EVEN THOUGH WE have been let down so many times before, there is still something exciting whenever a big name rugby league player converts to union. Unfortunately not all of them turn out to by Sonny Bill’s or Jason Robinson’s, many end up fading into mediocrity like Andy Farrell.
But half the fun – as we are finding out with Sam Burgess at the moment – is seeing how they develop.
With that in mind the latest news out of Australia is intriguing. With SBW and Burgess gone, Greg Inglis is probably the biggest star left in the NRL but the Sydney Morning Herald is saying that he is offering himself up to northern hemisphere union clubs for the price of €800,000 per season.
Before you wave away the price as exorbitant just have a look at this video.
Listening to the enthusiasm of that Aussie commentator would actually make you worried about the psyche of league fans down there were another one of their heroes to depart. Inglis would definitely have amend his tackling style to succeed in union though.
Even if Inglis turns out to be as good as Wendell ‘ Del Boy’ Sailor he would probably be worth the risk.
On a side note – who are the five best league converts of all-time?
Doesn’t Chris Ashton have to be in there? Despite his antics he has been a great player over the last five years.
What about a quick top five of:
- Robinson
- SBW
- Brad Thorn
- Lote Tuqiri
- Chris Ashton*
*As someone reminded me in the comments, Israel Folau is obviously worthy of inclusion ahead of Ashton. Rather than construct a fake argument for choosing Ashton ahead of him, I’ll just acknowledge that I suffered from a temporary case of ‘morning shift amnesia’.
Which converts do you think have been better?
