As part of a discussion about how poor Wigan's pack have performed this season someone made the point about how well Hull KR seem to recruit in Australia.

I wondered if you have one person responsible for this. Is it the chief scout? If so I wouldn't be surprised if other clubs were trying to poach HIM.

We do - he's called Roopy
He's ours.

What's his background?

It was a joke, he is a poster, who is a Newcastle Knights fan, very knowledgeable about the NRL and the knights, slightly naive about SL, as he thinks just about every NRL player even reserves would be successful in SL.

On topic, Rovers generally seem to do very well with imports, particularly half back, they must ahve some very good contacts in the NRL.

Agree you do. Wish we had Kelly. But even so you still struggle in theleague and have the last few years .you seem to spend up on the salary cap although to be fair nobody kknows . We get absol slated yet could Finnish higher.

We struggle because we don't have strength in depth, although this is getting better with some good displays from Ollett, Green and salter recently. In years past, the loss of such a player as Campo would have ended our season, but we have got just as good a pairing (albeit a different playing style) in Blair and Kelly. I like the addition of the lad from Leeds, if we can get a few young British players in and reduce the reliance on overseas players in key (expensive) positions, we should see upward movement over the next few years. Stability s also a key factor, we cannot keep having mass changes to the squad, if we can keep Campo, Kelly, Blair and the other top players for a few seasons without flogging then to a top 4 club, we will be ok.

I think our luck with NRL players is Phill Lowe? he is still well regarded from his time down under & has a a lot of good contacts among the sides there, plus our ex players network.

Yeah I think our network is likely Phil Lowe, plus combinations of ex players/coaches. We have had varying degrees of success with people brought over from the NRL in the SL era, of the NRL signings I remember...

Success - Kelly, Dobson, Green, Burns, Campese, Galea, Newton, Vella, Weyman, Paea, Sio, Lovegrove (for the money most probably success)
Passable - Paterson, Costigan, Fitzhenry, Jake Webster, McDonnell
Fail - Mika, Tuimavave, Crossman, Mason, Clinton, Keating

Jury out - Blair, Mantellato, Allgood, Tilse - all have shown promise so far

My 'jury' on Blair is definately not still out, he is a quality player

I disagree with Rover and Out and agree with Rover 49. Blair one of the signings of the season for me and I am chuffed to nuts that he is coming back again next year. Definite success.

If we had another 12 players on the park at any time alongside him with half his defensive capability, we would be in the top 4.

I think Blair has been good and it wasn't a sleight on his ability - Just as I think Allgood and Mantellato have been good too, whilst Tilsey has been steady.

My thinking was more if they left the club tomorrow would I consider them to have had a successful stint - I honestly feel Campo, Kelly and Sio can claim that from this year to date, I wasn't so sure on the ones I had the jury out on.

Bit harsh on Mantelato, think he's been really good and imagine he's not on a lot of cash. We seem to have the best pair of wingers we've has in years.

True and as Welham seems to have regained his form, its such a shame that Goulding had to retire. That would have been a very good back line.

For me blair and mantellato have been stand outs this season.

In pure value for money terms, Mantellato has possibly been the best of the lot.