adrenalinxx posted: Who has been the worst wigan signing that you can remember and why, as I can't remember very far back I shall have to put the name David Vaealiki forward.
He came to Wigan with alot of hype around him and so far has delivered nothing, he is probably one of the worst tacklers in the Wigan squad and lacks creativity in attack. Even when people said he improved at the end of last season he was very far from the World Class centre Wigan were promised and he must be the softest Kiwi in the world.
Tony mestrov pure rubbish and Luke Davico { not his fault in fairness }
Mestrov was a work horse, he was never spectacular. He did have his best days at London though. I wouldn't say he was rubbish for us, he just did his thing quietly without setting the world on fire.
Also one more name for the pot, Brett Goldspink. I had mixed feelings on this guy, he had potential, when he got some aggresion and ran hard he was quite effective, however it rarely happened.
Wasn't JR responsible for signing Doc Murry's compadre Paul Koloi?
Dave
I always thought that we signed Koloi on the basis of an Andy Farrell recommendation after he had seen him playing for Fiji in the World Sevens that Wigan won some years ago in the good old days when we could win everything we entered, abit like Stains now, Boo Hoo.
Regarder une fille en bikini, c'est comme avoir un revolver chargé sur sa table:
Il n'y a rien de mal a ça mais il est difficile de penser à autre chose.
My only recollection, if I remember correctly was him playing as a sub against Leeds at Central Park.
He played a few minutes before limping off, can't remember anything else about him after that.
i remember when we played in canberra in world club championships in 97 (i think) when they kicked off and shem tatupu made a right mess up of it and they scored .
doc murray, brett goldspink, brady malam, paul koloi was all bad.
I must admit I beleive Dave "DOC" Murray to be the worst signing I've seen. I took a look around the internet and found this cutting from This is Lancashire from 18 March 1997.
WIGAN'S new boy Dave 'Doc' Murray found the opening Super League clash a baptism of fire.
The former Auckland Warrior moved to Central Park just before Christmas but although he played in five pre-season friendlies Sunday's clash against the Blue Sox, when Wigan scraped home 20-18, was his first competitive match.
"It was a great game to play in but it was very physical. I thought it would be much more open," confessed the 24 year old full-back. "I thought it was hard playing reserve grade in Australia but this was much harder. The Halifax players were very strong and I certainly felt some of their tackles."
adrenalinxx posted: Who has been the worst wigan signing that you can remember and why, as I can't remember very far back I shall have to put the name David Vaealiki forward.
He came to Wigan with alot of hype around him and so far has delivered nothing, he is probably one of the worst tacklers in the Wigan squad and lacks creativity in attack. Even when people said he improved at the end of last season he was very far from the World Class centre Wigan were promised and he must be the softest Kiwi in the world.
Tony mestrov pure rubbish and Luke Davico { not his fault in fairness }
Mestrov was a work horse, he was never spectacular. He did have his best days at London though. I wouldn't say he was rubbish for us, he just did his thing quietly without setting the world on fire.
Also one more name for the pot, Brett Goldspink. I had mixed feelings on this guy, he had potential, when he got some aggresion and ran hard he was quite effective, however it rarely happened.
I'd agree with your assessment of Mestrov, we've had a few similar players in recent years such as Francis Stephensen, even perhaps Danny Sculthorpe, who are solid but ultimately nothing particularly special.
With respect to Brett Goldspink, and Brady Malam for that matter, I remember that they both improved once it was announced that they were not going to be retained for the following season. A case of the two of them only being interested in the money until it came round to being time for them to try and attract a new club? But for most of their respective seasons, they were terrible, and it showed just how much we had come to rely on the likes of O'Connor and Cowie in the front row.
"You rescue me, you are my faith, my hope, my liberty.
And when there's darkness all around, you shine bright for me, you are a guiding light to me....
You are a Tower of Strength to me" - Wayne Hussey, The Mission.
Shepherd's Bush Empire - 27/Feb/08 - 1/Mar/08
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Hey no dissing the Rocket. That stint he had in the first team was one of my all time memories. Rocket got cheered more than any great and did score some tries albeit in an awesome team.
Stopp was fragile in build but had a nice step. Went to Keighley I think and then whom knows.
Haydock Warrior posted:
Anyone remember Andre Stoop? How about Ronnie Braithwaite, the crowd always willing him to score, only to be disappointed !!!
Stoop had the same problem as Mordt and Louw - signed too late, otherwise all three could have made excellent players. Ray Mordt was probably the best of the 3, and had he signed 5 years earlier would have been a world beater. Phenomenally strong, and naturally very quick, he could have been another Boston.
lucky 13 posted:
:conf: does anyone remember a kiwi winger played in lancs cup with zipzip ella against wire 86 i think only played that game gary henley smith or somthing ces mountford old wigan player was his uncle?????????????
Gary Henley-Smith was a New Zealander who signed for us off the back of a career in athletics. At the time he held the NZ records for the 100 and 200 metres. He played a few games, and was extremely quick, but was never a rugby player. (He had played a bit of lower level kick and clap in NZ though).Anyway, we unloaded him to London, who were still Fulham I think, and I don't know what became of him after that.
Gary Henley-Smith's claim to fame was that he was almost hit by a part falling from an overhead jumbo jet while playing for Fulham at Chiswick :exc:
For me, the worst has to be either Doc Murray or By the eckie. Does anyone remember Wayne Elvin? - he was one of the most unfit looking Wigan players.
In response to an earlier post on this thread, IMO Scott 'Foo' Quinnell was just looking the part when Wigan got shut - he had great ball handling for such a big player. The story goes that his dad, Derek, pleaded with Jack Robbie not to release him to RU because he wanted to repay the faith that Wigan had shown in him.
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