As would some of the 'usual knockers' castigate them if they signed a 21 year old International churchgoing teetotaller.

I'm not against the signing myself, I'm sceptical but as always hoping to be proven wrong!

I thought Darren Fleary was a good signing for us back in 2005... how massively wrong I was.

I must admit im a bit surprised , I said we needed an Experienced half , we have now got one ,Ben has been a very good player in the past no doubt , so im prepared to back PRs and the BOMs judgements , he could be a very wise signing .If Fev or Fax would have signed him for next season , some posters on here would be ridiculing their decision , but hes now a Leigh player , and I back the Signing .I still think we need to unload a few yet , but its early days , what it does show is the BOM and Paul are not letting the grass grow under their feet , and are planning for next season , which is a good sign .

Correct

I think we would have been better signing Lionel Jeffires myself. He's younger and we might have got Jenny Agutter turning up at matches and waving her knickers like she did in The Railway Children

In all fairness, the signing of Gavin Clinch back then was quite a coup and a little different. He was only 28 and was still playing Super League with Halifax. He dropped a division on an initial 12 month contract with the promise of a further 12 months if we gained promotion.

What a signing he was though, if I recall he won the NL1 player of the year and players player of the year.

Back on Ben Jefferies, halves are difficult to come by thesedays. Look at Hull FC they've just paid us £120k for Marc Sneyd following one decent half-a-season. From an outsiders perspective, I would trust Paul Rowley.

With higgy back could bring Kay into the half backs surely a better option

We all know quality half-backs are hard to find...we also know that you can still lead a team round the park well at a good age...look at Cooke at Doncaster, and Tommy Martyn at Leigh for goodness sake. The ONLY key factor for me is desire. We will know if he has it when he gets here.

So, for me, I give PR and DB the benefit of the doubt...could be a van Gaal moment!

What I remember about Jeffries was he had a great side step and whe he saw a gap he was through,get some of our younger faster las on his shoulder and he will do a good job for us.
Regarding Kay playing in the halves I think he is better where he is,have any of us seen him pass a ball yet,I bet they have tried him there in training and if he was any good he would of had a chance by now.I think he is a great player and out wide he can and will do a lot of damage,don't forget Wigan bought Jason Robinson as a scrum half,did'ne see him feeding the scrum much one he went on the wing.

No one knows how this will pan out unless you have been watching the guy in Australia.
He could be ripping it up or he could be in semi retirement.

It is a poor signing in terms of the state of the British game but Leigh are not responsible for that particular mess.

I can fully understand the concerns that mistakes made from 2005 are not being learned etc and to us fans it may seem a odd signing but its safe to assume that Rowley hasn't made many mistakes in the signing department so I'm certain he knows what he's doing and what he's looking for so based on that.....welcome to Leigh Ben.

to be fair he still looks in good shape here in this link and in demand www.theherald.com.au/story/22829 ... ds-rivals/

to be fair he still looks in good shape here in this link and in demand www.theherald.com.au/story/22829 ... ds-rivals/

Looking back on that 2005 season, some (most??) of our signings were absolutely woeful, not that we had a lot of choice at the time.

Although Ben Jeffries would not have been anywhere near my list of "must haves", with the good Mr Beaumont doing the recruiting I would like to think he has learned from his 2005 experience.

He doesn't appear to have played for Kurri Kurri 1st grade this year www.foxsportspulse.com/team_info ... 36&a=STATS Or Cessnock 1st grade www.foxsportspulse.com/team_info ... 28&a=STATS

He doesn't appear to have played for Kurri Kurri 1st grade this year www.foxsportspulse.com/team_info ... 36&a=STATS Or Cessnock 1st grade www.foxsportspulse.com/team_info ... 28&a=STATS

Jason Ferris what a signing he was and does anyone remember Jason Kent ?Other than his Family .I just hope he doesn't take up a big chunk of our Salary Cap money .