Well, if said prop was, say Ricky Bibey, I'd be tempted to say yes.

And if said play-maker was, say Darren Lockyer, I'd be tempted to say no.

It depends on who the player is and what he has been signed for. In this case - I do hope to the high heavens you all know who he is - he has been signed short-term as cover and for a little addition of experience, size, strength and aggression (and before any smart-s arise, I realise this is an addition to the two I stated earlier) to our injury-ravaged prop forwards.

I pray deeply and prefusely no-one attempts to argue that Ricky Bibey could do a job in SL.

So if Joel Monaghan does exactly the same thing if Wire make the Grand Final he'd be a bad signing? You seem to be suggesting that any player who plays well and then makes a mistake in a big game would be a bad signing or a poor option.

He wont be in the team that far down the line if he tanks

If he plays well he will have warranted his place in the team

He's not in the team v Wakefield i think that says it all really

If hes playing in the 20s this week anyone else think its a bit of a risk to chuck him straight in against Wire? Suppose it depends what other front rowers are available because we definitely need to take 4 props in to the QF, but it's a hell of a game to make your debut in!

I'll bet he won't miss as many tackles as Brett Hodgson, but that won't make Hodgson a poor player.

Any player who misses a vital tackle in a final will be castigated. Cross is at Wigan as cover for injured props. Maguire will not give him the shirt if Cross doesn't deserve it, even you should be able to see that.

However if Cross performs better than the say the fourth prop he will get in, that's how it works at Wigan.

Him playing in the 20's says he wont be in the qf

Ben Cross has a serious point to prove. If he were going to make a big signal of intent for SL, this is the game in which to do it in. Have a blinder v Wire and suddenly everyone forgets about Leeds.




TBF we'd get a team off here beat bloody Wakefield. He'll be playing in U20's to just simply get game time prior to coming back into SL, I suspect he'll be in the team come the CC game v Wire.

That's like comparing tomkins to carvell. It doesn't work that way. Carvell has missed 23 tackles for instance in 20 games, where as in cross' 10 he has missed 17. pretty poor for a prop who generally don't miss that many tackles.

No, im suggesting that the mood on here would change as to whether it was worth the risk to sign him, if in a few months time he costs you the sl title.

Joel has been good for us all season, and should he make a mistake it would not make him a bad signing, because of all the good he's done us all year, rather than doing alright for a few weeks then losing the team the final.

I think if a player makes a crucial mistake in a final it won't matter who makes it, how long they've been at the club or anything else. At the end of the day you'd expect all the players in the squad who make a final to have earned it over the past few weeks. Those that haven't are likely to be included due to injury and in that case it's perhaps just bad luck. Cross making a crucial mistake would be no different to Monaghan. In fact if it was Monaghan I think it would feel a little worse given how good he's been all season only to mess up right at the most important moment.

You are right, but my point was in response to the comment that a prop will never have a negative effect on a team, and i was showing that he could.

Quote: THEOriginalWire "That's like comparing tomkins to carvell. It doesn't work that way. Carvell has missed 23 tackles for instance in 20 games, where as in cross' 10 he has missed 17. pretty poor for a prop who generally don't miss that many tackles.'" Then compare Cross to Ben Harrison if you want to play those games. Take note of missed tackles, penalties and errors. www.superleague.co.uk/statistics ... eason=2011

Quote: THEOriginalWire "That's like comparing tomkins to carvell. It doesn't work that way. Carvell has missed 23 tackles for instance in 20 games, where as in cross' 10 he has missed 17. pretty poor for a prop who generally don't miss that many tackles.'" Then compare Cross to Ben Harrison if you want to play those games. Take note of missed tackles, penalties and errors. www.superleague.co.uk/statistics ... eason=2011

It's a fair point, but we both know if any one player, from any team makes a mistake that costs his team a trophy then there'll be a queue of idiots with short-term memory impairment lining up to blame him for everything post WW2.

I suppose we'll only know the full value of the signing once the season's over and we can judge it based on how we did.