Cook has been unlucky not to get more games IMO - but it got exaggerated amongst those who wanted a stick to beat Morgan.

Correct on all points. There have been several posters attempting to suggest that the Mason fiasco will directly affect Rovers recruitment options, but its our quota situation which dictates, not our supposed reputation in Australia. O'Hara is non-quota, same with Withers if he comes. With the salary cap changes in the NRL on the horizon, I'm more than happy with recruitment based closer to home.

The priority now would appear to be a full back. Lets hope the Lee Smith rumours have some substance.

I'm not so sure. I think he has been harshly treated by Rovers (or more specifically, Morgan), but he has genuinely played very well whenever he got the chance. I'm not convinced Cook out, Horne in is an improvement in terms of back row quality, however GH has more utility value. Cook will go very well down in London I'd expect.

Cook's problem has been that he is an out and out second rower, and Galea and Newton both do long minutes. He'd have been even more knacked if Mason had stayed.
The oft made comparison with Netherton ignores the fact that JN is a prop.
Quins will hopefully be a better fit for the kid - he is a good player.

I am a Matt Cook fan, very good with ball in hand with strong running. However, I have noticed that in defence he is very slow getting up off the floor and also on the goal line he has let in 3 or 4 easy tries. Not every player is perfect, however I can see why he has been left out on occasions. Like said previously, it gave some people a nice big stick to beat Morgan with.

O'hara is a good signing as is horne,if horne wasnt a former fc player we would be more than happy,a good utility man can be crucial. As for netherton,gives 100% every game but would not shine in a lower league just not s/l standard.!

I suspect due to no contract offer on the table from huddersfield, they are upgrading young players contracts like mcgilvray and lawrence and bringing in the odd player like chan so I suspect salary cap pressures mean they have to move on squad players like horne and older lads like hodgson.

Horne is an average squad player and will do the job required of him at rovers I suspect most of his games will be from the bench, will play more than matt cook has and will cost less.

Netherton may well be playing prop but he is totally ineffective in that position.

agree with you there GG, hope the new coach realises that nev is purely a tackling 2nd row and uses him as such instead of flogging the dead horse that is playing him at prop!

Horne is set to be loose forward, Murrell is in talks with Wakefield and Salford.

Which is then an argument to play Wheeldon, Watts, Lovegrove or whoever else misses out in any given week.

While Netherton's stats are not good - but there is no stat for speed of ptb, either when he's been tackled or from the tackles he makes. And that is what allows us to get a roll on or get a defensive line set and then up quickly.

If our other bench prop was a tackle-busting, offloading, defensively suspect, knackered after 10 minutes type, then JN would balance that well. Our problem, IMO, is that we've become all bread and no jam.

Netherons ptb speed is no quicker than any of the players you mentioned there so let's put this non existent argument to bed right now. All three players mentioned plus Taylor are much better front rowers than Jase both in terms of effectiveness and technique.

No...



...but, assuming they are close to their best and fit I wouldn't have Netherton in the 17. I'll be interested to see what a new coach makes of it. And how he sees a couple of younger players who started out as back-rowers and are used as props by JM.

I'm not so sure about Horne, although I've not seen a lot of him to be fair & he certainly ran riot against us the other week. It may be that my opinions of him are based on his FC days, so hopefully he has come on leaps & bounds since then.

Who is signing these new players, a new coach or your chairman?