Before Latrell: Rugby league’s most notorious defectors
Latrell Mitchell is hardly the first. Sonny Bill Williams fled the country so quickly not even his club bosses or teammates knew. These are the club switches that rocked rugby league.
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Latrell Mitchell’s defection to South Sydney adds another layer of animosity in the club’s longstanding and bitter rivalry with the Sydney Roosters.
We take a look at some of the other controversial switches that sparked outrage in the rugby league world:
SONNY BILL WILLIAMS
Bulldogs to rugby to Roosters
The cross-code superstar says he has “made peace” with the controversial decision to walk out on the Canterbury Bulldogs for French rugby union in 2008.
Williams departed Belmore 18 months into his five-year deal amid a pay-dispute and the dramatic exit remains a sore point for Bulldogs fans.
Williams flew out in secret on Saturday, July 26, without even informing the Bulldogs of his decision.
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Todd Greenberg, Bulldogs CEO at the time, said ‘‘I’m shocked that he’s left because I saw him at Oatley at 7.30 this morning.
‘‘We expected him to be there on Monday night to play against the Dragons.”
His Bulldogs teammates were left in shock.
‘‘My mum called me and the way she was speaking I thought someone had died. Then she told me Sonny Bill Williams was on his way to France,’’ Bulldogs prop Jarrad Hickey said at the time.
Williams returned to the NRL for two seasons with the Sydney Roosters, guiding the glamour club to a title in 2013.
In his first game against his former club in round five, Williams was continually booed by the Bulldogs fans in the 22,552-strong crowd. But it had little effect as he scored a double and the Roosters ran out 38-0 winners.
LUKE KEARY
Souths to Roosters
In January 2016 the pint-sized playmaker infamously was involved in a drunken bust-up with South Sydney owner Russell Crowe during a bonding session gone wrong at the Hollywood heavyweight’s Nana Glen property.
Crowe was criticising teammate Cameron McInnes when Keary decided to step in and say something, only for Crowe to turn the blowtorch on the young five-eighth.
The night ended with Keary catching a cab in the early hours of the morning, but had deeper ramifications because he was left disappointed his teammates hadn’t provided him with the same defence he gave McInnes.
Six months later Keary, who helped the Rabbitohs to their first title in 43 years in 2014, signed with the Sydney Roosters where he has won back-to-back competitions.
STEVE ROGERS
Sharks to Dragons
Widely regarded as the best to ever to play for Cronulla, Rogers was forced to join neighbouring and bitter rivals, the St George Dragons in 1983.
The Immortal played 29 games in the Red V before returning to his beloved Sharks in 1985, albeit for one match after he suffered a broken jaw against the Bulldogs.
JAMIE LYON
Eels to Manly
Lyon shocked the league world and stunned Eels fans when, at age 22, he announced his retirement in 2004 with two years left on his deal.
The kid from the country town of Wee Waa in northern NSW said he had struggled with life in Sydney.
After a stint in England for St Helens, Lyon returned to the NRL but not for Parramatta. Discussions surrounding his Eels return quickly turned sour and Lyon moved to Manly where he retired as a club great in 2016.
His Eels snub angered Eels fans and greats, as Parramatta had lost fellow centre Willie Tonga to bitter rivals Canterbury in the off-season.
“I’m filthy on Jamie Lyon,” Eels great Peter Sterling said at the time about his potential return to the NRL.
“Jamie Lyon dudded Parramatta like you wouldn’t believe. He got $125,000 for an off-season and one game. No, I don’t want him in the Test side and I don’t want him back in the NRL.”
RON COOTE
Souths to Easts
Committed a cardinal sin in 1972 when he defected to Eastern Suburbs from South Sydney after winning four premierships with the Rabbitohs. He proceeded to win back-to-back comps with Jack Gibson’s Roosters in 1974-75.
“The fans were livid. I remember one woman, she sent me a letter explaining how she was a gypsy and she'd put a gypsy curse on me for joining the Roosters,” Coote told The Daily Telegraph.
“Worse still, another family told me they had a pet rabbit called Ronnie Coote. They reckoned when I made the switch, they ate the rabbit.”
MITCHELL MOSES
Tigers to Eels
The playing future of Moses – and then Wests Tigers teammates Aaron Woods, James Tedesco and Luke Brooks – was the hottest talking point of season 2017.
Tedesco signed with the Roosters and Woods with Canterbury.
Rising playmaker Moses, frustrated with the club’s off-field issues, ultimately walked away from Concord to sign with cross-town rivals the Eels from 2018.
After initially denying him an early release, the Tigers relented and allowed Moses to leave in May 2017. It was a move that created plenty of animosity among Tigers fans.
Tensions flared again following the inaugural NRL match at Bankwest Stadium between Parramatta and the Tigers, the latter of whom use the venue occasionally and coined the term ‘our jungle’.
After the Eels demolished the Tigers 51-6, Moses revealed: “I was very proud. We took it a bit personal with the Tigers trying to say it’s their home ground as well.
“They have four games here, but we wanted to stamp our authority on this field and I think we did that tonight.
“I don’t think it’s their jungle anymore.”
