We have profiled some of the recent disastrous sojourns by NRL players into the inferior Super League.
Following a disastrous three-year stint with the Parramatta Eels in which he never lived up to his significant pay packet, the Eels released Chris Sandow from the final year of his contract to join English Super League side Warrington Wolves.
Sandow had a promising start to his career in England, scoring 12 tries in 31 appearances as well as being identified as a candidate for the coveted Man of Steel award. However, things quickly turned sour for Both Sandow and Warrington.
Citing homesickness and a desire to be closer to his family, Sandow decided that he would not be returning to England to participate in pre-season training with his teammates, seeking no formal release from his contract.
It is fair to say the Wolves hierarchy was less than impressed with Sandow’s approach, with Warrington’s head of rugby operations Karl Fitzpatrick saying that “Chris is contracted until the end of 2017 and should have reported for pre-season training today. This is a clear breach of contract.”
After failing to convince Sandow to see out his deal, Warrington chief Tony Smith firing a parting shot at the diminutive halfback by labelling him unreliable and ordinary in an interview with TotalRL.com, after Sandow failed to inform the club personally of his decision to remain in Australia.
After falling out of favour with then Penrith coach Anthony Griffin, as well as being photographed at dinner with senior bikie figure Paulie Younan, the Panthers thought it best to try and get the 2014 Dally M hooker of the year off their wage bill.
Following a trade with Leeds that saw fullback Zak Hardaker go the other way, Segeyaro signed an initial loan deal with the Rhinos, and then later went onto sign a two-year contract, simultaneously removing a get-out clause from his new deal.
Segeyaro made a big impact at his new club, helping them win nine of the first ten games which he played in. But sadly for Rhinos fans, after returning to Australia for Christmas break in December, Segeyaro’s manager informed Leeds that he would not be returning.
Similarly to Chris Sandow, Segeyaro never requested a formal release, rather deciding to be in breach of his contract by remaining in Australia.
This led to Leeds slapping a reported £250,000 transfer fee on his head to scare off potential suitors. After realising there was zero chance that Segeyaro would be returning to the North of England, Leeds agreed an undisclosed settlement with the Cronulla Sharks that would allow them to register Segeyaro as an NRL player.
Leeds CEO Gary Hetherington later described the episode as having left "a bitter taste."
After being sacked by his third NRL club, Todd Carney decided to try his luck in the Super League and signed a three-year deal with the Catalans Dragons in France.
Having fought off multiple other suitors to gain his signature, the Dragons took the somewhat questionable step of anointing Carney their club captain. Sadly for Carney, only two games into his Super League career he would break his ribs, foreshadowing the rest of his career in Perpignan.
Carney went onto feature 33 times for the Dragons, scoring an impressive nine tries at five-eight, and those performances coupled with winning his wrongful dismissal case against the Sharks resulted in rumours beginning to circulate of a potential NRL return. This was put to bed almost immediately with Carney announcing at the Dragons awards night that he had signed a fresh three-year deal with Catalans.
However only months later and after winning only two of thirteen Super League matches, Carney would be forced out of the door with three-years still left on his contract, alongside fellow Australians Dave Taylor and Glenn Stewart.
After an extremely underwhelming four years on the Gold Coast in which he lost his Queensland Origin and Australian Kangaroos jumpers, it was hope that big Dave Taylor could reinvigorate himself in the form of a deal with the Perpignan based Catalans Dragons.
Taylor was billed as a big signing (both physically and metaphorically) by Dragons coach Laurent Frayssinous, citing his speed, agility, and size as major assets for the Dragons in their bid for a Super League title.
Sadly for Taylor and Frayssinous, his career continued on a drastic downward spiral that hadn't stopped since he departed the Rabbitohs at the end of 2012.
Taylor featured regularly for the Dragons in the first season of his deal, but his fitness and commitment were constantly questioned, a notion that has become all too common with the former Origin forward.
At the conclusion of the 2016 season, Taylor was a part of a mass clean out that occurred in the South of France, being told by the Dragons hierarchy that he was surplus to requirements.
Taylor's career has since sadly faded out, making sporadic appearances for the Canberra Raiders, before joining the Toronto Wolfpack, followed by a stint with the Queensland Cup side the Central Queensland Capras.
Another victim of the consistent salary cap pressures at Penrith, Peta Hiku was released from his contract mid-season to join the Warrington Wolves until the end of the 2019 season.
Hiku had a bright start to his career in the North of England, scoring ten tries in his first eleven matches, but seeing as Hiku is now entering his second season with his hometown club the Warriors, that should indicate that his stay was fleeting.
After featuring in only eleven matches for the Wolves, Hiku (unlike some of the other players on this list) requested a release from his contract on compassionate grounds with two-years still remaining on his Wolves contract.
Despite parting ways earlier than expected, Hiku departed with the club's blessing. With CEO Karl Fitzpatrick saying that he did" fully respect him wanting to return home to be with his family... Maybe one day in the future we may see him pull on the Primrose and Blue again."