There's a few fresh faces from the U.K joining a growing crop of English talent in the NRL this year, such as Ryan Sutton, John Bateman and Ryan Hall. They have an opportunity to join a list of players to have succeeded in making the switch from the Super League to the NRL like these five best imports during the NRL era (1998-).

4. Gareth Widdop (Melbourne Storm 2010-2013 70 games, 10 tries; St George Illawarra Dragons 2014- 115 games, 32 tries)

Widdop is now in his tenth season at NRL level, however it's possible it will be his last with the five-eighth/fullback agreeing to return home to join Warrington in 2020. Widdop began with Melbourne under the tutelage of Craig Bellamy where he won a Premiership in 2012 in the halves alongside Cooper Cronk.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - MAY 13: Gareth Widdop of the Dragons looks on during the round 10 NRL match between the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the St George Illawarra Dragons at ANZ Stadium on May 13, 2018 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

7 COMMENTS

  1. I’s have Gareth in there ahead of Widdop – I think he moved here when he was 11 or 12? Hardly an import compared to the others who came from UK Super League into the NRL.

  2. My vote?
    Morley by a country mile. James Graham couldn’t tie Adrian’s footy laces.
    Sam is a great player. 2nd
    Garth Ellis was awesome too. 3rd

  3. Widdop is the pick of the current bunch in 2019 but I loved the aggression of Adrian Morley and Mal Reilly. Morley could influence the result of a game through hard running and massive defensive hits. Reilly had great ball skills also as did a bloke called Brian Lockwood similar to James Graham. Tommy Bishop Gary Stephens and Roger Milward were clever halves. Hanley and Schofield were electrifying.

    Dick Huddart was a clever hard running ball playing forward who won a comp with Saints in the mid 60’s but I loved Dave Bolton and how he destroyed soufffths in the 1969 grand final leading the team around and onto victory from the 5/8 position. Very clever No what I mean❓❔❓❔❓❔

  4. All the players mentioned have been great for Australian Rugby League. Personally I would have Morley any day. He helped the Roosters make 3 Grand Finals in a row with his aggressive brutality. What a champion hard man.🐓🏆

  5. Pfft… got nothing on these guys.
    Imo Top 5:
    5. Joe Burgess
    4. Sam Tomkins
    3. Zak Hardaker
    2. Dan Sarginson
    1. Joe Greenwood

  6. I’m 63 and I’ve been an RL tragic since I was 12 years old, even before. Too many of my friends look at past players through rose coloured glasses and think that no-one who’s any good has played the game since 1970. Well, not me. To me, Sam Burgess is the best Pommie ever to have played first grade – period. Week-in, week-out he’s better than Reilly. Sure, Reilly was brilliant but for sheer consistency if I had a choice of who I’d rather have at Saints, Sam would be my man without any hesitation.

  7. You sound like a soufffths fan mate. Graham is better than Burgess any day of the week and his record proves it. Hasn’t Graham played in about seven or eight grand finals so he must have been doing something right to play in that many big deciders. Burgess helped Soufffths win their Russell Crowe purchased comp in 2014 but James Graham has more attacking attributes to his attacking artillery than Burgess and Grahams defence is fantastic. But I’m sticking with the hard Man Morley💪🐔👍 He will always be our English Champion.

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