John Gallagher

New Zealand RU World Champions
Leeds (when they were gash)
London Crusaders (might have finished his career there)
Prescott Panthers/Runcorn Highfield (whatever they were called at the time).

Is that the guy who crossed over at the same time as Matthew Ridge? Ridge had been 2nd fiddle to him in RU but turned into a RL legend?

Quote ="McClennan"John Gallagher New Zealand RU World Champions Leeds (when they were gash) London Crusaders (might have finished his career there) Prescott Panthers/Runcorn Highfield (whatever they were called at the time).'" We must be thinking of a different John Gallagher...this one was the best rugby player in the world www.amazon.co.uk/John-Gallagher- ... 1873668503

Quote ="McClennan"John Gallagher New Zealand RU World Champions Leeds (when they were gash) London Crusaders (might have finished his career there) Prescott Panthers/Runcorn Highfield (whatever they were called at the time).'" We must be thinking of a different John Gallagher...this one was the best rugby player in the world www.amazon.co.uk/John-Gallagher- ... 1873668503

I hear Mark Calderwood is now playing 5th division amateur RL in Yorkshire.

He's got to be up there.

Is he still at Hull then?

Quote ="Wildmoose"We must be thinking of a different John Gallagher...this one was the best rugby player in the world www.amazon.co.uk/John-Gallagher- ... 1873668503'" I must confess I didn't see every minute he played for Leeds so I could be mistaken lol.

Quote ="Wildmoose"We must be thinking of a different John Gallagher...this one was the best rugby player in the world www.amazon.co.uk/John-Gallagher- ... 1873668503'" I must confess I didn't see every minute he played for Leeds so I could be mistaken lol.

Can't accuse him of just playing for the money I suppose.

If he still just wants to play the game for fun, then I can't fault that at all.

I like Calderwood. He made a few mistakes but he always seemed to play with heart and passion and we all like that don't we?

To be fair he was very unlucky, he did well at Hull and was well liked by the fans for his commitment, then he did his hamstring a couple of times, and Hull (quite rightly) decided not to gamble on giving him a new deal.

I reckon he'd still be playing for us now if it wasn't for the injuries.

i suppose having a crap visa and told never to set foot in the uk again is another way to ruin your career

Played a team today and the Farnley Falcons team were on the touchline giving us some stick (we play them next week!)

The team confirmed Mark Calderwood is on their books, scored 12 tries in 3 games for them this year. Also confirmed he will play in our game next week.

I got injured today, which is a shame as, due to being a bulls fan, would love the chance to play against Mr Calderwood!!

A few other players come to mind that were hyped up a lot as juniors.

I remember a young Nathan McAvoy at Salford was talked about as a potential Paul Newlove class centre, he was a fantastic athlete for a teenager. Then a few years later a 17 year old Chev Walker got an England call up and I remember Ray French saying he was reminiscent of a young Mal Meninga.

A couple of other young Leeds players as well - Dean Lawford, what a superb kicking game he had. If Lawford had been in shape and fit enough to be an SL player he could have been a Lee Briers type player but he faded quickly. Graham Holroyd lasted longer than Lawford but he never delivered on the early promise he showed, he was talked of as a potential GB halfback.

In the early days of SL Karle Hammond seemed highly thought of and when he left Saints and played for London Broncos he carried their team, but then went to Widnes and Halifax and just disappeared.

And another, not exactly a total flop but one that peaked early, Daryl Cardiss, a young Cardiss was a great sight in full flight as a kick returner, but too many injuries meant that even at about 25 when he signed for Warrington he was on the way down.

Kevin started playing the game too late, by the time he joined our academy he was 17/18 so although he had the pace he lacked in many other areas. I just wonder how he could have been if he had started so much earlier.

All went downhill that 2nd season (200icon_cool.gif and he couldn't get his partnership with King going. Then once Tony came in (2009) he didn't want him.

This is the key point when people say all Penny needed was a good coach. Tony Smith is a good coach and he didn't rate him. Why did Wigan, Leeds or Saints not pick him up - with pace like that surely they could have turned him into a world beater?

Turned out for Keighley in a few games this season.

In one game at Workington, highlights of which are on that site that shall not be named, he managed to drop the ball whilst running with it with nobody anywhere near him.