BRAD FITTLER
Penrith to Roosters
One of the best players of his generation, Brad Fittler’s influence was no more evident when he controversially made the move 60 kilometres east from Penrith to Bondi back in 1996.
The born-and-bred westie, who debuted as a teen still at high school, followed Panthers premiership coach Phil Gould east in a move that had massive ramifications for both teams as the Panthers finished a lowly 15th the next season.
Before his arrival, the Roosters missed the finals for almost a decade but Fittler’s impact was immediate. The playmaker guided his side to four grand finals and ultimately a premiership in 2002.
The Panthers got their revenge, however, defeating a Fittler-led Roosters side 18-6 in the 2003 2003 NRL grand final.
GORDEN TALLIS
Dragons to Broncos
Not only was Tallis’ defection at the height of the Super League war, it happened at the height of the rivalry between the Dragons and the Broncos during the mid-90s.
After making his debut with the Red V in 1992, Tallis signed with Brisbane to play in the Super League in 1996. But with the breakaway competition delayed until 1997, the fearsome forward sat out the 1996 ARL season refusing to play for the Dragons.
It left fans livid and when he returned to Kogarah Oval for the first time Tallis was booed incessantly and even pelted with rubbish.
LES BOYD
Magpies to Manly
From the rugby league era when rivalries resembled genuine hatred and spilt into all-in brawls, Boyd’s switch from the Magpies to the Sea Eagles, the fibros to the silvertails, was as controversial as it got.
The volatile Boyd signed with Manly in 1980 after playing 68 games for the Western Suburbs between 1976-1979. Almost four decades later, Boyd admitted his move to the northern beaches was financially motivated.
“I wanted to stay at Wests, who offered me about $17,000 a year,” Boyd told The Daily Telegraph. “Manly offered me $40,000 plus $1000 a game. It was a big difference in salary for a young bloke who was just starting a family.”
CRAIG WING
Souths to the Roosters (1999) Roosters to Souths (2007)
“To have him paraded around like a show pony is not only demeaning to Craig, but insulting to all his current teammates, sponsors and fans”. Roosters supremo Nick Politis didn’t mince his words following Wing’s Redfern ‘homecoming’ in 2007. Wing made his debut in 1998 for his junior side, the Rabbitohs.
But following South Sydney’s expulsion in 1999, Wing joined the Roosters. After eight seasons with the glamour club he announced he was returning to South Sydney mid-season in 2007 while he was still contracted at Bondi. Tricolours fans booed him in his first game following the announcement even after he issued an apology.
ANTHONY MUNDINE
Dragons to Broncos
The Dragons insisted they would match any offer Brisbane tabled to Mundine but ultimately he defected to the Broncos. His decision left the Dragons furious, especially since Mundine made the announcement of his impending switch midway through the 1996 ARL season.
“I think Anthony hasn’t performed his best over the last couple of weeks because he’s been thinking about making a decision … as far as his future is concerned,” Dragons CEO Brian Johnston said at the time.
Mundine’s only title was the 1997 Super League trophy with the Broncos. He returned to Kogarah in 1998.
BOB FULTON
Manly to Roosters
Manly legend Fulton caused a furore at the end of the 1976 season when he announced he was departing Brookvale to join Eastern Suburbs. The immortal was prolific during his time at Manly and won three grand finals during the 213 games. Despite his influence at Manly, he wasn’t able to repeat the same premiership glory at Bondi Junction.
He returned to Manly as a coach following a stint in charge of Easts and angered Roosters fans when he took superstars Kerry Boustead, Ian Schubert and Noel ‘Crusher’ Cleal to the Sea Eagles in 1983.
ANTHONY WATMOUGH
Sea Eagles to Eels
The Manly hardman had a bitter fallout with the club he won two premierships at between 2002-2014.
He was at the club when he was 13 and, along with coach Des Hasler and teammates including Jamie Lyon, Brett and Glenn Stewart, helped rebuild the Sea Eagles.
But in-fighting at board level, a falling out with Daly Cherry-Evans and a tense relationship with then-coach Geoff Toovey, Watmough got fed up with stories about him leaking out.
“When all the negativity started and I started to look like Hitler out there I knew it was time for me,” Watmough said. “I knew that too much happened during the year that was said and done so I knew that was time for me then.”
By the end of the 2014 season, Watmough had signed with the Eels where he only managed 17 games in two seasons and was medically retired in 2016.
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DEAN PAY, JARROD MCCRACKEN, JIM DYMOCK AND JASON SMITH
Bulldogs to Eels
The superstar international quartet, known as ‘the Canterbury Four’ became the faces of the bitter split in rugby league as Super League and the ARL battled to sign players.
Having originally to remain with the Super League-bound Bulldogs in 1995, Pay, McCracken, Dymock and Smith later tried to get out of their contracts, claiming they signed them under duress.
After a messy legal battle, the four players won their case and were allowed to join the Eels on a combined annual salary of $1.7 million, outrageous because the previous year’s salary cap was $1.8 million.
It was seen as a win for the ARL, but Bulldogs fans never quite forgave the stars for leaving.
Originally published as Before Latrell: Rugby league’s most notorious defectors
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