| |
Welcome to the NEW RLFANS.COM. After twenty-five years of service, the old site expired over the last few days. To maintain service we have had no option but to make an early switch to the new site which was in development/testing. Some elements of the new site are unfinished, such as; page numbering and quotations. We will fix these minor issues as soon as we can, please bear with us.
If you are having problems logging in, please try a different browser or platform, if problems persist then email support@rlfans.com
 |
| 
 |
| Rank | Posts | Team |
| Club Coach | 552 | No
Team
Selected |
| Joined | Service | Reputation |
| Jan 2005 | 20 years | |
| Online | Last Post | Last Page |
| Jun 2017 | Jun 2017 | LINK |
| Milestone Posts |
|
| Milestone Years |
|
|
| Location |
|
| Signature |
|
TO BE FIXED |
|
|
Quote ="Builth Wells Wire"But we did release Sid Domic to sign John Wilshere & Chris Leikvoll from St George Illawarra.'" />
Both were off quota. Leikvoll had a UK passport (check out his profile) and Wilshere was KOLPAK
|
|
Quote ="Builth Wells Wire"But we did release Sid Domic to sign John Wilshere & Chris Leikvoll from St George Illawarra.'" />
Both were off quota. Leikvoll had a UK passport (check out his profile) and Wilshere was KOLPAK
| |
|
| | |
| Rank | Posts | Team |
| Player Coach | 9683 | No
Team
Selected |
| Joined | Service | Reputation |
| Jul 2009 | 16 years | |
| Online | Last Post | Last Page |
| Feb 2025 | Feb 2025 | LINK |
| Milestone Posts |
|
| Milestone Years |
|
|
| Location |
|
| Signature |
|
TO BE FIXED |
|
|
Quote ="marshman777"Most of these players were never available and no-one knows until he has signed.'" />
Not true.. all these players have agents, whose job it is to get them the best deals... clubs are made fully aware of player movements by said agents prior to deals being done. />
if players arent available, they dont move... if they are available, you can rest assured clubs like warrington are made aware of this availability. />
Players also use this agent whisper network to get better deals at their current club, as well as the best transfer away .. See Savelio using us to get a much improved deal at saints as an example.
|
|
Quote ="marshman777"Most of these players were never available and no-one knows until he has signed.'" />
Not true.. all these players have agents, whose job it is to get them the best deals... clubs are made fully aware of player movements by said agents prior to deals being done. />
if players arent available, they dont move... if they are available, you can rest assured clubs like warrington are made aware of this availability. />
Players also use this agent whisper network to get better deals at their current club, as well as the best transfer away .. See Savelio using us to get a much improved deal at saints as an example.
| |
|
| | | |
| Rank | Posts | Team |
| Player Coach | 5551 | No
Team
Selected |
| Joined | Service | Reputation |
| Apr 2006 | 19 years | |
| Online | Last Post | Last Page |
| Feb 2025 | Feb 2025 | LINK |
| Milestone Posts |
|
| Milestone Years |
|
|
| Location |
|
| Signature |
|
TO BE FIXED |
|
|
I suppose all this paper talk & whispers of which top players might be coming is also not a bad tool to help with selling season tickets ,especially at early bird prices. />
Maybe a gesture of goodwill by the club would be to keep early bird prices at least until the squad is finalised. |
|
I suppose all this paper talk & whispers of which top players might be coming is also not a bad tool to help with selling season tickets ,especially at early bird prices. />
Maybe a gesture of goodwill by the club would be to keep early bird prices at least until the squad is finalised. | |
|
| | |
| Rank | Posts | Team |
| Club Coach | 16274 | No
Team
Selected |
| Joined | Service | Reputation |
| Oct 2004 | 20 years | |
| Online | Last Post | Last Page |
| Jan 2025 | Jan 2025 | LINK |
| Milestone Posts |
|
| Milestone Years |
|
|
| Location |
|
| Signature |
|
TO BE FIXED |
|
|
Quote ="ricominciare"Cheers for jogging my memory, I remember now Appo was out of condition on his return and his form didn't carry on, am I right in that he was wanted to play fullback by Cullen but he wasn't having it hence his poor condition/attitude, in truth I think Appo would have been as much a waste at fullback as would Briers, we had two players for one position but on the previous seasons form I feel Appo deserved the spot and may have returned in a better condition, it would then have been there for Briers to regain it.'" />
When Appo played 6 he got his hands on the ball a lot and he was an explosive runner who could make breaks. However he was not a great kicker or passer and he would not organise a team, whereas Briers was all three of those. The other halfback at the time was Nat Wood who was also more of a running halfback which was a good foil for Briers but pairing Wood and Appo meant we lacked something. />
