a real world class star. I have mentioned the positive effect he had on his teams performances, attendances and team success at to different clubs. I have also commented on John Gallagher and Terry Holmes. All of these and the others you mention were top star signings with great talent. I particularly liked Bateman but while all of these were oustanding players not all had that extra bit of world class talent that the likes of Jiffy Davies and LBJ had. But despite this I feel sure they more than balanced the books in their favour for the clubs they played for.

That last sentence is the bit that's wrong IMO. In terms of drawing crowds, I don't remember Gallagher bringing many through the gate at Leeds for example - never mind the fact he was in fact not that good over the medium term.

Just to ask again, as I would hope it is more relevant to your doubts. If potentially, real star players do not put extra numbers on the gate, why did Hanley have a clause in his Wigan and Leeds contracts, to have a share of the gate over a certain crowd level?

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