The best of the Exiles

The flight to Heathrow has been a well trodden path for Australian and New Zealand rugby league players. The Superannuation League has been a way to try the experience of living in a different country, do some travel around Europe and top up the bank account before the body caves in.

The alternate route has always been much rarer, but in the last few years it has been more popular, with forwards in particular being much more successful. In my lifetime of watching rugby league since the 1990s, Adrian Morely was the trail blazer for the forwards. His move to the Roosters in 2000 at just 23 years old was a big risk for him, but it paid off. He won a Grand Final and played as part of one of the best NRL squads of all time.

Since then we’ve seen a host of others try their luck too. A fair few of the forwards since 2000 have succeeded. Gareth Ellis was an NRLCEO workhorse favourite and had a productive three years in the NRL from 2009-12 before the pace of the game started to get away from him.

Ellis paved the way for a new generation which we now almost fondly call our own. Sam Burgess was not exactly a star signing for the Rabbitohs in 2010 but quickly made a big impression and had a huge influence on their premiership in 2014. The floodgates then opened with Luke Burgess coming in 2011, James Graham and George Burgess in 2012, Tom Burgess in 2013 and Mike Cooper in 2014. Sam has probably had a higher peak in 2014 but James Graham has been more consistent in his performances over the years. He’s also the NRLCEO MVP for 2016 so far which endears him to fantasy coaches more.

In the last two years we’ve now seen an even greater success story through the growth of Josh Hodgson. Even as a Raiders fan I didn’t have great expectations when we signed him, but now I couldn’t imagine our side without him. Throw in compatriot Elliott Whitehead and Ricky Stuart has used the Super League to his advantage.

It’s not all easy though. We’ve seen some duds come out in the forwards too. Remember the names Lee Mossop, Scott Moore, Ben Crooks or Remi Casty? They all failed miserably. It’s not as easy as Burgess and Graham have made it out to be.

In the backs the most successful Brit in the NRL of my generation has been Gareth Widdop although he didn’t necessarily “move” to Australia from the Super League. He moved to Australia when he was 16 and played in the Melbourne Storm junior system. He’s never played for a Super League club and has now played 70 games for the Storm and 66 for the Dragons scoring 25 tries and kicking 196 goals. Add 55 try assists to that tally and that’s pretty successful – although he’s certainly been down on form this year.

Irish winger Brian Carney had a successful stint in the NRL in 2006 with the Newcastle Knights scoring 16 tries in 26 games and winning the Dally M Winger of the Year award. Oddly, he then signed for the Gold Coast Titans and promptly retired from all forms of the game after just one training session with them.

Despite being the NRLCEO fullback of the year in 2014, Sam Tomkins most would consider his venture to the NRL as a flop. His average of over a try per game in the Super League was halved to 15 tries in 37 appearances for the Warriors over two years and his last six months in New Zealand was a disaster.

Don’t get me started on Zac Hardaker, Joe Burgess and Greg Eden…

With all that in mind, I’ll get to the point. There are now dozens of players plying their trade in the hemisphere away from home. So many in fact, that we can list them in teams.

Who do you think would win a match between the two teams of Exiles?

There are a few names in the southern hemisphere team I might get some reactions from. Jack Reed is not your typical English player, but I had to fill the spots and he’s certainly pasty enough. Jordan Turner has also filled the other centre position ahead of his signing for the Raiders for 2017.

In the northern hemisphere team, NRL fans might not have heard of Denny Solomona, but the New Zealand born 22 year old is the leading try scorer in the Super League with 28 tries in 20 appearances this season. He was in the Melbourne Storm youth system but was released before heading to the UK. I’d love to see him have another crack at the NRL one day and I’m sure he will.  Corey Thompson might seem like an odd choice too but he is the second highest try scorer in the Super League with 20 tries in 23 appearances and from what I’ve seen of him on Fox Sports, is a much matured player now too.

If this fantasy concept ever went head to head I think we’d see two very different styles of play. The northern hemisphere squad are more powerful in the forwards and would win that battle, but the southern hemisphere team has the halves covered and the backs too.

My prediction? I think the southern hemisphere squad would take the win 13+. 

Going through all the names of southern hemisphere players in the Super League it was difficult to split some of them. So I decided to see how many more teams I could fill. I was shocked that I could actually fill three full teams compared to barely filling one northern hemisphere team in the NRL.

So take a look at the rest of the “talent” still running around in the Super League. Some names you wouldn’t have thought of for a while I’m sure.

And can you believe it? There were even spares! Bill Tupou, Dominic Peyroux, Fetuli Talanoa, Jacob Miller, Josh Mantellato, Patrick Ah Vahn, Shannon McDonnell, Steve Michaels, Taulima Toutai and Ukama Ta’i.

I’m sure there are probably a few I have missed, so as always, let me know in the comments below.

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JB

A Founder of NRLCEO. Jamie spends far more time on running the site than his own team and is therefore a perennial struggler, much to the delight of his mates. He is a former Bears, now Raiders tragic. A rangy lock who avoided running the ball at all costs, he once tackled (flopped on) John Hopoate. Web geek by day, web geek by night.

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