During that run in to the playoffs in 2003, when Appo played himself in to the Dream Team, it was basically about smashing weaker teams. Appo got a hat-trick against Wakefield in the last game at Wilderspool, he got 4 tries against Halifax who got relegated with 0 points, we beat lower ranked teams but we didn't take down any of the top sides. That was always going to be the difficulty if we played even a fully fit focused Appo at 6 ahead of Briers, against the top sides we needed a more elite halfback not just an explosive runner who could do damage against weaker defences. />
I think the best place for Appo was fullback but he could be frustrating there. I have a memory of Appo playing for Huddersfield against us at Wilderspool when he first came over (Tony Smith brought him to the UK when he was Hudds coach). He was playing fullback and I remember he had a complete lack of urgency when we kicked to him. He ambled about to the ball looking like he didn't care whether anyone was chasing or not. I thought, this fullback is garbage, just put a kick in behind him and you can pin him on his line. Then we kicked straight to him and he had a bit of open field and he skinned the first man and broke 40 yards upfield in no time. It was like watching one of those NFL special teams returners flying past everybody. I don't remember much else from him that game though.
I have one other strange memory of Appo as he made one of the two most memorable demonstratons of pace I ever saw at Wilderspool. One was Henare going the length down the touchline from a scrum near our own line when Sculthorpe got the ball out of a scrum and Henare just burned straight like an arrow 90 yards. The other - possibly even more impressive, was when Alan Hunte did a similar move against us for Salford and scored...but Appo, who was on the other wing, incredibly nearly chased him down across the diagonal of the pitch and was virtually level by the time Hunte scored. Given that Hunte was quick, to run him down across the diagonal like that where he must have had to run an extra 10 or 15 yards was unbelievable. I remember seeing the replay on TV from the high angle camera, it was like seeing a greyhound bounding across the pitch coming out of nowhere.
Graham Appo - often looked like he didn't care but when he was fit and in the mood he was a phenomenal runner.
|
|
Quote ="ricominciare"Cheers for jogging my memory, I remember now Appo was out of condition on his return and his form didn't carry on, am I right in that he was wanted to play fullback by Cullen but he wasn't having it hence his poor condition/attitude, in truth I think Appo would have been as much a waste at fullback as would Briers, we had two players for one position but on the previous seasons form I feel Appo deserved the spot and may have returned in a better condition, it would then have been there for Briers to regain it.'" />
When Appo played 6 he got his hands on the ball a lot and he was an explosive runner who could make breaks. However he was not a great kicker or passer and he would not organise a team, whereas Briers was all three of those. The other halfback at the time was Nat Wood who was also more of a running halfback which was a good foil for Briers but pairing Wood and Appo meant we lacked something. />
During that run in to the playoffs in 2003, when Appo played himself in to the Dream Team, it was basically about smashing weaker teams. Appo got a hat-trick against Wakefield in the last game at Wilderspool, he got 4 tries against Halifax who got relegated with 0 points, we beat lower ranked teams but we didn't take down any of the top sides. That was always going to be the difficulty if we played even a fully fit focused Appo at 6 ahead of Briers, against the top sides we needed a more elite halfback not just an explosive runner who could do damage against weaker defences. />
I think the best place for Appo was fullback but he could be frustrating there. I have a memory of Appo playing for Huddersfield against us at Wilderspool when he first came over (Tony Smith brought him to the UK when he was Hudds coach). He was playing fullback and I remember he had a complete lack of urgency when we kicked to him. He ambled about to the ball looking like he didn't care whether anyone was chasing or not. I thought, this fullback is garbage, just put a kick in behind him and you can pin him on his line. Then we kicked straight to him and he had a bit of open field and he skinned the first man and broke 40 yards upfield in no time. It was like watching one of those NFL special teams returners flying past everybody. I don't remember much else from him that game though.
