The Jamie Soward cameo yesterday proved to me, if you do your homework in the player recruitment department it will reflect in the team performance and standing on the team ladder. Our antipidean signings in the past few years have been utter tosh.

Kaufusi has been the biggest disappointment and is stealing a living and just shows we need to do better.
If we can get in players who are commited to the cause it would make such a huge impact for us.

Yesterday also showed that the issue is not just about the quality of the players. It is about having players with enthusiasm and leadership on the field.

Kaufusi is an embarrasment in terms of his effort. You know he has the ability becuase he shows it once in a while.

We'd better get used to it - Super League won't be seeing too many Jamie Soward-quality players from the NRL in the future thanks to the exchange rate, NRL salary cap and changes to UK tax laws.

Since we returned to the Stoop in 2006 the only name I can think of that I was genuinely excited about when we announced a signing was Scott Hill.

The recruitment during the Griffin Park years seemed to be more targeted with individuals who all stood up to be counted...the team in 2003 and again in 2005 were "greater than the sum of their parts".....whereas the shower of we currently have are pretty much either stealing a wage or not up to the task!

We should learn lessons from the Jamie Soward experience.

How did London get Jamie Soward? Answer: because he had fallen out with his coach and dropped to a reserve team. Not every player who has a fall out with his coach is as talented as Jamie Soward. But some are. (e.g. Michael Jennings when at Penrith). Unfortunately, by the time London got wind of Jamie Soward's availability, he had already signed a 4 year contract with Penrith.

You need not only to keep in touch with the Australian media, but also have regular contact with the Australian player managers. They can give advance warning. You would think that Tony Rea would have those connections, but maybe he just doesn't know how to pursue such leads.

The fact is that London needs an inspirational and talented half, two good props, and two good centres. Where London will find them at this time of year, and with its low performance reputation, is beyond me.

I doubt Soward would have been interested in a four deal at Broncos. The money is better in Australia and Penrith are a bigger club than London.

The club did well in spotting his availability and surmising that it was unlikely that any Aussie club had space under their salary cap to give him a short-term contract.

I never wrote that he doesn't have contacts in Oz. I wrote that he may not know how to use them.



You should learn to read the text carefully and digest its meaning before you attack people.

That you could not comprehend my clear English writing, or else deliberately wanted to misrepresent what I wrote, says a lot about you.

Pipe down, grass.

Agree, but dont agree!!

On Saturday on the continuous call team (which is a big rating RL radio show here), Bobby Fulton and Steve Roach were discussing Jamie and where it all went wrong for him at the dragons, and how he went from being SOO first pick to playing 'park footie'.

Much of the talk was about how, when Wayne Bennett was the coach at the dragons, they had one of the best and the most mobile forward packs in the game. These guys effectively laid down a great platform for any half back to dictate a game. This year the Dragons forward pack have been woeful, and as such Jamie's game has been destroyed as a result of this. He lost confidence, and finally lost patience with the inability to control games when the Dragons forward pack has been as bad as it is!!

Now, Soward is a class player (Brohman, Fulton and Roach all alluded to this several times), but with any great player you need the systems around that to work as well.

In my opinion, Soward being one the best halves in the world, can not turn around our results on his own. He needs a pack going forward to provide the platform for him to do what he does the best. I have not seen a LB game this year, but it sounds like that is not happening at the moment!!


On another point, I bumped into Lee Hopkins two weeks ago. His fat camp business is doing well and he still hits the BBC website to keep abreast of results. Alround top bloke.

Watch your mouth Lister. I have compromising photos of you which I am prepared to turn over to the Castleford branch of the secret police. They know how to deal with troublemakers like yourself.