My point was that neither of them would have been first choice players as they are not 'Aussie stars'. I wasn't comparing them to each other.

fair point.

But then again Dobson had been an aussie star for catalan, which is the reason we went for him. He was an unknown when he went to catalan, not after.

Crock.


Phelps has to stay. He is the only overseas player that deserves a new contract at the moment for me.

A brilliant player at his peak but a definite no for me.

If Radders has been coaching 1 on 1 with Phelps, it's starting to show. The lad's doing "ok" at the moment and will probably be on a modest wage too. New contract dependent on form over the rest of the season I reckon.

I'm assuming that you've forgotten that Pat Richards is an overseas player then ????

Yes, by all means, we need to keep Cameron Phelps, but that would be AFTER Pat Richards.

(Unless you're only talking about the guys who are actually coming off-contract this year, in which case please free free to ignore me)

Pat doesn't count on the quota, he's got irish nationality and also he was here before the new rules so he's exempt.

Pats irish...

Sorry, but Pat's as Irish as I am Aussie.

Although at least I went to Oz for 1 month - Probably more time than Pat's ever spent in "Oirlnd"

He is not a quota player but he is a none federation player and next season we can only have six of the latter.

Richards is none federation because (I think) his current contract with the club was in force when the federation trained rules where changed. That means for the duration of his current contract he counts as a none federation trained player.

When his current contract expires he can then apply for federation trained status, not before.

Bailey can do this in 2010 for the same reason but because Bailey isn't "Irish" or whatever he would become a none federation player but would still be a quota player.

Dave

yes he's got a most aussie sounding irish acent i've ever heard, but he did que up with us in the EU passport control when coming back from perpignan this year rather than get in the non eu passports que (which the aussie players did) and considering i was about 2 people away from him, he had a very green passport, with harp printed on.
So i think he does consider himself irish......well as far as living rights and passport control is concerned.

Or he "could" be trying to preserve the Irish eligibility for any tests (as he has 2 hopes of getting in the Aus team and one's Bob).

On a related note, would he be eligible for GB? Carney played after all.

First half of the season I must admit I was calling for Phelps to be axed come the end of the campaign but ever since his display at fullback against Saints at the JJB on Good Friday he has been pretty decent he has good link up play and can also put in a good kick if needs be and I believe another season with us will only benefit him and the club. I would also make the fullback posistion permanant when next seasons squad list is confirmed as I believe thats where he is best at.