his son is playing for redcliffe in the q cup outstanding fullback wont be long before he is playing nrl his dad played for us in the eighties i think

Signed from Parramatta for the 84/85 campaign. Hair to rival Eric Grothes and one of the most wicked sidesteps I've ever seen!!!

Great sidestep.

You could build a decent backline out of our ex-imports sons with Brett & Josh Morris and Eric Grothe Jnr. Any others?

Mark Brooke-Cowden's lad is playing yawnion in NZ at decent level. Not sure what position though.

Unheralded before his arrival but left a mark. Clever footballer to add to the outrageous step. Started on the wing but produced his best stuff from the full-back position while at Headingley.

Played 31, Tries 11, Points 44

Left wing wasn't it ? Surprised he scored so few. Did he make his debut with Grothe when it snowed ? Remember that but not much else: age is getting the better of me. Who did Hunt usurp at FB ? Do remember his outrageous sidestep (who couldn't)

Yes to the left wing. Neil Hunt made his Leeds debut just over two months ahead of his more illustrious Parramatta wing buddy. Grothe's Leeds debut was Hunt's 12th appearance for the Headingley outfit.



That season Wilkinson had shared the full-back role with Paul Gill until Hunt took over in his 19th appearance for Leeds and stayed there for the remainder.

The bizarre thing was that hunt signalled when he was going to side-step a mile off, and yet sometimes he cut through. IIRC (probably due to the beard) he and Grothe looked similar physically, but Hunt was nowhere near as fast.

The Eels backline of that era was amazing, and quite a few played in England - Grothe, Hunt, Ella, Kenny, Sterling plus the likes of Paul Taylor (Oldham IIRC). In fact I'm pretty sure you could make an 'all Parramatta' 1-7 who had played in England (even though a couple weren't regulars for them) by about 1985.

Paul Taylor was very unusual, that I can recall at least, in that he played full-back (on defence) - dummy-half (on attack) for Parramatta. It worked for them but that was under the innovative coaching guru that was the late, great Jack Gibson.

The one and only prominent member of that era's Parramatta back-line that didn't make it across for a club spell was Mick Cronin. Cronin was coming towards the end of his career though unlike the rest of that back-division. Would still have been great to see another Aussie 'Hall of Fame' legend turning out. It was the Beetson/Cronin (Parra team-mates) highshot incident in Origin 1 that brought meaning to the tagline 'State against State - Mate against Mate'

Without Cronin Origin would be the Aussie equivalent of our War of the Roses.

Fond memories of Neil Hunt. That sidestep was unbelievable