He would......

Would making more of a fuss got Michael Crocker a UK visa?

I dont think for one minute it would.

Would making more of a fuss resulted in a quicker answer?

Again probably not judging by all other players Visa delays, they have all gone through the same natural progression.

I would like to have seen the rugby league get more involved as the sports governing body though.

As in did we need another hard working back-rower when we were well covered there, instead of getting a top half/tackle-busting prop. Which was a perfectly valid thing to question. I don't think anyone (Rupert Pupkin aside) questioned his ability or that he would have added a huge amount to the team.

Hard working backrower ? We need world class players and he is one. We need leadership and he would have given some. Had we had a dominant fearsome pack smashing opposition forwards week in and week out then maybe there was a point to make. We haven't and there wasn't, and the glowing reports of his comeback only serve to prove that.

Yes. That's what he is and always has been. He's not a flashy player who makes line-breaks or comes up with impossible offloads. He'll take the ball in all day for a good 10-15m and a quick play, and he'll tackle anything that moves.



You appear to have ignored the third sentence of my previous post. Next to no-one has questioned any of that. What was questioned was whether our major signing should be in a position in which we had/have plenty of options who will do a decent job, or whether it should be in an area that we were/are completely lacking any talent at all.

I haven't ignored anything.

Fact is some were questioning his signing and saying we'd all be underwhelmed when he got here/we were expecting too much etc. etc. Bollox. He is once again a SOO player and one of the world's best in his position. Of course we need other players in other positions but none of that alters the fact that had he arrived we would have a better pack than we have now. Doing a [idecent[/i job as you put it gets you mid table, far better if you do a world class job week in week out - that's what the top sides achieve and that is what Crocker would have given us.

Fair points and lets hope that the RFL get together with all the clubs and hopefully representatives of the Home Office before the off-season to go through the application process step by step and potential pitfalls, such as applying with Tongan/Samoan passports etc.

With regards Crocker, i think that it will really hit home during Origin when he is smashing the Blues all over the park that you have missed out on the best forward in the world. Sad for the British game.

IMO people [iwere[/i expecting too much. Quite simply because many seemed to think his mere presence with a winning mentality and the fact he is/was a Kangaroo regular would bring about a turn around in performances and results. Whilst he would certainly have done a very good job, I still don't see that he would have solved our main issue, namely our lack of creativity and the resulting lack of enough points scored.

I do think it would have though.

In any case I meant after the second refusal, but it's all water under the bridge now.

What do people want Hull to do, the rules are there, they wont be changed just because Hull make a fuss.

The only persons fault he didnt come to Hull is Crocker, if he hadnt caused the trouble and got arrested he would be at Hull by now.

If it was the other way around and I had a criminal record I doubt I would get a working Visa over there.

Our recruitment has been poor for a good while. but it's not possible to instantaneously put everything right. We decided to sign possibly the best player in the world in his position, and were scuppered by events outside our control. The availability of players of a similar class in other positions would also have had a bearing - ie were there any world class scrum halves touting around for a contract at that time ?

Of course everyone is entitled to their opinion but I would go along with the opinions of the NRL coaches who have lavished praise on the way Crocker plays the game and the selectors who have once again chosen him for SOO. I just hope they don't expect too much of him.

I'm not sure how many more ways I can say this, but I'll try again anyway: No-one has questioned his ability or that he would have improved the team. Those things were not questioned, as in nobody doubted them. They were universally accepted things. Givens. What was questioned was if signing another back-rower was the right thing to be spending most of the remaining salary cap on when we were in far more need of a top half or a top prop.



No. Some were saying that [isome[/i would be underwhelmed and were expecting too much as [isome[/i were expecting him to be a one-man team, single-handedly winning matches. [iSome[/i were expecting him to be breaking every tackle he went into, offloading at will. This is not what he is and not what he would have brought to the team. Those people would have been disappointed. Probably in the same way that some people were/are disappointed with Kearney/Sing/Berrigan. All were world class players, all offered exactly what they'd offered throughout their careers and yet people on here and in the stands were disappointed because what they offered wasn't what they wanted them to offer. That their expectations were based on nothing more than ignorance didn't seem to matter.

FFS. For someone who normally seems pretty reasonable, you're being remarkably pig-headed about this.

Clint thinks you should have

fook gives sucker a who sucker what c0ck thinks that

But Crocker doesn't... Hmmm not sure whose opinion is more valid

But but but, I am sure bighead said he was a crock of e

Which is a bit ironic if you think of how the Aussies got there in the first place.

What result do you think we could have got?

They seem to have set some very strict rules which Crocker obviously fell foul to. I will be watching with interest however when professional footballers from Oz start applying for visa's to play in the Premiership. I really hope it isnt one rule for one and one for another.

Totally agree, I'm not even going to continue the debate with him as he's clearly not listening to what people are trying to say. The fact of it is, Crocker is a world class player in a role we had relatively little need for. It would be like making our big name signing for next season Cameron Smith. No doubting he's world class and better than we have, but he'd still just be a signing in a position we already have covered, and would actually prevent us from getting what it is that we desperately need.

No pig-headedness intended. I remember some slightly different reaction but maybe I'm getting mixed up with all the other shiite regularly trotted out on here. I wish Crocker had come over this year and massively improved our pack, and hope next year we add a world class half and a centre if they are available.

I am listening and understand the point you are making however the Cameron Smith example isn't the same situation. Cameron Smith may be a bit better than Berrigan, but the difference in ability/quality between those two is way way less than the difference between Radford/Tickle/Manu and Crocker. So I think we are covered at Hooker and signing Smith would be ludicrous as you say, but our second row quality would have been massively improved by Crocker. I don't agree that we were well blessed with top quality second rowers when we signed Crocker. Infact we have been pretty regularly owned by opposition packs in the last couple of years and our second row has been part and parcel of that.

It depends how you look at it. I'd agree Crocker is much better at what he does than any of our current 2nd rowers, but where I seem to disagree is this being a problem area for us. I don't think we are blessed with top quality back rowers, but what we are missing there, as in the front row, and the reason our pack is regularly owned, is real metre makers or offloaders. Something which I think Crocker, despite all the attributes he does have, is neither.

Crocker's game is largely about work ethic and his defensive abilities, but I don't think our defence is too bad, personally. Certainly not to the point where I think it deserves strengthening over our attacking options. The only way I could possibly see him having an influence on this is by us having an additional quick PTB in the set. Sticking plaster on a broken leg IMO.

Just heard that crocker has sent a massive bouquet of flowers to the woman who turned down his visa application

I am glad he hasn't come, because he deserves better and has got better.