What a pessimistic way of looking at the relationship between Dir of Rugby and Head Coach...

With all his years of experience, can you really envision JK picking out a potential target, and foisting him on Chester against his will? I expect the arrangement will be much more collaborative and cooperative than that - unless JK is prone to career suicide, which I don't think he is.

Misinterpretation I was only questioning the fact that people seem to be of the opinion Kear is in charge of recruitment. I agree all parties have to work and agree on a common objective. However I would suggest that for it to work as a success Chester must have the final say and not Kear

Anyone fancy reviewing their comments on here?
As well as Grix looked himself, his role in organising the defence was massive!
Early days, but we saw some of the reason behind his signing today!

Must agree with you there TRB, he looked sharp in attack , some competition in all positions this season which can only be a good thing

Think I'll wait until halfway through the season and we've faced the 10 better teams than Leeds.

I wasn't against signing Grix as I can see the utility value he brings, but even on today's showing the full back shirt is still Jowitt's to lose. It was obvious last season that Max needed a rest, but we just didn't have the squad to do it. Grix will allow him to have that break without a massive gulf in quality.

As was explained when I was asked why I placed Grix at Full Back ahead of Max

Told you!
Sadly some less knowledgeable Giants fans didn't see his worth in this regard- they only saw his mistakes.

F/b are like goalkeepers in that regard. I fully supported Grix what i don't get is this idea being peddled that he's better than Jowitt - he isn't imho.

If anything they are very similar especially in organisation. I think Grix is excellent but no better than max.

Both have a flaw, Max one on one tackling near the line needs a lot of work.

Those lording Grix should wait until he's fumbled the umpteenth high ball and cost us a game because he will.

Max has time to learn Grix not so on balance it's Jowitt every time for me.

Lets not over egg the pudding here. Grix, like the majority of the team, played a part in humbling Leeds. Congrats on that and no complaints from me.
However, he did make a few Grixesque errors including one of his specials when he was indecisive watching that nothing ball behind the line and got clobbered into dead. How costly could something like that be in a competitive game?

Did you listen to press conference about the rules? Grix knocking it dead was referred to. I think there was confusion about the ruke change, I mustcadmit I wasnt sure which rules we were playing, Grix knocked it dead under the old rules, but under the new rules I didnt see the ref or count the extra tackle from the ball being kicked dead, pretty sure this will get ironed out quickly.

That's true - Leeds kicked the ball dead in the second half and we only got the 6 tackles instead of 7.

My bad! New rules from 1st Jan - so Grix could have made the ball dead as per last season. Easy mistake!

That clarifies it then thanks TRB

Max is far better under the high ball or retrieving a grubber with safe hands and composure, he's the future because he's 18 years old and has the time to add skills and improve in the areas he's not so good at.

Enter Scott Grix, who is strong where Max is weak and has exactly the right sort of professionalism and communicative ability to mentor Max and help him become the player he promises to be.

In terms of organisation Grix is light years ahead of Max, he is far more instinctive about recognising space and attacking it. He's far better than Max at organising defensive numbers and perceiving threats.

For example, on a 20m short side you might need 2 defenders to defend but if Kallum Watkins is one of the players you're marking you have to recognise that 2 might not be enough. Sounds simple but that kind of awareness has to be instinctive because you don't have time to think about it and getting it wrong means you're vulnerable on either the short or the long side.

Grix joins the line better, makes better decisions, defends 1 v 1 more effectively.

People shouldn't see Grix as a threat to the progression of a home grown and very talented Jowitt, he's here to bolster the first team and help Max fullful his potential.

I have no problem with Grix and think he can only help Max with his game in general.
I also didn't expect Max to play every game in 2017 and Grix must have been preferred rather than using players already on the books.
Max will I am sure benefit from being a short term understudy to Grix and we will be left with the best F B in the game within a very short period of time.
Max seems a well balanced young man with a fantastic future ahead of him.

He's aiming to be in contention for the Sheffield friendly.

That's great news.

Excellent post and exactly how I see it. This is only going to improve Max; win win situation for me especially as I believe that they will roughly play the same amount of games due to injuries/form.

That's exactly how I see the Grix signing; not a threat to, or a snub of, Jowitt - but a sensible way of developing the finer points of Jowitt's game that aren't really achievable in any other way.

The big challenge in 12 months time, will be keeping hold of him - because despite Johnstone's headline grabbing antics, I believe he'll be one of the finest young players in the game.

I don't know about that.. I see Jowitt as a good club man where as I honestly see Johnstone becoming a superstar injuries permitting. TJ is hardly 'antics' - seems a bit dismissive of a great young talent, did he forget to send you a Christmas card?

What's he done?

Not disrespectful at all - just trying to juxtapose the more obvious talents of an outstanding young winger who scores for fun, against the necessarily more workmanlike and technically difficult job of a FB, who has more to do, and who's mistakes are generally more obvious and have a far worse result. Bit like a goalie in football - the FB is exposed and often the last line of defence.

Perhaps antics was the wrong word - I've got huge respect for both lads, but Jowitt strikes me as one who will benefit more from mentorship by an experienced old hand, and has the capacity to become one of the best in the game, in one of the most challenging positions.

Better?

Burst onto the scene, scored a hatful and picked up several young player awards in his debut season!

Christ - we're a sensitive bunch aren't we? Is this the general fear of WT fans that good players will do bad things - or is 'antics' really a word with such negative connotations?!

Antics: Def. foolish, outrageous, or amusing behaviour

I reckon so.