NRL: Bell turns an eye to English players

Dean Bell will scout for talent in England next month while on tour with the Kiwis. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Expect the Warriors to return their eyes to Mother England now that Dean Bell is in charge of player recruitment.

Bringing in top players from England was part of the foundation strategy at the Warriors, with superstars Denis Betts and Andy Platt recruited for the inaugural 1995 season.

Veteran internationals Platt and Betts, both teammates of Bell at Wigan, earned mixed reviews for their efforts in the NRL. Platt, who was 31 and had a dicky knee when he arrived at the club, was generally considered a failure. He played 35 games over two seasons without scoring a try.

Betts did slightly better, scoring 11 tries in 42 games over three seasons, but both were tainted by the Warriors' failure to live up to the considerable expectations and hype that accompanied the club's entry into the NRL.

The consensus was that the club received little bang for the significant amount of bucks invested in players who had established their reputations sweeping all before them with Wigan. And if superstars like Platt and Betts couldn't cut it Down Under, there surely wasn't much point in pursuing more Poms.

So seems to have been the attitude at the club ever since. Coaches and owners have come and gone, but it has been 12 years since a Brit pulled on a Warriors jumper.

That could be about to change.

"There are players over there who could do a job in the NRL," Bell said.

Former Wakefield and Leeds back rower Gareth Ellis, who rattled plenty of teeth getting about for Wests Tigers this season, was a good example.

A regular in the Great Britain side, Ellis is the type of player Bell will be after. New Zealand has enough talent coming through to fill out the club's junior ranks. Bell wants only finished products.

Bradford prop Sam Burgess would certainly fit the bill. Already an established international at just 20, Burgess is rated by many as the best young forward in the game - in either hemisphere. He is contracted to Bradford for another season, but Manly and Souths are already circling.

His manager, Chris Caisley, has said it is just a matter of time until Burgess switches to the NRL, but the sticking point with British players is usually money. The exchange rate means the money on offer in the NRL falls well short of what the best British players can earn in Super League.

Bell, however, doesn't believe it is an insurmountable problem.

"I would like to think that the challenge of trying to foot it in the NRL is something that would inspire them to come over here," he said.

"Not belittling the Super League, but I don't think you can really say that you've made it in the game until you've tried it in the NRL. A guy like Gareth Ellis, I'm sure he didn't come for the money. He would have been well paid at Leeds. That is the sort of player you want."

Bell's search for the next British Warrior will begin next month, when he sounds out potential recruits while in England serving as the Kiwis' football manager during the Four Nations tournament.