as an oppo fan, lauititi was amazing that you got him so early in his career, that really did seem to come out of nowhere.

And whilst on field it didn't pan out too well, i'm sure i remember ben walker's signing as being a big thing at that time.

Brad Godden
David Barnhill
Matt Adamson
Marcus Bai
Scott Donald


Brett Mullins and Brad Clyde were groundbreaking, if not successful

Buderus, Webb, Lauiti'iti, Peacock,Hanley, Harris, Ellis. Would be my top class signings we made that worked out.

Trent Merrin, Greg Eastwood, Segeyaro are my 3 should have been world class signings for us Merrin and Segeyaro were class for us when they both had stints at the club but 'home sickness' got the better of them. Eastwood was a NZ international when we signed him on a 3 year deal but I wasn't too impressed with him in 2010 season and he also came down with 'home sickness'

Buderus the best. By far. One of those "how have we signed him?!" Moments. Doubt we'll get one again anytime soon. Essentially the best in the world in their position.

Surprised his name hasn’t cropped up yet as during my time watching (since 1980) You don’t get much of a bigger name.....at the time...John Gallagher. Didn’t work out mind but still a massive signing when announced

You are dead right Cheeky. Think people are focusing on signings that was successful rather than massive announcements.

Players like Ellis and Donald was good players but id argue Brett Ferres was more of a major signing at the time.

Gallagher was real news when he signed. Front and back page news actually. Leeds got more headlines for that than when Ellery signed which seems bloody laughable now.

BRETT FERRIS



You are having a laugh , he was past his best when he joined us and it is a matter of opinion how good he ever was , probably only ever had 1 good season

Issue with Ali when he came over was there huge speculation he might stick around that long and only stay a year or two

What a find he was

Were not talking about how good a signing he was though are we? Were talking about groundbreaking signings. People are saying Ellis and similar but at the time they wasnt mega massive signings albeit Ellis was a very very good signing.

Im not saying Ferres was a groundbreaking signing but at the time he was a bigger announcement than some are mentioning.

Dont confuse groundbreaking with successful. As Cheeky says probably the most groundbreaking signing in the last 40 years was John Gallagher and look how that worked out.

Ferris was not Ground breaking full stop and i am not talking about if he was successful or not . He did not capture the imagination of anyone i knew at the time .

Ferris was a big signing at the time, he was coming off being pretty much player of the series for England vs the Kiwis and Leeds couldn't believe their luck in being able to bring him in, totally unexpectedly.

How he (or other flops like Gallagher and arguably Adamson, Eastwood etc) performed doesn't affect how they were perceived at the time.

wasn't keith rayne a record fee at 45k , offiah biggest at widnes , davies the one that never was , biggest miss robinson

It's clear which people read all of a topic before commenting.
It's true that signings like Ferres, Eastwood and Gallagher were bigger hype than Ellis etc, so would be more suitable for this list.
I even think the Achurch signing had more razzmatazz attached to it!

Ferres was one of those signings we have had over the years and I'm going back a long way . Arrive at Headingley and " I'm here I've made it " mission accomplished, but forgot they had to play

Think fact he couldnt train for 3 years but still played didnt help but people dont want to hear that.

Shouldve got rid either way. Waste of cap space with awful attitude

Yeah things certainly went against him. Far from our worst player during his sori at Headingly. Just never lived up to high expectations we all had...

Let’s not forget Ferres was captain of us at one point

Cliff Lyons was probably one of the most anticipated arrivals I can remember along with Eric Grothe and Andrew Ettinghausen

Whilst Ferris was a big signing, Gaz Ellis got more of a fanfare on arrival. Leeds and Bradford had been chasing him between them for a long time before we finally got him. His welcome on the field on the Boxing Day game was huge.

I wonder where his career would have gone had he signed for the Bulls instead.

Craig Innes if i remember rightly he had just played in the RU World cup and he was a highly thought of ALL Black

He was a top centre and could have become a great player for leeds if he had not walked out of the club to go to Manley , always felt robbed not seeing him develop into a top RL player

Biggest signings are Peacock, Hanley, Harris, Lauitiiti, Schofield.

I always think the significance of Keith Senior's signing and his contribution to our success gets overlooked. He was the best British centre in the competition for over a decade and amongst the best in the world in the early to mid 2000s.

Probably came to Leeds eventually

In terms of groundbreaking then signing Mullins and Clyde in the same off-season must be up there! Granted Mullins was a total bust and Clyde a partial bust but at the time they signed it was a big deal.

Going back a bit further that period of cliff Lyons, ET and Sam Backo was pretty special both on paper and on the pitch.