Look at Newcastle Knights, Dobson can't get a game behind Jarrod Mullen and Kurt Gidley, they likes of who either one of them could walk straight into a position at any balanced SL club.

Yet Knights are getting beat week after week because of their huge injury list in the forwards.
They can't buy a win. They off load a halfback on the salary cap, do you think they will go out and buy Thurston to play halfback? ...of course not, they'll be out there trying to bring in a prop.

With a quality pack Dobson can kick us up to prominent positions but with a weak pack he'll be resorted to exhaustive defending and kicks under pressure like GOB and Myler faced.

At the start of this post you'll notice I said balanced...well that is the key. Wire are not. The front row is weak and the presence of big halfbacks are helping us.

Dear rubber duckie
You don't seem to have got the hang of the forum. Users should be able to discuss what they want and they have a "subject heading" to focus debate.Can you start a new thread or just stop posting on this one.

duckie I agree with you on the front row, we are lightweight but it's unlikely that there will be a good prop available mid season. There might be an average prop around in someones fringes who would give us more depth but we are OK for average props.

The best chance of getting a top quality prop will be in the off season.

If Dobson is available then he's worth looking at....not signing Dobson is not going to increase our chances of bringing over Burgess or Graham etc. Although we don't know if he is available this is just based on forum speculation.

I'm surprised there's so much general support for Dobson though as I would have expected more views for going with GO'B at least till the end of the season....?

Well where is your view on the subject instead of criticism of someone who has an opinion. I notice the thread is about Dobson perhaps you misread.

I'd have Dobson like a shot. He's class. I don't care how many so called half-backs we have got ... they will have to move position or leave. It's a tough business and they have had long enough to show what they can do.

Would be a great signing, said when it was mentioned a few weeks ago that he would not only bring his good kicking game but would also give the whole club a lift!

I fully agree SC.
I'm trying to get the point across the buying Dobson is unlikely to improve our current situation. I would say weekend in the same way as it would if Myler or GOB returned with the exception of a smarter kicking game if Dobson was able to do so under pressure from a more dominant pack.

It's not that Bridge or Ratchford are better than Dobson just bigger and stronger and that is a fact.

we are in desperate need of a decent HB with a kicking game.

Signing Dobson is an absolute no brainer if he is available and the price is right.

Only an absolute screwball would suggest otherwise.

If your refer I don't agree MD you are mistaken.

There is too much being made of prop forwards. The teams that are succeeding have better half backs than us and more pace in the back line. They also score more trys from distance than we do and are more able to break through from 10 to 20 metres out - something we have struggled to do for many years.
Maybe if players stood up a little bit more then we might get somewhere

You never hear the Aussies saying we won because we had the best forwards, It's because they have Slater, Inglis, Cronk, Thurston, Hodges, Boyd, Jennings etc etc None of which were prop forwards when I last looked

Have a look at what Newcastle knights are saying then.

I disagree, to an extent.

Soooooo many times this season we have made good yards up the field only to look clueless in the opposition 10/20yds. We've knocked on, chose the wrong kick option, been pulled up from crossing, thrown a forward pass, thrown the wrong pass, etc etc. There has been so much said already about our lack of idea, lack of creativity, lack of killer instinct when attacking the oppositions line.

These can be rectified by a half back who can read the game instinctively, like Briers did. World class props will not get us that final few yards to cross the try line.

I think what would benefit us just as much as Dobson ,who is a very good SL standard half back ,would be a few more hours on the training field each week brushing up on basic handling skills & for the coaches to bin the modern obsession with the flat attack which accounts for many handling errors. The team are coughing up too much cheap possession to opponents who are only too grateful to cash in on it ,& although it is the way we play ,trying to score off every move, i feel a more structured & composed approach would help at this time of top class player shortage.

Agree with this, so many times this year we have been near the oppo try line and fluffed it completely!

I've got to agree with you Paullie and think that Dobson would do a good job for us and if he's available for half a season then what's to lose? RD's love affair with Bridge at 6 and constant calls for a new prop on any discussion are a bit of a red herring on this issue IMO. Will he improve us? I think he will. Is he available? If yes then try and get him.

We are down to the bare bones in the pack, but, when Wood, Grix Westwood return Harrison has some game time and Roy gets over his homesickness then we will be alright. Are there any decent props out there anyway?

Although Bridge is doing a good job in the halves, & i have always been one of his biggest fans, i think he is even better at centre but i can honestly see his time at half back being interrupted by one of his periodic injuries that he is prone to. It would be even more disruptive to have Bridge there long term & build a game round him only for injury to pull the rug from under the plan.

Michael Dobson is absolute quality and would be a perfect signing for us. The interesting thing would be who would partner him if we did sign him, Myler? And Ratchford at centre? Or would we give Myler a go at hooker where Smith has tried him a couple of times

Dobson's a good player and would bring a certain order to our play. Each time he's changed clubs (or been rumoured to change clubs), he has been accorded a Messiah status that goes beyond how good he really is, but he would certainly be a useful addition.

There are areas across the park where we can improve. We scored some great tries on Friday night, but in our games against the good sides this year we haven't packed the same threat with tries from distance. The halfbacks can create those, but I would have thought we needed pace and evasion in the centres and on the wing to do that. All of the players we have in our three-quarter line have it in their armoury, but we haven't seen enough of it.

We do need a prop too, on that RD is right. We take the ball forward well and make decent metres, but we can be soft around the ruck at times. And in the softening-up period early in the game, you'd love to see a Morley or a Nutley tearing into his opposite number. We're way too nice when Westwood isn't playing.

The issue in the prop department is the ones that have been brought in are absolute pants.

We lost carvell, morley and cooper and replaced them with Anthony England and Judith Chalmers.

IMO The coaching staff and board need to have a good long think about the starting 13 initially, the rest of the squad shortly after.

Its pointless to bring Dobson in (if that rumour is to be believed) and keep 3 or 4 'starting' backs in the squad.

I have watched most games this season i dont think we have been outplayed up front at all. Especially when we get wood and Westwood and grix back then i think the pack will be fine. We are making yards and defending ok down the middle. I think that we are in need of a general to organise and marshall the pack around the field. Dobson can do that and kick as well.

Roy Atrocity, better than Roy the Tinman toolbag

Where did you hear this?

It is interesting that knights are chasing a prop forward before the end of June deadline. They maybe looking to unload one of their plentiful halfbacks to create space in their cap.

i've heard its a swap deal, asotasi for dobson.