Yeah, I knew we registered an interest, but I heard that Cullen turned him down, wanted to much wages & Cull thought he was past his best...........which, he never did fully cope with the speed of League again after playing Union !!!

We also had the union winger on trial last season that never went anywhere
(sorry if it's been mentioned before)

Think that's a debatable point. The game had moved on and defences had smartened up so he couldn't dominate as an individual the way he did from 94-01. But he played some good rugby in a very strong Bradford side which won SL in 2005, and even in the next couple of years after that as they started to go into decline and he lost the big guns around him, he was still a decent player. When he was in the team they were still competitive, they have nosedived since he retired.

I think in fairness to Harris, when he went from league to union he realised he couldn't play the same game he was used to playing in league, and couldn't dominate as an individual, so he had to adapt, and he did, he became an effective RU player. Then when he came back to league, he realised again that he couldn't play his old league game in league any more either, so he had to adapt again, and he did, he became an effective RL player second time around. People say he was a disappointment in union and 2nd time round in league only because he was so dominant in league first time round. I would always give him credit, its like Sean Long, before he did his knee in 2001 when he was super quick, Long used to rip everyone to shreds, and he couldn't do that after the edge went off his pace, but he adapted to still be a very effective player for a long time.

There were other guys who we got in on trial and never played in the first team, eg Nicky Royle and Craig Calvert, both of them were supposed to be the fastest thing on legs and people said it doesn't matter if you can't tackle, if you've got pace, like they said about Penny. Hicks, Riley and Joel Monaghan were quick enough though, and proper wingers.

Agree with the speed bit, Buck. Harris had decent speed with us & Leeds, but looked like we was running through cold treacle, when he returned. A few too many pints of Brains SA and Clarke's Pies, I'll guess.
But Harris had never lost anything between his ears, when he came back to our game.

Let's cast our minds back to SL2007
We'd just beaten Wigan at Wigan, in the first game of the season, and, as usual with us lot, expectation was high.
Next game, Bradford at home (remember the game, Grose was NEVER obstructed at the end, but Pondlife Corner decided to pelt the ChuckleBrother lookalike linesman with beer bottles. DISGRACEFULL). We go in at halftime with a narrow margin lead, and Harris tore us another bottomhole in the second half, with a masterclass. All this, with the speed of a stalagtite

I remember the (intense, for rlfags standards) debate on here over this. It was when Lowes was destroying us, many of our fans were saying things like "Smith's shown himself to be average with England", etc., with many saying the old "must go British, Kear or Hanley", t'was fun.


Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Hodgson a player we were linked with and then signed? I think it was just before we signed King, there was heavy speculation we were after him but we went for King, then I think he was rumoured with Wigan. (Hodgson that is, as was King before we got him)

Any particular one?

Is he referring to the Leeds Tykes, formely Rhino's winger.. name also escapes me.

Few more-

Ben Cockyane
Zak Hardaker
John Steele
Martin Moana (several times if I remember right)
Jamie Peacock
Brent Webb

England rugby union international and Bristol fly half Paul Hull, took about 2-3 months to think over a contract with us then turned it down.

David Doherty?

Reading an old old Wires U net fan site, it notes Wigan's Lee Hansen, Terry OConnor, and Barrow's Brett McDermott were all too expensive back in 1998.

There are also several amusing reports of Mike Wainwright, Warren Stevens, and John Duffy being put on the transfer list - for money



Wainwright £75,000
Stevens £45,000
Duffy £35,000