Yup. They also use dummy runners so that 4 tacklers arent just stood there waiting for the runner.

When some fans say "our pack did ok", I think what they mean is "our pack worked hard" which is all most of them are capable of. We have a pack full of forwards who, on the whole, are not big enough, not aggressive enough and not good enough.

Until we can get rid of the bulk of these very ordinary forwards like Cusack, Dowes, Radford, King, nothing is going to change.

The signings we are making for next season are certainly promising but they will not be enough on their own. Our pack (along with not really having a SH) is the single biggest example of mediocrity that currently stops us from competing with the best.

Should we really be happy to keep the score down and show some effort when Saints come to the KC ?? Is that how far the bar has been lowered at our club ???

I think there was a thread earlier in the season on the VT saying our pack was the best in the league, how times have changed. Our pack lacks speed and mobility.

It's ironic that we base our game on playing it down the middle, yet we have a modest workmanlike pack.
It was men against boys last night.

Gareth Carvell has gone, and we haven't got an adequate replacement. He was our main go forward guy imo.

Just as Briscoe was our rock, we never replaced him, and just as Cooke was the playmaker we never replaced him.

We will struggle to reach the heights we have seen in recent years unless we strengthen instead of taking steps back.

the Hull props never seem to run onto a ball a pace James Graham did this very well last night and made lots of yards. pack rotation was a joke!

To true.

How much we have missed the Crocker signing.

I always find this odd. Our pack did fine in terms of making yards down the middle as it usually does. The main problem is the painfully slow PTB and how clueless we are attacking the line.

Burnett showed alot of aggression, especially when they got lomax into touch in the southwest corner and he was right in Gidley's face

Very good point about our pack, they just don't lay any sort of platform for the likes of Berrigan, Horne, Thorman to play off (which is why we don't score any tries). Take Dowes for example, I really don't get what people see in him, fair enough he works hard, he plays nearly all the game blah blah blah... but I fail to see how this is actually a good thing? Props should be big, mean, aggressive ba$t@rds that break the line and play 15-20min stints repetetively. Who the hell wants an '80 minute prop'? When does Dowes EVER break the line, offload, etc? Never is the answer and although King and Thackery arent exactly perfect, at least when they come on they give us abit of impact. I look forward to seeing Manu, Lauaki, and hopefully a new prop all play together next season, then we might actually have a pack worth boasting about.. but until then, the likes of Dowes, Radford, Cusack just arent what we require imo.

Couldn't agree more !!!!!

It's pretty obvious what our pack needs but between Peter Blunt and Agar, they have given contracts to Radford, King and Dowes for next season, and now they're even talking about Cusack's new contract !!

It totally baffles me !!!

Agreed, when it was revealed that we had started talks with Cusack about a new contract my jaw hit the floor.

Because he is the only go forward we offer? He will vastly improve with Hame playing

It seems that we prefer forwards who work hard without actually doing what they're supposed to.

Graham Cayliss Fasav'lau (sp) Puletua etc..

Ryles Carlaw Ferriol Fakir Croker etc..

Morley Carvell Rauhihi Wood etc..

Peacock Leului Lautiti etc..

Cusack Dowes Radford King ??? Thackray and Manu are our only forwards with any go-forward ability at all.

Someone needs to grow a pair of b0ll0cks and get rid of most of the $hite that is in our pack.

Think you could add Vella, Fozzard, Newton and Galea to that list, far better than we have.

did anyone see NQ cowboys against souths this morn? the cowboys had 2 big ruff buggers up front, scott & tronc, not big names but big hard foookers backed up by o'donnell (who squared upto crocker btw) and a kid called bolton? theres plenty of talent around,not big names, just blokes you need when the goin gets ruff and mongrel the opposition.

our problem is we have no contacts in oz who watch these type of players week in week out in the NRL, we sign blokes who come for their payday as its the easy option. the last kid we signed who was a no namer was probably colin best at the time.

Well said. Absolutely spot on in my opinion.

Peter Sharp did name Jamie Soward as a potential signing back in 2007.

Now how good would that have been?

yes i remember, why didnt we sign him? probably because kath and co had never heard of him???

Probably because we got Matty Head instead. A great short term signing but Soward could have been the long term answer for sure. I think he was on the fringe of first team at the Roosters at the time.

top post, agree completely, Dowes, Radford, IMO are not good enough, and should be released at the end of the season

Have to agree the players seem to have a rest when they get tackled rather than getting a quick PTB which always puts us on the back foot

And backed up by Webb also .