Your defence is about as robust as Rovers' against Catalans, sadly. His response was a quickfire one in direct response to the question "Where will Rovers be next year?" I think it's on. Everyone seems very happy that every signing so far has been a trade-up, plus Withers, Paea and at least one other. Just the small job of finishing ahead of either Warrington, Wigan, Leeds or Saints.

If you want to talk about poison, try your daft old mate Gwilym Lloyd.

There is an awful lot of rubbish being spouted on this thread. Craig Sandercock was not a second choice and neither was Moore discarded over a dodgy test result. Sandercock stood out (sorry for the pun) because he ticked all of the boxes, and the decision to appoint him was unanimous.

As for being a cheap option, I dont know and I dont care, just as long as he is value for money.

On the comments made by our illustrious CEO, I think he was suffering not only from waffl-itis but also jet-lag. I dont believe a word that comes out of his mouth and wish Hudge would get rid.

Real excited now the announcement has been made - I think we've got a great chance to kick on under this guy

Knights official response. www.newcastleknights.com.au/defa ... ton-rovers

Knights official response. www.newcastleknights.com.au/defa ... ton-rovers

The Knights mentioned his work with Aku Uate, and I mentioned it earlier in the thread, but I think it's worth saying exactly what he achieved with Aku.

When Sandercock came to the club Aku had played maybe half a dozen games of firstgrade over 2 years and had a reputation for making massive stuff ups on the field. He was a 6'4" 105kg Fijian who could run 100 metres in sub 11 seconds, but you'd hold your breath any time a kick or a play went his way, because he could do anything. He had the shyness common to Melanesians and had learnt English only a few years before and could barely read and write.
Sandercock was able to use his communication skills from his time as a school teacher to teach Aku all the things that no one else had been able to get across to him over his four years in the Knights system, and almost immediately Aku became a regular firstgrader and finished the season as top tryscorer in the NRL and Dally M winger of the year. In his second year under Sandercock he is pretty much undisputed best winger in the world. Admittedly, Aku has more God given gifts than any player i've ever seen - he hits the line like a prop and is the fastest player in the NRL - but he was a poor reserve grader two years ago.

Peter Fox will be gutted he's left.

He always wanted to learn how to read and write.

That's quite funny!n LOL

What a ridiculous statement. Any assistant from Oz is always going to be a risk, the BoD have done the right thing and undeertook a rigourous interviewing process and I assume they have been impressed by CS.
We will all have a far better idea if he's another Richard Agar or a Michael McGuire by the end of next season.

Thats not true Roopy , he had a brilliant World Cup (for Fiji...) in 08 , where he made the most breaks in the tournament, his performance against France lives long in the memory , he had already been described by Andrew Johns to be "the greatest Rugby League athlete i have ever seen" and he has played first grade for Newcastle since 2008 and a regular since 09...

Claiming all the credit is a little disrespectful to a brilliant natural talent...

Your first names not Craig is it..????

Anybody know which year this was? I can find no record of him at the Broncos, very curious!

The new coach wasn't your 1st choice then bazza?

I don't think Baz was part of the selection panel, I could be wrong.

1997

MS needs to concentrate on acheiving his own time-bound goals rather than setting stretch objectives for others.

Gwilym has the memory of a flour seive but managed a fairly robust defence regards the Andy Lynch comment. It's his job to comment on both teams, and as far as I know, he doesn't publish outright lies on a weekly basis.

I agree think we've made a good choice but only time will tell.

Hull have also got a coach who looks like a good choice so next season will be interesting.

If both sets of fans were honest we really don't have a clue as to who will prove the better appointment how could we? Neither have ever been a head coach before so both step into new territory.

I will say though it is an exciting time for Rugby League in the city.

I've followed Uate's career since he was 17.
The 2008 WC is when he started to come to a lot of people's notice, but even after those games he was not a regular firstgrader under Brian Smith.
He became a regular firstgrader from the first game when Stone took over as head coach with CS as an assistant, and both Stone and Uate credit CS with turning him into a regular firstgrader.
He has always been a massively talented athlete, but he was 23 before he became a regular in firstgrade because he learnt the finer points of the game very slowly and made very little progress under Brian Smith, who isn't the best at working with guys who aren't up to speed.

Well that is strange, coz no one seems to have heard of him in London, he certainly did not figure for the first team (see Gillette Year Book). He has a name that we would remember! Maybe he wished he had played in London!

I dont give a monkeys uncle bout where he played even if it was sally army in aus as long as he does a decent job for us

Yep exactly none of us have heard of Craig of gentle or others that are coming through as assistants, I like the sound of this coach and I'm pretty confident for next season, were making our fair share of signings with paea coming and I reckon another forward I think we will do ok

Pretty high risk strategy from both clubs but I guess that money is teh obstacle to bringing in an experienced overseas coach

He is 23 now Roopy...perhaps you need to follow a little more closely....

TBH no preferences at all , i just hope that the best man has got the job, only time can tell us but he should be given every chance and nobody should be jumping on his back if things don't pan out straight away..especially given our "journeyman" recruitment strategy...

Is everything alright Bazza, one could almost construe that as positive?

Hope you are right,about time too.Both sets of fans deserve something positive.

Did you have much choice on recruitment though? When leeds are signing players like richard moore it tells you everything about the current state of the market