It's a genetic thing we at Salford had his brother Steve last season.
Had more bandages than a chemists shop

Although the Wariors were pretty ordinary this morning, Rapira came off the bench and was their best forward on the park in his first game of the year.

the imminent signing of rapira was rife at stanningley ages ago,
surely the posters on here that regularly frequent the academy games must have heard that in our clubhouse?

With such a shortage of good quality props in SL Rapira will be a top end player and a welcome addition to the competition.

Lots of interesting talk about rapira 'replacing' Kylie etc.. always strange the way we compare a player coming in to any that are leaving.

As best I can tell rapira is not like either peacock or kylie.

What I think we need is a bit of experience to singos rawness and a bit of bang to Cuthbertsons clever handling. It looks like he offers both those things.

Next question is. Who will be the fourth prop?

Quote Fallon="Fallon" What I think we need is a bit of experience to singos rawness and a bit of bang to Cuthbertsons clever handling. It looks like he offers both those things. '" He certainly runs it in hard. bigpondvideo.com/NRL_Warriors/59 ... ighlights/

Quote Fallon="Fallon" What I think we need is a bit of experience to singos rawness and a bit of bang to Cuthbertsons clever handling. It looks like he offers both those things. '" He certainly runs it in hard. bigpondvideo.com/NRL_Warriors/59 ... ighlights/

With plenty of SC space freed up next year could it finally be the year we sign Fielden, maybe along with Willie Talou to add some cover/competition among the backs





(PS as a testament to JPs incredible longevity to note that he's 2 years older than Fielden...how long ago does it seem since Fielden was the stand out SL prop)

Fielden was a bit of a freak in the mould of Sam Burgess in that he was a stand out front rower in his teens (Who can forget his battles with Barrie??) where most props don't start really making their mark until mid twenties.By that time Fielden had probably become the best prop on the planet, highlighted by the wonderful 2 try performance against Wests in the WCC in 2006.It all came crashing down that same year though with his move to Wigan, His mother passing away and a mullering from Willie Mason in the Tri Series. After that he was a pale shadow of the dominant player he was and he never got it back.Like you say, hard to believe that is nearly a decade ago now and in that period JP came tous, moved to Front row and has been the main man in that position in SL since.

To continue derailing this thread...When you stand back and look at it JP has had the equivalent of 2 excellent careers...

Second Rower/Bratfud- 200+ appearances, 3SL titles(+2 finalist), 2CC (+1 finalist)

Prop/Leeds- 250+ appearances, 5SL titles, 1CC (+2 finalist)

I don't think I can think of any player who even comes close to that achievement.

Fielden's early form was sadly overshadowed by what he became in later years. He was superb against Australia in the home series (2003?), and was great when supported by other good forwards. I think his upright running style eventually told against him, as probably did simply slowing down as he got older and being virtually the sole big forward meaning he'd run with a virtual target on his forehead. He got hit really hard too often and seemed to end up gun shy.

He's one of those players who people seemed to quickly forget had been more than just good for a while.

He didn't win much (a Challenge Cup & Aus Winfield Cup) but Kevin Ward excelled at Cas, Manly & Saints. Admittedly 3/4 of that was at Cas.

Kevin Ward was another that Leeds missed out on as a junior IIRC.

I just read that rumours of Gallen to Leeds seem to be growing as well. The guy's a prize prat as far as I can tell, but he's certainly a very good player. Having said that, you'd also want to make sure he only took one drive in attacking sets - he's a major ball hog.