Ex-NRL players have huge role in Europe

In Leeds, St Helens, Wigan, Sheffield, Hull, Huddersfield, Wakefield, Barrow, Dewsbury, Warrington and many more, rugby league was born. It has spread into Southern England, into Wales and France and (with the surprise addition of a team from Toronto, Canada) into North America.

Rugby league also thrives, in Australasia via the NRL and the two state competitions.

Happily for league lovers both competitions are expanding and professional rugby league players are in demand.  Historically players have moved from England to Australia and vice versa to extend careers and or build on already established reputations.

Growing up in Sydney in the 60’s and 70’s I watched well known English players who moved down under to bolster local teams after playing for their clubs and National teams in England.

This included players like Malcom Reilly (Manly), Mick Stephenson (Penrith), John Gray (Norths & Manly) and Tommy Bishop at my club (Cronulla). I was mostly unaware of or paid little attention to Australian players who went the other way, but I now know that Parramatta superstars Peter Sterling (Hull FC) and Brett Kenny (Wigan) had seasons in England.  Prior to Super League, players could play in Sydney and then fly to Britain and play in the northern winter.

However, since 1996, rugby league in England has been played from February to October coinciding with the NRL competition in Australia, so it’s no longer possible to play a full season in each hemisphere. However the change in seasons did not stop Australian players going to Western Europe to play Rugby League, in fact the numbers have exploded in recent years.

This year seventy three (73) Australian & NZ born ex-NRL players, played in the Super League and a further 31 played for teams in the Championship Division.  (Three players, ex-Tiger Bodene Thompson, former Titan Nathaniel Peteru and Knights centre Peter Mata'utia played for teams in both divisions.)

The figures show clearly that these ex-NRL players had a significant impact on the ESL. The Australian and New Zealand players participated in 1320 matches across 12 ESL teams.   Together they scored 314 tries and kicked 161 goals.   In the Championship Division, 31 individuals played in 441 matches and collectively scored 125 tries and 117 goals.

European fans trying to judge the benefit of the ex-NRL players to their team can look at the statistics and decide for themselves.

St Helens finished 1^st in the league with 4 ex-NRL players.  Cronulla fullback Ben Barba (26), Titans prop Luke Douglas (29), former Knights Lock Zeb Taia (28) and Storm Centre Ryan Morgan (19) together played 102 matches scoring 51 tries.

Over at 2^nd placed Wigan they had ex-Storm forward William Isa (28) who played his 182nd Super League match in his 8^th year while New Zealand International Thomas Leuluai (28) edged closer to 300 Super League matches in his 8^th year at the Warriors. Ex Eels centre Taulima Tautai (22) played his 6^th year of ESL at Wigan.  Technically the Saints had 4 ex-NRL players as Frank-Paul Nuuausala played 1 match, before being granted a release to move back to Sydney.  Their 79 matches produced 9 tries.

Wakefield Trinity fielded 7 ex-NRL players, who together, played 183 matches. The team finished 7^th, with the ex- NRL players scoring 43 tries.

Catalan Dragons finished in 8th position with 8 ex-NRL players on their books, the most of any ESL team. Those players played 155 matches and scored 46 tries.

The table below shows the numbers of ex-NRL players at each club and how many tries and goals were scored.

Below is the full list of players who played in the European Super League.  I have compilations on each player and complete data from every ESL and Championship Match they played in.

Requests for individual or team data sets can be emailed to george.peterson@hotmail.com