Matty Nicholson’s sparkling two-try debut in Canberra’s upset of Brisbane on Saturday night was the start of another chapter in the Raiders’ rich recent narratives of English players featuring in the lime green jersey.
Brits have regularly made their mark on the Australian premiership, from the time poker machine revenue gave Sydney clubs the clout to lure them Down Under during the 1960s and ’70s, through to memorable off-season stints from the Old Dart’s finest in the 1980s and early-’90s.
Super League’s switch to the Northern Hemisphere summer meant it was one or the other from 1996 and Poms in the NRL were few and far between – with long-serving Roosters enforcer a notable exception Adrian Morley – until the late-2000s, when the trickle became a comparative flood.
We’ve selected an all-time British 17, based on the players’ performance in the NSWRL, ARL and NRL premierships.
Fullback – Gareth Widdop (Melbourne, St George Illawarra)
Widdop played the vast majority of his 195-game NRL career at five-eighth, but he was a quality custodian – as his role in the No.1 in England’s 2017 World Cup charge confirmed – and undoubtedly ranks as one of the great British imports.
After winning an NYC premiership with Melbourne, he featured in the Storm’s 2012 grand final victory and was lured to St George Illawarra two years later.
Widdop was rarely anything less than outstanding for a largely underperforming Dragons side, earning top-five Dally M Medal finishes in 2014 and ’17, and captaining the club for four seasons. He scored 1,003 points in the NRL.
Welsh wizard Jonathan Davies was hard to leave out after his sparkling 14-game stay at Canterbury in 1991 (he also played nine games in North Queensland’s debut season), while Sam Tomkins’ scintillating best wasn’t seen often enough to justify the Warriors’ world record transfer fee outlay in 2014-15.
Steve Hampson turned out for wooden spooners Illawarra in 1989.
Wingers – Brian Carney (Newcastle) and Martin Offiah (Eastern Suburbs and St George)
Few players have made more of an impact in a solitary season in the NRL than Irishman and Great Britain international Carney, who scored 16 tries and won the Dally M Winger of the Year award after spending 2006 with Newcastle.
Carney subsequently bailed on a contract with the fledgling Gold Coast Titans and switched to rugby union with Munster.
An instant sensation at Widnes after defecting from union, Offiah scored nine tries in 12 games for struggling Eastern Suburbs in 1989 and was equally potent for St George in 1991, crossing 11 times in 14 appearances.
‘Chariots’, a flamboyant, electrifying speedster, suffered a dislocated shoulder in the first match of his 1993 stint with the Roosters and returned home to help Wigan to another swag of trophies.
Barrow winger Bob Wear deserves a special mention, making more than 100 appearances and scoring 29 tries in five seasons at Cronulla and lining up in the club’s 1973 grand final loss.
Ken Batty played on the wing for St George in the 1971 grand final after spending most of the season in the centres.
Versatile Wigan gun Joe Lydon had a memorable 12-game stint on the wing for an Easts side that reached the preliminary final in 1987, while he returned the following season and featured at centre and fullback.
Another Wigan crowd-pleaser, Henderson Gill, had limited impact during a 1985 stay with South Sydney, while Joe Burgess was underwhelming for the Rabbitohs and Roosters in 2016, and champion Leeds winger Ryan Hall played just 11 games for the Roosters when he came to the NRL in 2019-20.
Centres – Ellery Hanley (Balmain and Western Suburbs) and Garry Schofield (Balmain and Western Suburbs)
Great Britain Test stars Hanley and Schofield may have been branded mercenaries by Australian critics, but their impact and value during off-season stints with Balmain during the 1980s is undeniable.
Scholfield ventured to Sydney first, scoring 28 tries in 47 games for the Tigers from 1985-87 and featuring in three straight finals series. Despite arriving in Round 9, he finished as the competition’s equal top tryscorer in 1986.
The mercurial Hanley remained in Sydney after Great Britain’s 1988 tour Down Under and produced a scintillating run of form to inspire Balmain to an unlikely grand final appearance from a fifth-place playoff.
