I’d say having Addy and Donaldson in your backrow leaves it too light. When both players were with us we got bullied a bit in the pack. That wasn’t just down to them by any means but they’re on the small side.

Of the two I’d say Addy offers more in attack. He makes more ground with ball in hand and can pass and kick. Donaldson’s defence is better than Addy’s. Addy can put in the occasional big hit but he’s also guilty of shoulder grabbing too much and has been a defensive weakness for us at times. Donaldson I remember has a better tackling technique.

Addy should not be played in either halfback position if you have any ambitions of getting promoted. He can pass and kick well but he can also do it badly so can’t be consistent in either of those positions. Wide running second row who can put a man through a gap or as a back up kicker in general play if needed is a better bet.

I've always thought if Donaldson was 6 inches taller and 3 stone heavier he'd be a world beater

So far.....

Staying/new:
Cockayne
Wardill
Salter
Minns
Oakes
Addy
Marsh
Clark
Lunt
Scruton
Clarkson
Blair
Lawler
Jubb
Harris

Confirmed leavers (or from media comments)
Thornley, Kelly, Walker, Green, Campese, Boudebza

Probably going but no word yet:
Sio, Larroyer, Tilse, Greenwood

Unknown:
Mantellato, Dixon, Allgood. Horne, Donaldson, Shaw, Mulhern, Moran, Cator

Thin that's it for now.

Shaw's a decent championship level fullback. Good goalkicker too in case you lose Mantellato.

My sleeping pattern is all over the place!



Moran mentioned as a Rovers player in the Scotland squad on the Rovers website, so I'd guess he's probably staying.

With, I'm guessing, roughly 10 spots left in the squad and 5 non-fed places available, the next few announcements will be very interesting. I wonder if we'll hold an overseas place or two for strengthening mid-season.

Some serious work still to be done, your team will be good enough to finish top 2, but it's way off your side last year, which went down, Salford apart all your competition looks stronger. Hard to do recruitment at this late stage, when you didn't expect to be the championship, time for Sheens and Peacock to start earning their money.

Bit harsh on Sheens to say start earning your money he's only been here 3 days

You would hope he has been working on recruitment since it looked like you might not come up, He was appointed unofficially months ago.

Hard to gauge until the recruitment is confirmed, but I would assume that we will be no-where near cap this year, or at least at the start of it. I envisage that the side that starts the season will likely be very different to the one that contests the 8 (I'm obviously assuming we make the middle 8s).

I have no knowledge of how the salary cap works - and the next part is balls if the cap is pro-rated, but if you can get 4 players on a £200K pa contract that you pay for 3 months rather than 1 on £200K for a full year. You can see how the system can be played come the business end of the season.

Sheens money will be earned in moulding what we have into something that can win the league or make the top 2. Which will likely be a trickier task than I would like.

Those wishing for Dixon to stay should think again IMO, he hasn't improved on any of his frailties so he's never going to be SL material, let him go.
Addy will play Loose forward so Clarkson can go to SR as a replacement for Greenwood if he goes, I'd prefer Greenwood to stay and put Clarkson on the bench though. If not, Frankie Mariano?
We're still light in the front row, so we need two more props (Cox?)
If we can keep Mantellatto and Shaw I would be very happy with our 3/4's. Just need an experienced Scrum Half (I'm worried that it might be Prince though).

A lot will depend on pass sales and that seems to be going positively so you will have some cap to play with, I'd expect you to leave a good chinch left for the middle 8's, you might be able to assemble a better team if you are not playing your halfs a 5th of your cap for not playing.

I've heard Greenwood has signed to stay which would be a massive boost.

So, in the last few posts we have discovered that Dave K knows:

The job description : objectives of both Jamie Peacock and Tom Sheens.

The salaries of both the aforementioned Rovers employees.

The collective salaries of our half backs for the 2016 season.

How did the palm reading go at Hull fair last week?

There's a long way to go, and I'm not for one second underestimating the challenges Rovers face!

First fragile green shoots, though, which after the calamity of the season just gone is something to enjoy.



The squad won't be as strong on paper as in 2016, but hopefully some lessons will have been learned. Those that come from failure are those that stick with you, IMO.

As you say in a later post, Greenwood signing would be a boost. Not building a backrow to try to break the record for the most people that can squeeze into Mini Cooper, would be good.

Like all on here, it's pretty much guess work, but it's obvious that most I've said won't be far off.

If you are after facts you are in the wrong place, one fact for you is, you don't even know your coaches name.

Oh please, let's not begin to talk about typo's, it won't end well for you.

A few points.

Rovers aren't in superleague. Dixon has scored for fun against championship teams and would do next year. He'll score sh@t loads for us next year if he stays. We need to be promoted first and he'd be a quality option in the championship.

Clarkson is s@it.....period end of. He'll get bullied even more in the championship. Awful rubbish.....what is he good at other than being less than average.

Mariano makes Campese look like the world's fittest man. Has he played 20 games in the past 3 seasons.....a shocking suggestion.

Cox.....holy $hit. Really. The rest of the RL pros seem to find him a joke. Tilse is 50 times the player than this clown. Cox wouldn't last 10 mins in the nrl.
Scruton and Clark seem to bring some grunt. The rest of the new recruits are underwhelming.

We need halves and a whole new back row. 4-5 of them. A centre and a full back or 2 and more props. Other than that job done.

The current squad is lacking in quality compared to the mess of a squad relegated last year.

Lunt, Blair, and Minns all quality. Juniors and Marsh have promise.

Best signing so far .....Sheens.

I agree with all that

I agree with both of you. Clarkson not as cods as you make out or as bad as Larroyer or Horne imo.

Can't see the video. Plug in not supported on my tablet.

PS. Liam Salter is cackamallabab

Sorry couldn't resist, you know I'm pretty accurate about the rest though

I've no idea what the video is or how I managed to add it to my post. Couldn't post a picture or a video if I tried.

I aren't happy calling Clarkson but he is awful. Until Larroyer got a run of horror injuries he was a decent player. Horne well. He can pass and step but his defence is poor.

Salter yes can't pass can't run other than that he's awful.
Money wasted on him and Clarkson for me.

I presume the video is Kieran Dixon's highlight reel, judging by the context. A bit surprised that you are softening on Cockayne as no mention.

@Burtons Forearm; You're right we're not in SL but if we get to the qualifiers Dixon will be a liability. As for Mariano and Cox, we need free signings and these two must have 150 SL games between them. Salter does have weakness' in his game but I can't see Inglis rushing over here to help us out.

So along with your Campese love in you want us to sign another 2 injury prone players Mariano especially are you sure your a fan

So Dixon whose previous performances in qualifiers was pretty good and is available you don't want. His performances fluctuate between out standing and $hit.
But Mariano, Cox, and Salter you want just because they are available. There performances fluctuate between poor and $hit. Mariano excluded who has had half a dozen good games in his career.
Cox and Salter are lucky to be pro players. Salter makes Kirk Yeaman look like Mike Smith. He can't pass, kick break a tackle etc etc. His winger might as well be not there. Minns scored 5 MORE tries this season than Salter has ALL his career.
I'd rather Save my money.


I'm glad you don't recruit for Rovers.

You've not got a player that's come through your youth in your SL era that's worthy enough to clean yeamos boots. Hundreds of SL games hundreds of tries international honours & 2 CC medals, thank god for West Yorkshire players because that's all your clubs getting right now.