Hi all, just thought I'd give an opinion on Mike Coady from a Bristol perspective.
When Mike arrived at the Sonics in 2006/2007, he had played no Rugby League, but was an England Students union international (I think he played for Loughborough's first team at union). He's a Bristol lad, so got in touch with us during his summer holidays and played about two thirds of the games in the 2007 season. He was always a talented lad - played centre for us and strengthened a back line that was pretty hit and miss. He scored a number of great tries for us and was excellent at releasing other backs - the wingers, our full back Dan, and so on. He was influential in getting us to our first ever Midlands Conference Grand Final. In that match he scored a try and set up several others as we won our first silverware. I have a DVD of the match somewhere so will try and rip some clips of him in action and stick them on Youtube.
His rise in the last 12 months has been meteoric. Whether he has what it takes to make the step up to Super League remains to be seen, but the Rhinos should be congratulated on taking a punt on someone like Mike. I'm sure with the right conditioning and training he can prove an asset. It will take a year or two though, so be patient. From memory he is quick, strong and has great feet. He's not had a lot of top class coaching (apart from our coach, Karl… ha ha) and is nothing like the finished article yet.
It's the first time one of our former players has gone on to turn pro, so it's a great fillip for those of us working away in the South West to spread the word of RL. If we weren't there he may never have had this chance to play the greatest game at the highest level.
Obviously we're making the most of this press wise and it's the first time I can think of that the Rhinos have been featured in the Bristol Evening Post! We'll all be watching his development closely and wish him the best of luck.
Next time i speak to Gary H (which, to be fair, could be a while - last time was when I bumped into him at an international a few years back) I'll congratulate him on taking a punt
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