Leeds Rhinos Nostalgia: The Aussie stars who gave Leeds a short-term boost

While it lasted, the practice – which worked both ways – brought a flood of top Aussies to this country and Leeds were happy to splash the cash on short-term imports.

The obvious problem with such deals was they lasted only as long as the Aussie competition was in hibernation and once it restarted, the star imports returned Down Under, which is what happened 34 years ago today.

During the 1986-87 season, Leeds’ squad included the likes of Bob Morris, from country side Taree and Peter Smith, an experienced ex-Canterbury, South Sydney and Illawarra forward.

Morris played 10 times for Leeds and Smith recorded nine appearances, but two other imports made a much stronger impression, particularly Andrew Ettingshausen, who signed for Leeds after being omitted from the 1986 Kangaroos touring squad.

He went on to become a huge fans’ favourite at Headingley during two spells with the club.

Known as ET, the Cronulla youngster was signed by Leeds as a centre and later switched to full-back, scoring 17 tries in 20 games in his first season and returning two years later when he took his tally to 30 touchdowns in 41 appearances.

Ettingshausen played in 29 internationals for Australia, as well as 16 non-Test matches, 31 times for New South Wales and 328 games with Cronulla.

He retired in 2000 and later became a television personality in Australia.

On his first visit to Leeds, Ettingshausen brought a team-mate with him, Mark McGaw and both Aussies bagged a brace of tries when Leeds beat Barrow 26-7 in the second round of the Challenge Cup at Headingley on February 15, 1987.

It was McGaw’s 16th and final game for the club before his return to Cronulla and the two tries took him to six in Leeds colours.

McGaw, nicknamed ‘Sparkles’ may have lacked the Ettingshausen’s attacking flair, but proved a solid signing, impressing fans with his strong defence.

After his single spell with Leeds he returned to Cronulla and made his State of Origin debut later that year.

He went on to play 13 times for New South Wales over five seasons, scoring six tries.

In 1988 McGaw played for Australia in their World Cup final win over New Zealand at Auckland, the first of his four Test appearances.

After leaving Cronulla in 1992 he had a year at Penrith and ended his playing career – which included almost 200 first-team games – with two seasons for South Sydney.

Now 56, McGaw hung up his boots in 1996, became a male model and also had a stint as ‘Hammer’ on the Australian Gladiators television show.

He then moved into the fitness industry and was founder of the Mark McGaw Institute of Sports Science. The Cup win over Barrow in 1987 – when Roy Powell was the other try scorer and Colin Maskill kicked three goals in front of a 7,849 crowd – was Leeds’ fifth successive win in all competitions, but the wheels came off following McGaw’s departure as they lost nine of their final 12 matches. The Loiners finished the year 12th in the 16-team Championship and only points difference separated them from relegated Oldham.

Hunslet finished top of the Second Division and one more Leeds defeat would have seen then the city rivals swap places in the elite competition.

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