What is so newsworthy about some amateur team signing an amateur that it deserves a thread on the vt?

Anyway, sinfield summed it best after their last gf win. If only the amateur calderwood had heeded those words

He thought the grass was greener at Wigan and look how he has fallen. I never rated him at leeds, he was fast and a decent finisher but was terrible under the high ball and would have scored 5 tries a season less under todays rules because the 20 restart rule has bn changed.

World Cup to pennine league 5 in less than 4 years, thats impressive.

Calderwood is a crab

he only runs sideways

Last i saw of him he was working for biffa in leeds collecting bins only a few weeks ago.

I hope he can get back on his feet in rugby league but even if he does he'll only have a few more years if he's lucky.

I think he should look to his future career and put rugby behind him, he had a decent career at his peak, won a grand final and WCC, played and scored in a CC final and went to the world cup in australia, it's more than many.

I think he was unfortunate after leaving leeds. At the time he joined both wigan and hull they were sort of going through unstable times and had changes in the coaches, plus disruption by injury and he wasn't really able to kick on, but he put in some outstanding performances for wigan, especially the FE in 2008 at leeds when he single handedly saved 3 or 4 tries in the second half.

Calderwoods main facet was his pace. He wasn't big or powerful, just really fast and energetic with kick chases. So when injuries caught up with him as well as age and his pace faded teams haven't really seen much use in him and he's drifted off the radar.

Even if he had stayed at leeds instead of going to wigan in 2006, i certainly don't think he'd be playing for them now and theres a decent chance he would still have drifted off the radar.

Are you sure you are not confusing him with Raynor?
Calderwood played well enough at Hull,his injury put paid to him for us I.M.O.

Hope he goes well for you boys, he gave 100% for Hull each game, the faithfull took to him for that, when so called bigger names hid away. Chased a lost cause and created a winning try against KR so he will be remebered for that alone

No, having seen many of his days at Headingley I have seen many of his shocking displays of 'wing play'

Your lack of understanding in regards to playing rugby is astounding. I think you could genuinely count on one hand the number of 'shocking' displays Mark Calderwood produced at Headingley, and if you feel you can count many more then i hope you are coaching in some capacity, so that you can pass on your expertise and experience to lesser skilled and experienced players.

As mosted sincere posters have noted, his effort and enthusiasm whilst wearing the Blue and Amber, and subsequently the Cherry and White and Black and White could rarely be questioned, and whilst it is quite a come down he has managed to get himself a job that i would love to do, so fair play to him.

If he was "that good" he would still be playing Super League

Having seen him last Monday play for Farnley you wouldn't have thought he had ever picked up a rugby ball let alone played at the highest level, by far and away the worst player on the field. The poor sod even looked embarressed to pick his winners medal up!

He's doing great and just asked to stay for the full season. I think he is enjoying travelling with Jamie Thackray and now Mark Calderwood will be with them.

Calderwood scored over 100 tries for Leeds. He wasn't the best attacking winger due to his slight frame, but when clear had speed. His best attribute was the kick-chase - easily the best British player I've seen. The job he did on chasing to stop Vainakolo in the 2004 GF was absolutely immense. The fact that he didn't score a blistering try doesn't detract from the fact that he more than contributed to that win.

Seems that Leeds, Wigan and Hull fans are generally in agreement that when he was fit he was pretty reasonable. He also got picked to play for England, so whilst he may not have been great, at his best he was far better than even an average SL player.

Unbelievable how so many seem to delight in trying to destroy players' reputations.

This,

He was very unlucky at Wigan with injuries, and a lack of ball supply. But he was always very enthusiastic in kick chase and defense.