Two NRL signings to be announced at 06.07 tomorrow

Is this hull daily mail is that why its 6.07??

Rumours on twitter are it's defo Maurice Blair and Albert Kelly and that were signing Gil Dudson too. That will go with the Greg Burke loan signing whenever that's getting announced

A wild stab in the dark would suggest we will be announcing a 6 and a 7

Who the hell is Albert Kelly? sounds like a shifty old grandad from Eastenders.

Maurice blair was 1 of the top 5 nrl signings of the year 2013.Ben barba and sam tomkins were 2 of the 5 as well so the aussie press must think he's ok. 2 good signings for me.

If Kelly is fit and has he head right, he could be a cracking signing, unfortunately these are big problems. Blair is a decent solid centre, not sure about him at stand off, another with off fields problems.

With NH talking about players being more professional, these two would be strange signings.

Small community of ex Titans players in Hull, with 5 signed by the two clubs.

I've seen outstanding performances from both (especially Kelly) but I've not seen either look like a dominant play maker.

I feel guilty for going in a big sulk about that French hooker now boobydooby or what ever his name is? These look better signings

You finally guessed.

Is there any rugby league players left that haven't got problems

Albert Kelly is a good player.
He is a quality playmaker with a good kicking game, a good running game and a good passing game.
He should go well with Maurice Blair. I'm pretty sure they are friends (both play for the Newcastle Yowies in the Koori knockout)
The problem with Kelly is that he is a two pot screamer who just starts doing stupid things any time he gets near a beer.
He was the next big thing when he was at Cronulla, but was sacked after several incidents (all minor). At Newcastle he was on a strict code of conduct and was looking good in reserve grade before being sacked after one late night incident where he broke a light outside a nightclub. At the Titans he got a lot of firstgrade time and people were again saying he could be a future SOO player. I think he had injury problems after that, because I haven't heard much about him this year.
You should sign Timana Tahu too. He is good friends with both those guys. Timana organises the Newcastle Yowies side for the Koori knockout and has had both those guys in the side, and Timana is a very mature guy who would keep them in line.
Travis Waddell (Aboriginal hooker recently released from the Newcastle Knights) is another good friend of those guys, and a very solid player looking for a club.

His cousin, Greg Inglis, could solve your fullback problem.

Now that's more like it!

Seen Kelly a fair bit and has the xfactor, more than pleased with his signing.

Only seen Blair play in the centres, any more info on him Roopy, regarding playing in halves?

Albert has potential to be the best half in SL, although can be a bit Greg Eden like, Blair is an average centre IMO. Last season can't remember him scoring a try or making a break when I watched them. Although you could have said the same about Blake Green.

I can't find any articles on the net that set down the terms for Kelly's suspension (for being a Cronulla player in 2011), but the players at the Knights in the same boat (Snowden and Smith), can't rejoin the squad till round one I think, so no off season contact with the squad.
If it's the same for Kelly, that will make life pretty hard for your coach - the main playmaker not being able to take part in the plays till just before season kickoff.
On the plus side, he spent most of a season playing with Josh Mantellato and they had a good understanding re kicks for the wing, and he has worked with Blair, and spent some time in the same team as Costigan, but only a few games I think.

Edited for o/t bad-inage and jibes.

Kelly sounds like a talent, if he can stay on the rails. Certainly not going to help us play more robotically, as Murdoch suggested we should, and I could see his point. Chester clearly had a different vision, and if it works it should be crowd-pleasing. If...
If we get Myler on loan as well, then I'll very pleased with the quality, especially in this market. We'd still probably lack a player to control and direct, but they're few and far between and often have other limitations anyway.

This will get the girls at the KR shop going into overdrive handling the rush for memberships on the never-never, especially with the deadline for the 9mth deal on Monday.

I gave a sigh of relief when I read Rovers had signed Blair & Kelly, relieved we haven't gone down the Campese route although, if the HDM can be trusted, there still might be another half back on his way (hopefully Dureau).

From what I have seen and read about Blair and Kelly, they are both very strong defensively, have a good turn of speed and like to attack the line. Kelly has his moments though, so we can expect Hall-type inexplicable blunders, on the plus side (and there's plenty) he has that Xfactor to create something out of nothing.

The squad is shaping up nicely (cue a new 2015 starting line-up thread), and with 2/3 more signings on the horizon it is unrecognisable with 2014s. Looking at the 'ins' I don't think there is one dodgy defender, an area Chester has taken personal responsibility for, an area that has been Rovers nemesis for too long. If the rumour relating to Dudson is right then he will be another to fit this genre.

With the RFL, you never can tell. Bans generally haven't applied to training over here. They might take a different stance with this than they have for other types of issues (breaches of registration rules, or on field misdemeanours, for example). Hopefully we'll have sounded them out. I'm sure the lad wouldn't want to miss out the Army training camp in Scotland.
it'll probably take a while to sort his visa in any case and it doesn't sound like we're going for an ultra-structured approach in attack.

After the Mason fiasco I don't think Rovers would announce the signing if the visa wasn't already granted. On the club site I can't see any mention of "subject to the paperwork"

Bans over here don't apply to training either, but this is a ban applied by the anti drugs in sport authorities, not the NRL, and the terms for our players mean they can have nothing to do with the club till the ban is over - so no training with the team. The ban was put on by the Australian authorities, not the international one, so maybe it doesn't apply over there.

Gold Coast fans (including my mate Jay) are all gutted to see Kelly go. Exciting player and interception machine! I don't think he'd get in the same kind of trouble in Hull for going out on the lash that he did in Australia either. Only issue is his legs. They're not bothered about losing Blair. I enjoyed watching Kelly for the Titans, but never really noticed Blair on the pitch tbh. Saying that - Ranking couldn't get a start at Titans, and most Hull fans are happy with him!

If the ban does apply internationally, then fair enough. At least we know where we stand. Probably better than relying on the RFL's discretion, and there'll be no conspiracy theories or accusations of bias at least.

How far does it go? The fact he's done an interview on the club website suggests that no contact doesn't extend to media stuff? If the ban applies over here, can our coach call him on the telephone? Send him a playbook? At one end of the spectrum it seems not very enforceable, at the other kind of pointless.

Don't know about shifty, but he certainly can shift.

I don't know the full details, but my understanding is that they can't do anything that involves playing or training with the team, so our guys are basically having to get themselves fit for the season, which is OK because both our guys are seasoned internationals who will know how much work they need to do.

Different players got different length bans, so maybe Kelly has already served his suspension - I can't find details of his suspension.

It does. (In the Albert Kelly interview).