Hanley was controversially knocked out in the decider by a high shot from Terry Lamb – and the Tigers’ premiership chances went with him.
Schofield and Hanley both linked with struggling Wests on big money in 1989, helping the club to improved results and crowd figures. Hanley returned to Balmain in the twilight of his career, featuring in 1996-97 as a five-eighth or forward.
Goalkicking centre Andy Currier was superb in the Tigers’ drive to the 1989 grand final.
Gary Connolly (Canterbury) and John Devereux (Manly) played finals football in fine one-season stints in 1993, while Barrie-Jon Mather featured in all three of the doomed Western Reds’ campaigns.
Herbie Farnworth almost jagged a spot in this line-up on the strength of his Dally M Centre of the Year efforts in Brisbane’s 2023 grand final season and the Dolphins’ 2024 campaign, passing 100 NRL appearances in early-2025.
Five-eighth – David Bolton (Balmain)
After featuring in three Ashes series victories for Great Britain, the crafty Bolton arrived at Balmain in 1965.
The ex-Wigan great was the Tigers’ linchpin as they reached the 1966 grand final and again as they pulled off arguably the greatest upset in grand final history over South Sydney in 1969, booting two field goals in the 11-2 boilover.
Bolton hung up the boots the following season at the age of 33, leaving behind a legacy as arguably the most influential British player in the Sydney premiership to that point. He later coached Parramatta and Balmain.
Dave Topliss spent 1976 at Penrith, then joined Balmain and scored a club record-equalling five tries in a win over Newtown and featured in two finals games.
Brilliant Wigan playmaker could not find a way past the Balmain halves combination of Gary Freeman and Mick Neil in 1989, instead coming off the bench in the Tigers’ heartbreaking extra-time grand final loss to Canberra.
Halfback – Tommy Bishop (Cronulla)
Fiery St Helens and Great Britain halfback Bishop signed with Cronulla in 1969 and took over as captain-coach the following season, his 60-game tenure culminating in the club’s maiden grand final appearance – a 10-7 loss to Manly in an infamously brutal encounter.
Bishop’s leadership was invaluable but he was also one of the competition’s standout playmakers, winning the 1970 Rugby League Week Player of the Year award. He went on to coach North Sydney and Cronulla.
Ivor Lingard, also a centre or five-eighth, became the first English player to make 100 appearances in the Sydney premiership during his 1964-70 stay with Parramatta.
Wigan star Andy Gregory’s most notable contribution at Illawarra in 1989 was spearheading the battling club’s gallant performance in its Panasonic Cup final loss to Brisbane, while Paul Bishop – son of Tommy – was Cronulla’s halfback in its finals campaign that year before a brief stay with Gold Coast.
Chris Thorman had an abortive stay with Parramatta in 2004, while George Williams had a decent first season at Canberra in 2020 but departed mid-2021 for Warrington.
Props – Adrian Morley (Sydney Roosters) and James Graham (Canterbury and St George Illawarra)
Morley became the longest-serving and most valuable English import in decades after joining Sydney Roosters in 2001.
Though he spent more than his share of time sidelined by suspension, Morley played 113 games in six seasons and was the engine-room cornerstone of the Roosters 2002 premiership and 2003-04 grand final appearances.
James Graham’s arrival from St Helens was integral to Canterbury’s capture of the 2012 minor premiership and grand final appearance, while he was named Dally M Prop of the Year and skippered the Bulldogs in the absence of Michael Ennis in the 2014 grand final.
‘Jammer’ captained Canterbury fulltime from 2015-17 before joining St George Illawarra for three seasons, finishing with 186 NRL appearances.
Cliff Watson was a fearsome presence in Cronulla’s front-row in 38 games from 1971-73, famously leading the fight against Manly in the violent 1973 grand final.
George Burgess scored a memorable grand final try for Souths in 2014 a year after winning Dally M Rookie of the Year honours, ultimately playing 153 games for the Rabbitohs and Dragons.
Twin brother and longtime clubmate Tom played 249 games for Souths, while older sibling Luke made 71 appearances for Souths and Manly.