The contrasting fortunes of Kevin Penny and Martin Offiah show how much the game has changed. All Offiah could do was run fast which led to him scoring loads of tries, people weren't bothered about the fact he couldn't defend for toffee and he didn't have to cope with being targetted with kicks cos teams didn't do that then.

If Offiah had come along now he wouldn't have got a look in at the top level...

But 7s has interest for a day, or a weekend perhaps twice a year in each country. 7s is rugby league for people who don't want to watch rugby league.

He has copped some flak has Penney but i can remember him scoring one of the best tries i have seen for a long time at Knowsley Road a couple of years ago in the Challenge Cup..Picked the ball up in his own 10 and run and body swerved in and out and beat all and sundry with sheer pace...Cracking Try

anyone that compares penny to offiah obviously has no idea what they are talking about.

penny has never been even close to being as good as offiah.

I would have loved to have him playing for London again

Wasn't it a spear tackle from a Featherstone player that made him lose his bottle? That's my recollection.

And what about Karl Pratt? Played for Great Britain against New Zealand at Ewood Park, cost us the game with some dropped bombs, and then disappeared.

Offiah couldn't defend, but he was dangerous wherever he was. An awesome winger.

Wakefield went into administration, had a bunch of kids and rejects on the books, and still Penny couldn't get a game. Does that tell you all you need to know?

To be fair to Karl Pratt he had an alright career. He signed for Bradford and won the double the year after that Ewood Park game (his nemesis that day, was the hat-trick scoring Henry Fa'afili who later played for Warrington).

As for John Gallagher, he was rated the world's best RU player in 1990 and so when Leeds signed him that was a massive coup - league was very ambitious back then, in a few weeks league clubs signed Gallagher, Ridge, Schuster and Botica out of that All Blacks team that was on a record winning streak. Because Gallagher is actually English born he was talked of as a potential GB fullback when he signed. He got spear tackled at Saints, Phil Veivers and Tea Ropati picked him up and dropped him on his neck. Veivers broke his leg that same game if I remember. But I think its a myth that Gallagher 'lost his bottle' after that. IMO the problem with Gallagher was he just wasn't suited to league. I like RU as well as RL and Gallagher was a great player in Test RU but it has to be said he benefited from playing in a dominant All Black team. His strength was that he was a great runner with the ball in his hands, he could slice a defence open from fullback, but he was not a big bloke, he had a slight build and he was not great in defence. With the All Blacks he didn't need to be, he rarely made any tackles, but he did in league.

Also he was a very laid back character. Matthew Ridge who was his understudy in union was much more physical and an intense character - and was far more successful in league. It's a bit like Nick Farr-Jones was the Wallabies scrum-half, a fags and beer and charmer type character, whose understudy was the super intense Ricky Stuart. Farr-Jones was a great player in union but I doubt he would have come close to Stuart in league. What really happened with Gallagher was that Dougie Laughton took over as Leeds coach and didn't rate him, didn't think his defence was up to it and he disappeared from the team.

A lot of league fans like to slag Gallagher off but I could never understand that. He always came over as a good bloke, and he was very enthusiastic and positive about rugby league. He was rated the no.1 player in union when he signed for Leeds but even after things went wrong in Leeds, I remember him giving interviews saying he had no regrets about the decision to play RL, he talked the game up, he didn't bitch or whinge about the fact Dougie Laughton played him in the reserves in front of 10 men on freezing nights. He's a headmaster now at a school in London, there was something in the London papers about him during the RU world cup a few weeks back, he keeps a low profile and most of the parents and kids in his school don't know he was a professional sportsman, then he went to NZ to watch some world cup matches and he got treated like sporting royalty there because of his All Blacks achievements.

I think in the end he wasn't cut out for league and maybe he wasn't a driven enough character to toughen up physically to the intensity, he was languid and laid back and not a league guy. But credit to him for handling it all with dignity and I've never heard him show anything other than enthusiasm and respect for league as a sport.

No he's a victim of being crap, give it a rest.

Why, I think Cecil B makes a great point. Played for two teams Widnes and Wigan with juggernaut packs and great centres - how could he fail. Yes a better player than Penny IMHO but not a player suited to the game as it's played now. Think a little.