It states in the local Guardian that Cox has made 64 appearances for Rovers first team a lot more than I was led to believe, maybe things have not gone the way he expected following injuries and then being down in the pecking order.

Reading his article he knows what is needed to succeed hopefully he will achieve his aims with the wire.

He fills another body for us in a position we are down on numbers, and as someone else has said, probably takes up the spot England left.

I'm not sure we will see another prop come in now.

We will probably run with Hill & Dodds starting, with Westwood and Sims off the bench.

That would then leave us with Evans, Cox then King, probably in that order Do we need an 8th prop, especially now we have Westerman to play 13?

Looking around our major competitors I'd say Leeds and Huddersfield look good up front, then us & saints with Wigan trailing - But the Pies always seem greater than the sum of their parts. Honorable mention to Hull who's front row looks good, but back row with Manu, Pritchard & Minichello looks especially good.

Wire
Hill
Dodds
Sims
Westwood
B. Evans
Cox
G. King


Leeds
8 Galloway,
10 Singleton,
17 Cuthbertson,
18 Garbutt
19 Mullally
23 Mulhern


Saints
8. Walmsley
10. Amor
13. LMS
14. Tasi
17. Savelio
19. Richards
20. Thompson


Wigan
Dom Crosby
Ben Flower
Tony Clubb
Lee Mossop
Taulima Tautai
Ryan Sutton
Greg Burke

Huddersfield
Sam Rapira
Eorl Crabtree
Craig Huby
Ukuma Ta'ai
Josh Johnson
Daniel Smith
Nathan Mason
Tyler Dickinson


Hull
Scott Taylor
Liam Watts
Gareth Ellis
Iafeta Palea’aesina
Chris Green
Josh Bowden

I just can't see why England has gone and replaced with this signing,, or pack is weaker than last year and weaker than wakey, let's just hope our flair and gyle can pull us through,

Wakey

Scruton
England
Anderson
Tinirau arona
Malloy
Antony tupou
Anakin
Walker

As props I'd take Hill, Sims, Dodds & Westwood over every one of those to be honest.

The point I'm saying is better depth,
Hill exhausted
Simms not a prop
Dodds may not be ready for start of season
Westwood plays prop he won't last over 4 games without an injury,

Then who we got,, ??
Only hill is true quality, we are no better, and not a top 4 pack

Filling out the squad, very very ordinary.

Agar is turning us into Hull FC.

Hill didn't look too exhausted vs the Kiwis to me, and I'm not sure why Westwood will only play 4 games before getting injured.

Not sure if you're related to England in some way but if he has been given the number 10 shirt at Wakey, that suggests to me the rest of them aren't up to much. Three of the guys you mentioned aren't even props.

I think we are being disrespectful to some of our players here. I watched King play a full game at the end of the season vs. Saints and he looked the part. Philbin is also a very useful lad. Sims is a prop, is a prop, is a prop ... despite what a few "herberts" say.
Evans ... seems to be highly rated by many on this forum. Westwood will be fine. Dodds has just been picked in an NRL final. Hill is the best prop in the league. Harrison out for a while but will play prop when back. Murray U19 seems a good prospect. New boy, Cox is a big lad keen to impress.
It's not even as if the prop position was our main problem last year. Our lack of creativity in the final third was our main issue ... Oh come on get a grip you moaning lot!

This...

Indeed. Our pack got us into many a decent position last season only for us to be absolute garbage in the final 30. One more nasty prop would be nice but if Gidley and sandow fire we'll be reet.

This.......

I lost count last season when we got to our opponents 20 metre line and then the players looked around for Lee and things then fell apart.

They didnt have too look far.. he was usually a few feet away, with a bottle of water in his hand, trying to tell everyone what to do.

Funny, but also very true as well. Lee was restricted to shouting instructions from the 'dugout' this year in the U19's, but last year he was on the pitch so much he intercepted a couple of the oppositions passes and packed down several times as well. You can not say he lacks enthusiasm. It will be interesting to see how his coaching career unfolds.

To be fair to Prop 9284, I mean Tony Ingelhand, Hill doesn't have the luxury of the likes of a Graham, a Burgess and perhaps more illogically a Cooper to help him out on a weekly basis.

Whilst I don't agree that his new pack is better than his old one, I agree with 'our Tone' that I wouldn't have replaced England with Cox although he will get a chance from me to hopefully prove my instincts wrong

I'm no relation , just seen a lot of games home and away,
Hilly can't keep carrying the forwards week in week out, and the chances of him playing week in week out will be less,

It's big season for Simms as he is no prop to small,
Westwood last 2 years has been in out like a fiddlers elbow, he doesn't even train full time, to keep him in cotton wool , can he handle prop week in week out??
Are you related to Westwood??

Incredible how misguidedly, professional coaches in SL and the NRL have played Sims at prop. Idiots.

Sims is apparently over 17 stone and nearly 6ft 4 ins ... how big do you want him?
He looks big to me. According to the Wire Website this makes him the same weight as Hill and a touch taller.

Sims is a hard worker but lacks the punch up front, defensively he's excellent and Dodds is in the same mood so we're filling our squad with defensive players rather then wreckers. I genuinely believe smith has just left it too late and was simply scratching his head to find a prop. If this was his master plan then I'm left scratching MY head. Dodds could come in handy but I still think he was a last gasp option, you can't honestly tell me smith was tracking him for ages. The same with Cox. I'm not trying to put them down and right them off but they are very underwhelming and look likes we've got them as there was sod all left. Now if Cox can take some of sims traits as his aggression and heart he could be very very good, but yet again we're taking a chance and hoping it works out. We still have a decent pack though who will put in the hard yards. But look at the props that we're available and we missed out. That said if we get the guidance we lacked this year from ratchford,sandow and Gidley then I think we have the pack to do well.....IF we get the halves right.

How do we know Sims isn't working to instruction?
He always seems to get a fast ptb.

Dodds was well up the pecking order from Garbutt at Brisbane and is a bigger name in the NRL than Cuthbertson. Both did well at Leeds last season, the former looking a more than steady player and the latter being a stand-out forward in the league.

Brings a whole new meaning to the old terrace favourite 'rip his spleen out'.

Westwood played all but 2 of our SL games last year I believe, the first 7 or 8 of them at loose forward i.e. 3rd prop. He regularly played 60 mins plus per game. In 2016 I expect his game time to be closer to 40 mins max per game.

Sims is as heavy as Hill, just an inch taller - I agree he needs to improve his carry though - unless that is TS preferring a quick play the ball or offload game from him.


I agree Hill needs more support, Dodds will be better and play more mins than Asotasi, and Westwood will make a better prop than England. Evans is due some luck injury wise hopefully and G. King is a year older and more experienced / bigger.

Don't get me wrong this is far from a front row we have had in the past, and is behind a few clubs next year, but comparing the Wakey prop options more favourably is barmy in my book.

I'm certainly no relation of Ben Westwood, I'm far too handsome.