John Kear will make a decision on the trialists this week mate.

I expect King has signed given he's got a space in the dressing room at Tong.

Andrade looks more promising than Burnett IMO. But both look short of fitness which is to be expected in the circumstances.

Indeed.

I'd expect Andrade to lose some timber if he's signed and given some sort of delayed 'pre-season', which may mitigate some of his effectiveness but hopefully not by too much.

He’s a brave lad judging by the way he took the ball up versus Toronto as he got absolutely smashed a couple of times. There’s potential for sure. If he can get some more fitness and learn from the coaches he could be worth a punt.

According to MickTheGled on the commentary this Andrade bloke is a Marine I think. So fitness should be decent in terms of having an engine. Just need to shed some timber and try build some explosiveness to be more effective in contact.

Think someones confused, Andrade was RAF last I heard.

He's not unfit but the step up was pretty big for him versus Toronto and he struggled at the end of each stint. But he'll not come up against anyone that good in C1. Think Bulls Boy 2011 hits the nail on the head, it's technique in contact and a bit of explosiveness that will help him.

That's why I put I think. Haven't heard the commentary or watched the match since Saturday or whenever it got uploaded. Probably is RAF. Either way. Fitness will still be spot on. So he won't have far to go.



Agreed, it was a step up for him. Tbf it was for all our lads. But I see your point. Hopefully he'll get a good run out against Keighley who are in our league. See how he goes. But yeah, build up some explosiveness and hopefully he can become a good impact prop for us. He's a unit and I'm sure defenses won't like the idea of Peltier, Andrade and Goodall running at them after they are tired from Crossley, Kirk and Milton/Hallas barraging them first.

Fitness is relative to be fair and isn't some definitive condition, but more 'fit for purpose' - as in, I'm actually very fit for my purpose of ambling down to the papershop each morning.

I'm pretty sure Andrade will be fit for being a soldier, airman, or marine (strike out whatever.. etc etc ) which is obviously a decent level of general physical fitness plus any services specific levels, but that is quite a different thing to being match fit for pro rugby - in just the same way that a rugby player would probably fall short in some areas of services fitness.

I think he looks the part, to be honest and I can't wait to see how he goes after more time on the training paddock with the team.

Think Andrades definitely worth a punt. Nothing to lose if he doesn't work out IMO

Armed Forces international, gonna have a good level of fitness. If he is still serving, and we can get him to training and match fit then he will be a good capture I feel.

If we can't get him to training regularly, and isn't available for games then it won't be a good fit.

Obviously service comes first.

There's some brilliant players in the armed forces sides, that Ben Taylor the GB Captain for one.

Except for the wages you'd be paying him.

Jamel Goodall extended his contract until 2019

Andrade is " former RAF Weapons Technician" should be able to sort out opposition loose cannons then.

rubbish puns aside, Goodall has done al lot of good (oops...) and Andrade could shape up well, hopefully keeping his eye for an offload. Still no decapitator type of prop that this forum longs for, or to put it another way the signs are still there that Chalo want a pack that can play a bit not just slug it out.

Still think a terminator type prop is needed to give the players some space and time to play a bit. But I’m sure Kear knows what he’s doing.

Great to see Goodall rewarded for his showings so far. He’s a big strong lad that’s caused the opposition some problems so far.