rocky elsom and wycliff palu were basically nrl reserve graders who were pushed out from their clubs because they had no future in RL

they readily got a S14 contract and then played for the wallabies

heck elsom has even captained them

failed nrl player = wallaby captain!

good call on ridge he was a fantastic convert

since you dont know much about the nrl ill help you

elsom was told by his clubs the dogs to forget about RL, and that union was his sport

his body was totally unsuited to RL and they told him to go back to union where he captained his country

palu was another convert to RL who came over fat and slow and after 1 offseason with the dragons we got him into shape

he failed to crack first grade and the waratahs offered him better money, clearly he had no future in the NRL

the waratahs coach even praised the dragons for getting him fit

its not surprising 2 failed NRL players make the highest level in union

pretty much all our stars went to union and made a massive impact straight away

to be expected given our training systems

Elsom played league on the weekend for Noosa Pirates

Jonathon Davies did so much for RL it was riduculus. The guy didn't shine as much for Cardiff as he did for widnes, then he went to a very poorwire and nearly scared Wigan in93-4, but to top, remember that try at wembely, when we were a man down and we as a nation needed some magic...... It didn't come from betts, joynt, Farrell, Connolly, steadman,.... It took a former RU player to get around the best full back at the time....,, (which offiah couldn't do)....(mullens) and prob one of the greatest try's in a GB shirt scored at wembley....... Say what u want at RU. But some of thier greatest players came from league and some of our greatest players came from RU

Lewis Jones still holds the record for points scored for Leeds, from a time where the try was worth 3. That tells you a little about the great man.

David Watkins
Martin Offiah
Tom Van Vollenhoven
Jonathan Davies
Billy Boston
Keith Fielding
Maurice Richards
Brian Jefferson
Garfield Owen
Colin Evans
Terry O'Brian
Les Thomas
Stuart Gallagher

and loads more who have been involved with "The Greatest Game" over the years after moving from union.

While he is remembered mostly for his goal kicking, Frano Botica was a pretty decent all round player

Watching Wigan as a younger man, Inga Tuigamala was impressive once his fitness was right for RL and of course Offiah speaks for himself

Speaking for my own club there are obvious calls for Offiah and Davies but also worth a mention are Emosi Koloto, Alan Tait and to a lesser extent John Devereux - Paul Moriarty, also made Great Britain representation.

Ray French didn't do too badly either!

Along similar lines to Wally Lewis, Tony Myler and Dave Myers (rest his soul) were picked up from local RU.

At Hull fc we've had Clive Sullivan , Roy Francis , Gary Pearce , Mark Jones, Tommy Harris . We nearly had Scott Gibbs but he went to Saints instead.

Mybe people need to go back and look at their clubs history.

RL clubs are full of Ex RU players.

At Huddersfield we have the following all of whom are in the top 100 greatest Huddersfield players. The ones marked with a star i would regard as Huddersfield Legends.

Jock Anderson
Len Bowkett *
Aidan Breen
John Daly
Jim Davies *
W Davies

Alex Fiddes* 467 appearances
Alistair Ford
Bill Griffin
Ben Gronow * 395 appearances GB player on eof the best
Peter Henderson

Billy Johnson
Dennis Maden
Gwyn Richards
Johhny Rogers
Fred Talbot
Dave Valentine* GB captain etc
Rob Valentine
Richard Wallace

Nearly 20% of Huddersfield greats were ex RU players.

Many others have played RU at various times I am sure that the same is true of all RL teams.

Go back and look at your clubs histories especially between 1920 to 1960 and it will be full of RU converts from Scotland and Wales.

As a young lad watching great centres like Deano, Gene Miles and Gary Connolly at Wigan, and playing centre for a couple of local junior sides, I was actually in awe of Scott Gibbs at Saints. There's been loads of great Union converts, but he was quite different to most that made the switch - a really exciting player to watch.

Also worth a mention, simply for his time at the very top in both codes, is Brad Thorn. Maximum respect to anyone that can play League at the highest level, go do the same in Union (albeit for the All Blacks, having represented the Kangaroos), then switch back to League, and finally back to Union again; collecting rep honours practically every year and winning Premierships (at least with the Broncos, if not in RU).

Can't forget Darryl Griff either - Was RU through and through before he played his first game of League in our junior side at Oxford Cavaliers; now an England international.