Rumour

[Matabele]

We purchased Roberts and company before Lowe joined as coach.  The only decent talent Lowe bought to the club was Ridge, and that was because he couldn't crack the All Blecks and was sick of playing amateur NPC rugby.  You don;t sign blokes out of Rugby for peanuts these days.

 

[DSM5]

the point being is what?

 

[Canteen Worker]

We purchased Roberts and company before Lowe joined as coach.  The only decent talent Lowe bought to the club was Ridge, and that was because he couldn't crack the All Blecks and was sick of playing amateur NPC rugby.  You don;t sign blokes out of Rugby for peanuts these days.

That was long before Super Rugby existed!!!  Lowe had pretty good teams and we did move into and incredibily successful era two years after he left, built on a very handy Flegg side whilst Lowe was here - Gartner, Kosef and Beaver came out of that lot. Give him some credit.

 

[Matabele]

[quote author=Matabele link=topic=182362.msg250540#msg250540 date=1265106590]
We purchased Roberts and company before Lowe joined as coach.  The only decent talent Lowe bought to the club was Ridge, and that was because he couldn't crack the All Blecks and was sick of playing amateur NPC rugby.  You don;t sign blokes out of Rugby for peanuts these days.

That was long before Super Rugby existed!!!
[/quote]  Obviously.  Hence the reference to amateur NPC = National Provincial Championship. 

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

We purchased Roberts and company before Lowe joined as coach.  The only decent talent Lowe bought to the club was Ridge, and that was because he couldn't crack the All Blecks and was sick of playing amateur NPC rugby.  You don;t sign blokes out of Rugby for peanuts these days.

LOL, nice attempt at some of the facts Mata, you are close though

He was actually the number 2 for the fullback position in the All Blacks, and played 5-6 tour games for them. John Gallagher was the number 1 and Ridge was stuck behind him so decided to give League a crack, you are correct on the money reasons behind it though.
The funny part being that Gallagher announced his switch to league 1 weeks later, if Ridge has known that he would never have come over

Zinzan Brooke was also signed at the same time but backed out of the deal

 

[DSM5]

Stay on the horse Mata. 

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

At the time I thought Alan Thompson was white anted by Daley and Fulton.  Thompson had a brain and was a terrific 5/8th.

One of my all-time faves who tends to get overlooked because how can he oust Cliffy or Bozo from any Manly all-time lineup? He starred for the Kangaroos when given a chance and all the news reports marvelled at how many Winnie Blues (or was it Marlboro's) he consumed at half-time. Not the same as being a good coach though, a good coach does not become white-anted usually.

 

[Matabele]

[quote author=Matabele link=topic=182362.msg250540#msg250540 date=1265106590]
We purchased Roberts and company before Lowe joined as coach.  The only decent talent Lowe bought to the club was Ridge, and that was because he couldn't crack the All Blecks and was sick of playing amateur NPC rugby.  You don;t sign blokes out of Rugby for peanuts these days.

LOL, nice attempt at some of the facts Mata, you are close though

He was actually the number 2 for the fullback position in the All Blacks, and played 5-6 tour games for them. John Gallagher was the number 1 and Ridge was stuck behind him so decided to give League a crack, you are correct on the money reasons behind it though.
The funny part being that Gallagher announced his switch to league 1 weeks later, if Ridge has known that he would never have come over

Zinzan Brooke was also signed at the same time but backed out of the deal
[/quote] Thank you for confirming what I said.  Ridge couldn't get past Gallagher and left the amatuer game for the dollars on offer.   

Zinzan Brooke would have been a fantastic acquisition.

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

Close mata, but he did crack the All Blacks, just not the test side

Some of the funniest footage I have ever seen was of him playing against Fiji in Fiji. He took a swing at a bloke, realised he was out of this depth, so just started running. Was a running track around the field which he ended up on being chased by about 7 Fijians with the crowd hanging over the fence wanting a piece as well

Marc Ellis was another who we tried to lure over. Was a skillful player, would have made it in an Australian system but when he went a few years later to the Warriors he was wasted and not shown some of the finer points of league

 

[DSM5]

SeaEagleRock8, "mayor' Daley white anted everybody at the place at the time.  And I suspect Fulton was in on it as well.