Mark Dusher

I really thought Craig Calvert and Neil Turley could've lit the big league up, personally.
By the time Turley had a shot at Super League, injuries had taken their toll on him and he was already on his way out of the game, which I thought was a shame.

Rick Thackray. Looked like he had it all and represented GB Under 21s v Australia one freezing night in the 1980s at Craven Cottage.

Steve Maden.

I honestly thought he'd be a decent SL player. Maybe even Danny Helliwell too. Didn't he score a hattrick when Leigh bt Saints in like, one of the two games that they won that year.

Basil Richards.

henare

Paul Wingfield.

I'm not sure if he ever even played for the 1st team, maybe a few games. I'm sure the resident stattos will know.

Did he sing 'Saturday Night'.

Andy Brocklehurst played at saints then had a spell with us

He was a one hit wonder.

I don't remember him looking like this though, apologies it took me ages to unfold the page

played against Turley when he was at Leigh Rangers, talk about one man team ? Always thought he would be bigger if he'd left Leigh but credit to him for staying loyal to his home town club

He didn't fade away, but Richard Ross was destined for big things before a cruel injury ended his career.

Simon Haughton.

I remember the try he scored against Canterbury in the WCC in 97 when he went through about 4 or 5 defenders.

Not long after he just dissapeared.

yeah he played wing a few times in 97 due to our injury crisis, think he was released at the end of the season and played at leigh with their craig.

That 97 competition whilst being a bit of a farce, had a stack of young talent on show, especially from the Aussie side, there were some real crackers coming through. Hill, Kimmorley and Swain at Hunter Mariners, Gower at Penrith, Lockyer, De Vere and Carroll at Brisbane, Rogers and Dykes at Cronulla, Stacey Jones at Auckland, El Masri at the Bulldogs, all these guys were about 19 or 20 in that tournament, it was the start of a golden generation.

Despite all those the two upcoming Aussies who I thought were the best of the crop in that tournament were Russell Richardson at the Sharks and Andrew Dunemann at N Qld Cowboys. I thought Richardson going to be the Kangaroos centre for the next decade, I think he might have actually been about 24 or 25 at the time but he was one of those late starters who had only just come into first grade. Never quite hit the heights and just had a couple of Tests.

I never knew if it was true but I heard a rumour at a Squadbuilder meeting in 2002 that Plange was trying to sign Richardson for us.

From the English side, around that sort of time Nathan McAvoy was emerging at Salford, he looked like he was going to be the next Paul Newlove.

Ronnie Kettlewell

There's also the players that never really develop or fulfil their potential. Look great at 21/22 and no better by 26/27.

Paul rowley was another who just got to one level and stayed there..



plus when we sighned danny lima i thought he will be a belter..

You mean signed for Salford? The players graveyard?

Don't take this the wrong way but I think Paul Wood.
It's a shame that his career, thus far, has been blighted by injuries.

Bit harsh that, last year was his first to be ruined by injury. Every previous year he has played in the majority of matches. He wa unfortunate to get injured on his GB debut, but that was more bad timing than being "blighted".

I really, really admire loyalty in a person, but you have to wonder what heights Turley could've reached had he left his comfort zone of Leigh, where to be honest, he rarely had a bad game, because most of the opposition was beneath his personal level of quality and he was a points machine, so the fans would forgive the odd knock on.




I imagine Turley would've had a decent day job, too, in the Leigh area. It's a shame, though, because while you do have to go for financial security, Danny Brough took a pay cut from his job as a plumber to sign Pro terms and hasn't done too bad for himself within the game and I'm sure could forge a career post-Rugby either back in plumbing or in the coaching game.

Obviously, it depends if an offer was there and, if so, if it was beneficial in financial and developmental terms for the player; there wouldn't be any point, for instance, Turley leaving leigh in 2002 for Salford, who were struggling in SL and probably weren't into developing players as much as they were into survival in the top flight, but if a Castleford or a Hull had came in, perhaps you could argue that at the point in time, a move could've really kicked him on a few gears.

Mark Gleeson?

I really though Richardson would be a star, had it all; pace and great strength. Was it a knee injury that did him at Cronulla? He went to Souths had a few games, then completely fell off the radar.