Harvey Howard won a premiership with Brisbane in 2000 after stints with Easts and Wests.
Hooker – Josh Hodgson (Canberra and Parramatta)
In the toughest selection call, we’ve gone for Canberra’s ball-playing dummy-half Hodgson over goalkicking North Sydney and Manly hooker-prop John Gray.
Hull product Hodgson linked with the Raiders in 2015, finished equal-sixth in the 2016 Dally M Medal and was as important as any player in the Green Machine’s 2019 grand final surge – challenging Cameron Smith for the mantle of the game’s top hooker at one stage.
Hodgson subsequently endured multiple injury-ravaged seasons in the capital before retiring with a disappointing season at Parramatta in 2023, playing 150 NRL games in all.
Mike Stephenson was a highly respected rake in 69 games for Penrith (1974-78), including being thrust into the captain-coach role in 1975.
Great Britain Test regular Lee Jackson played for Souths in 1995 and won a grand final during a somewhat rocky three-season stay with Newcastle.
Second-rowers – Malcolm Reilly (Manly) and Elliott Whitehead (Canberra)
Better known as a lock, the brilliant and brutal Reilly shifts to the second-row in this line-up to accommodate English import greats elsewhere in the pack.
Reilly joined Manly in 1971 and was viewed as the missing link in the club’s long search for a maiden title, starring in the Sea Eagles’ 1972-73 grand final victories with his rare mixture of deft ball-playing and defensive savagery.
The Castleford icon left Manly in 1975 after 89 first-grade games but later returned to Australia to coach Newcastle to its first premiership in 1997.
One of only two English players to make 200 NRL appearances, Whitehead was a durable and dynamic back-rower performer for Canberra from 2016-24 – including the club’s 2019 grand final season.
Whitehead also captained the Raiders in 58 games, edging out two of the great British imports, St George’s Dick Huddart and Wests Tigers’ Gareth Ellis for a spot here.
Brian Lockwood featured in Canterbury-Bankstown’s 1974 grand final team and spent the following three seasons at Balmain.
John Bateman was named Dally M Second-rower of the Year in 2019 before playing in the Raiders’ gut-wrenching grand final loss, but he failed to reach similar heights in an unhappy stint with the Tigers.
Lock – Sam Burgess (South Sydney)
Arguably the greatest British import to grace the Australian club scene, Burgess played 182 across two stints with South Sydney that were intersected by a brief switch to rugby union.
The Bradford tyro was an immediate sensation in the NRL after arriving in 2010, while his tenure unquestionably peaked in 2014 when he was named Dally M Lock of the Year and Souths’ Player of the Year, and claimed the Clive Churchill Medal in the Rabbitohs’ grand final win over Canterbury.
Burgess enter the annals of rugby league bravery after having his cheekbone smashed in the opening seconds of the decider and playing out the match.
The Rabbitohs’ Player of the Year again in 2016-17, Burgess regularly captained the club until his retirement in 2019. He created more history by becoming the first Englishman to be inducted into the NRL Hall of Fame in 2024.
Reserves – John Gray (North Sydney and Manly), Gareth Ellis (Wests Tigers), Dick Huddart (St George) and Tom Burgess (South Sydney)
Gray, one of the first around-the-corner goalkickers, scored 611 points in 139 premiership games. He was a tremendous contributor for the hapless Bears from 1975-77 and 1981-83, either side of a three-season stint with the Sea Eagles that saw him miss their 1978 grand final triumph through suspension.
Ellis’ bang for buck in his 2009-12 stay with the Tigers cannot be denied, winning three consecutive club Player of the Year gongs along with the 2009-10 Dally M Second-rower of the Year gongs. He was a vital component of the Tigers’ top-four finishes in 2010-11.
Whitehaven second-rower Huddart joined all-conquering St George in 1964 and scored a try in the last of the club’s streak of 11 straight grand final victories in 1966, racking up 78 appearances in the Red V to the end of 1968.
Tom Burgess snags the last bench spot by virtue of playing 249 games for Souths, the second-most in the club’s history and the most by a British import in the Australian competition.