He's nothing better than average - but he does do the mucky stuff that lets Woody come on and look like a world-beater; they are very different players with a very different role, so whilst he doesn't especially excite, he rarely messes up - notwithstanding that pass on Friday.

Whether that's worth a quota spot, I don't know - I can't help wondering why Anakin never nailed down the position; he seems built for it, but I'm guessing he doesn't have the nouse to do anything other than run in a straight line?

When he first came over I thought we had signed a 'belter' . I also heard it said he is our highest earning player.

In my opinion he has slipped backwards this season. OK he doesn't have bad games and he is reliable defensively. At the moment I do not think he is delivering anymore than a run of the mill type English hooker would give you. I honestly thought we were getting a Brad Drew type of match winning player.


So in my opinion he is not a bad player and deserves his place in the side. But value for money overseas quota spot, I have my doubts.


Lets hope he can regain that early arrival form he showed.

Not forgetting he never suffered any injuries until he came here and has had a couple of difficult ones to recover from

I have no issue with Randell, seems to give everything on the field and he's not making any mistakes that other players aren't. He's still only 25 and has some growing to do but I already see him as a very established hooker.

It works wonders bringing Woody off of the bench also!

dont forget you are comparing him against woodie who comes on when the opposition is tired. wonder what Randell woul be like against a tired team when he is fresh. might be mistaken but sure on his debut he came on against a tired side!

Correct, 2 tries wasn't it?

I'm not comparing him to Wood though, I just meant I think the current set up works. It would be interesting to see Wood start and bring Randell on with 30 to go!

I like Randell. Solid every game and consistent. Good distribution mostly. Would like to see him run from dummy half a bit more but he's a good player.

You have to say that, following his debut, off the bench, at Salford, it looked like we'd signed James Roby and expectations were sky high.
Injuries though, can sometimes take ages to get over and he hasn't yet recaptured that form.

A decent player though and we've had worse playing #9 at Trinity.

You have to mention Wood though and maybe his form has lifted to a point where Randal looks "ordinary", he's certainly going well for Trinity.

Agree Adam. Doesn't run from d.h. enough.

Neither does Cameron Smith, but he is just not that type of hooker.

Wood really has been in outstanding attacking form but will always be targeted by the opposition in defense as he is very light weight, not to say he does not tackle well, for his size I think he does, but Randell definitely tightens the defense up when he comes onto the field.

I have seen some good tactical reads from Randell, he has a good kicking game and I think we need to take advantage of that a lot more.

Two different types of players, posters like NGBC obviously have a very limited understanding of the game if they do not understand the qualities Randell brings to the team.

He is just not good enough, couldn't get a game with the Knights when they were bottom of the pile and I said this when we signed him...there were better options available at the time. If it's so easy for woody coming off the bench let's swap them round and see if randall has the same impact - i guarantee he won't!! It might mean we don't gift the opposition 20 points start that we have to begin clawing back when woody comes on tho

I agree Adam, I'm a big fan of Randell. I too would like to see him scoot some more, he showed on his debut what he can do to a tired defence so he set our expectations for the type of player he might be. Overall though Randell and Wood are like chalk and cheese, both very good in their own way but offer something different to the team although playing the same position.

If Randal made a brilliant debut coming on and scooting from dummy half and something Woodie does now, could we assume that the scooting part is more effective with tiring defences???

They both appear to play a different style which keeps things varied.

I agree with a lot of views on Randell here. Definitely needs to run
at the line far more has he is dangerous. Not sure why he's stopped. I do also agree he has slipped backwards if he carries on this averageness I don't think he's worth a quota

I am a big fan tbh he defends well, has a bit of a kicking game and does the ugly stuff setting a platform for Wood to build on. But I must agree on the part about the quota spot, if his deal was up at the end of this year I would probably say he hasn't done enough to earn a renewal.

I do think he will improve next year, a full year with the squad and currently enjoying a decent injury free run in the side.