I have one other strange memory of Appo as he made one of the two most memorable demonstratons of pace I ever saw at Wilderspool. One was Henare going the length down the touchline from a scrum near our own line when Sculthorpe got the ball out of a scrum and Henare just burned straight like an arrow 90 yards. The other - possibly even more impressive, was when Alan Hunte did a similar move against us for Salford and scored...but Appo, who was on the other wing, incredibly nearly chased him down across the diagonal of the pitch and was virtually level by the time Hunte scored. Given that Hunte was quick, to run him down across the diagonal like that where he must have had to run an extra 10 or 15 yards was unbelievable. I remember seeing the replay on TV from the high angle camera, it was like seeing a greyhound bounding across the pitch coming out of nowhere.
Graham Appo - often looked like he didn't care but when he was fit and in the mood he was a phenomenal runner.
| |
|
| | |
| Rank | Posts | Team |
| International Star | 2484 | No
Team
Selected |
| Joined | Service | Reputation |
| Sep 2011 | 13 years | |
| Online | Last Post | Last Page |
| Aug 2017 | Nov 2016 | LINK |
| Milestone Posts |
|
| Milestone Years |
|
|
| Location |
|
| Signature |
|
TO BE FIXED |
|
|
I was in the Bevan stand that night, the pace was incredible. It's my main memory of Appo.
| | | |
| Rank | Posts | Team |
| International Star | 557 | No
Team
Selected |
| Joined | Service | Reputation |
| Sep 2014 | 10 years | |
| Online | Last Post | Last Page |
| Mar 2017 | Dec 2016 | LINK |
| Milestone Posts |
|
| Milestone Years |
|
|
| Location |
|
| Signature |
|
TO BE FIXED |
|
|
Thanks again sally cinnamon a nice little trip down memory lane, for some reason Appo did seem to take a lot of confidence from playing alongside Nat Wood whereas Briers always had confidence in himself, very often I've been left frustrated by Briers but as history shows it was just the same with most of the wire teams he played with over his time. />
I suppose Briers was a bit of an enigma being part of some of the worst teams we've had to great displays at Wembley then just falling short of in two Grand Finals, but always there just like your excellent memory, cheers that was a good read. |
|
Thanks again sally cinnamon a nice little trip down memory lane, for some reason Appo did seem to take a lot of confidence from playing alongside Nat Wood whereas Briers always had confidence in himself, very often I've been left frustrated by Briers but as history shows it was just the same with most of the wire teams he played with over his time. />
I suppose Briers was a bit of an enigma being part of some of the worst teams we've had to great displays at Wembley then just falling short of in two Grand Finals, but always there just like your excellent memory, cheers that was a good read. | |
|
| | | |
| |
All views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the RLFANS.COM or its subsites.
Whilst every effort is made to ensure that news stories, articles and images are correct, we cannot be held responsible for errors. However, if you feel any material on this website is copyrighted or incorrect in any way please contact us using the link at the top of the page so we can remove it or negotiate copyright permission.
RLFANS.COM, the owners of this website, is not responsible for the content of its sub-sites or posts, please email the author of this sub-site or post if you feel you find an article offensive or of a choice nature that you disagree with.
Copyright 1999 - 2025 RLFANS.COM
You must be 18+ to gamble, for more information and for help with gambling issues see https://www.begambleaware.org/.
Please Support RLFANS.COM
|
|
| POSTS | ONLINE | REGISTRATIONS | RECORD |
|---|
| 19.67M +1 | 507 | 80,283 | 14,103 |
| LOGIN HERE
or REGISTER for more features!.
When you register you get access to the live match scores, live match chat and you can post in the discussions on the forums.
|
|
|
