Throughout the wilderness years in the National Leagues we had a lot of good players come & go. Stan, Wilkin & Raleigh got their chance in Super League, but what of the others? With full-time training, better coaching & better players around them could any of them have developed into SL players? Some suggestions…

Garry Brown awesome attacking player
Richard Oliver blistering speed, just never fit
Alasdair McClarron deserved better players around him
John Okul looked better than Stan to start with, just never fit
Whetu Taewa deserved better players around him
Paul Mannson made the game look so easy
Gary Chatfield heaps of ability, just couldn’t harness it
Neil Wardrobe see above
Alex Thompson best prop we had in National Leagues
Jon Aston outstanding before his accident
Paul Fletcher obviously
Rob Wilson great pairing with Fletch
Adrian Rainey destructive runner, pity we couldn't have kept him longer
Andy Smith tackling machine

Whetu had "made" it long before he came to Rovers, played for Auckland Warriors, New Zealand and Sheffield in SL (along with CC cup winners medal)..

Seb Martins another guy who's made it.

Most of those players listed played top flight rugby either with Rovers or other clubs. Indeed as stated, Whetu was an international centre. I reckon they would be a bit upset to be told they hadnt "made it"!

Ali Mac I dont think would have made it in the top flight to be honest, his speed was awsome to watch but remembering the players he was playing against hardly surprising that he took so many long range tries. Put him in the SL as he was then I think he would be found out of position a fair amount.

Oh and Jon Aston didnt have an accident it was a tad bit more aggressive than that!!! But yes he never did come back as the same player but I'm sure he was just glad to be back!

Andy Thompson

Agree with you there Trace, great player. one of my favourites in his day.

a player who i thought was very good in his short time with us was former parramatta player aidrian "rainman" rayney he played 2nd row he looked very good left us to join cas on loan for the SL play offs dont think he settled over here

Was ordinary beyond belief, would never have got anywhere near a SL side.

I agree! Workhorse and never took a backward step, but not a quality player.

Richard Smith - quick with the ball and looked equally comfortable on the wing or at FB.

Byron Ford should have.
Bob Everitt maybe.

One player I always thought was a bit overrated was Chris Charles.

Wildmoose wrote:Throughout the wilderness years in the National Leagues we had a lot of good players come & go. Stan, Wilkin & Raleigh got their chance in Super League, but what of the others? With full-time training, better coaching & better players around them could any of them have developed into SL players? Some suggestions…

Garry Brown -did he play top flight rugby? I did nt think so
Richard Oliver -thought he only played for us in lower league
Alasdair McClarron - never played in top flight
John Okul -did in Oz, after injury the rest is history
Whetu Taewa -made it
Paul Mannson -most of career in lower leagues
Gary Chatfield-yes played for us in top flight, not for long
Neil Wardrobe
Alex Thompson - crap
Jon Aston -top flight with hull, us in the lower leagues
Paul Fletcher -legend
Rob Wilson -most of career in lower league
Adrian Rainey -cant remember him
Andy Smith never played top flight.

Going from my hazy memory. Maybe the Oracle RBA can prove me wrong?!!

It depends what 'made it' means. Rovers had a lot of players play for us for a short period of time, and just because it was a handful of games in the top division I would not say that was 'making it'.

Oh yeah, sorry, forgot he was with Fax.

Remember him going 70-80 metres at Wakefield about '98, class try.