Was he "first choice" in the same way that Eastwood was "first choice"?

As in the "first choice" that actually said yes?

Talking of sicknotes Popeye, how come you and that old tub are not orft sailing the ocean Blue? Somebody lost the compass?

Spot on there Ted!

A very welcome addition to our hard working pack.

So....... do we think that's about it recruitment wise now Cross has signed? I have a feeling it might be, especially with the return of Smith half way through last season.. or can we squeeze some more cap space... GH normally says when business is finished but he's not confirmed anything.

Donald and Eastwood have gone. I would imagine Senior and Lauititi will be on reduced terms. There should be more cap space.

Thought we still had some cap space left over from last year, might be wrong.
Are we to assume Cross will be on as much as Eastwood and Smith as much as Donald.
Personally I would say they are on less maybe not by much but certainly less.
Therefore we should have some spare capacity to bring in someone else IMO.

Never ceases to amaze me that some people are on a new players back already! Given how late we've left our recruitment Ben Cross ticks all the boxes and will be a welcome addition. Seems that unless we sign superstar house hold names some folk aren't happy. Or maybe they just don't watch the NRL.

We've finally signed another player named after a Prince song. We've not had one since Keith and Kevin Purple-Rayne left.

And we should have signed Nicky Kiss all those years ago. He was a twofer.

Don't forget Prince and the NPG - All That Glitters Ain't Marvin Golden!!

I was a nurse that advised me so I guess things might be different with modern sport medical techniques compared to the NHS.

Excuse me if I’m massively underwhelmed by this signing but a 32 year old prop that can’t get resigned to a NRL?

My concerns may be proved wrong and I sincerely hope they are but I’m hardly doing cartwheels over this announcement.

I've only seen him play a few times on the TV and from what I recall he could do a pretty good job for us,if he settles and if he stays injury free.

According to reports he missed the entire 2009 season due to a torn bicep but in 2008 he was a state of origin prop so clearly he's no mug. Hopefully he'll settle as his Mrs is best mates with Mrs Buderus and from Reading between the lines of the various press reports it's Bedsy that has recommended him to the powers that be.

I'm not overwhelmed either, typical Hetherington recruitment for me.

However, what do you mean by "can't get resigned to a NRL"? he was signed to an NRL club but asked for an early release to take up the offer from Leeds.

How many fans were less than impressed when Leeds signed a Wigan reject Aussie called David Furner?