I must admit it is a million miles away from the Cooke saga.

That said it is a blow to super league as a competition.

Is Danny Nicklas still training at Rovers?

maybe hes just using his get out clause to get what he wants in the long term

Big blow, but hopefully not a knock out blow. Michael Dobson has given us excellent service, and deserves our sincere appreciation/admiration for stopping as long as he has (and performing). We all knew his intentions was to some day return to Australia, so good luck to him. All being well, hopefully this will be an amicable parting of ways and both parties moving on with a fresh start.

Moving forwards - big shoes to fill, but I'm cautiously optimistic if we do find a decent replacement we can do alright. Our whole play book and gameplan(s) will have to be rewritten and with that a fresh approach to everything HKR. IMO I don't think we ever regularly found a perfect balance between Dobson getting enough of the ball to then Dobson actually receiving too much of the ball. We've relied on him that much, to an extent we're predictable. For us to match and beat the top teams, Dobson alone couldn't always do this. I was hoping Burns was starting to show - that if given enough ball, he was capable of taking a lot of the workload away (and attention) from Dobson. With that, we'd be much harder to read from an opponents pov and open up more opportunities right and left.

Still, all the best to Michael. Hope it works for him.

For us, an important signing/replacement we have to get right. Whoever we target/sign will certainly show what we're gonna' be about in the short term.

Good luck to him but imho I dont think he is good enough for the nrl and will be back to sl after a year , at least he can finally take off the back brace now because lets face it it cant be easy carrying a full team for 5 years

Rather than waiting a year and using his contract end??

Not saying he wont be back but this is the last chance for Dobbo to make his mark inthe NRL, Why wouldn't he give it a go.

I'm actually really looking forward to next season now to see how our style of play will change. There's something about the unknown that I like.

Touche but lets keep on topic (dobson leaving) as we dont want mr skywalker slapping wrists.

Been fantastic having Dobson as part of the Rovers team over the last 5 years and he has been a brilliant player for us. He will rightly leave with the Rovers fans praise and thanks. I hope he goes well in Aus and am glad he's getting his chance.
He will obviously be very difficult to replace but hopefully Sandercock can rise to the challenge and having Travis Burns in the halves with a full pre-season behind him will soften the blow.
All teams have their best players leave at some point wether it be to move to another team or retire etc. and all teams adapt to this and move on. Rovers won't be any different.

NRL ooc (nicked from zerotackle, dunno if it is correct or up to date):
Five-eighth: Maurice Kennedy, Samisoni Langi, Matt McGahan, Michael Picker, Ben Roberts, Todd Ryan, Ryan Stig, Carlos (cousin of Evarn) Tuimavave

Halfback: Dane Chisholm, Cameron Cullen, Adrian Davis, Nathan Fien, Brett Finch, Craig Gower, Trent Hodkinson, Sam Irwin, Alehana Mara, Jason Seage, Harry Siejka, Arana Taumata, Sam Williams

The ones I've heard of are unlikely I guess. The RFL will support a visa application for a relatively inexperienced half though, so reserve grade should be an option.

Over here, Briers is ooc but is 36 next year, so hardly a long-term solution. If it wasn't for his bad run of injuries this year, you could make a case for keeping Withers even with the dispensation lapsing.

Gareth O'Brien or Sam Powell might be loan options, but I can't see them being for sale at a sensible price.

Got to be honest.......

Dobbo will not do well in the NRL its a different style of play there.

Rovers and finding good half backs is a given, We have a history of great half backs.

Not worried roll on next season.

Having said all that.

Thanks for everything Dobbo and good luck for your future.

You've made this guy an offer, I'd presume Sandercock knows him?

rlhttp://www.titans.com.au/playerprofiledisplay/Titans/Beau%20Henry/4987rl