Finally some good news from the Giants for a change. Rapira has tweeted this morning his scans are clear. Hopefully this means he will be back sooner rather than later.

That indeed is good news, He is turning out to be one of our better buys.

Our best forward by a country mile

Even better news he's tweeted if he gets through this weeks training he will be playing Thursday!

Good to not have more issues in the front row, but as for Rapira being our best forward - not for me, not saying he is a bad player but not special, very good when we have the ball, ok in defence but not a dominant force.

doing the prop work on his won , played every game! and we were worried about him being injury prone, hats of to the guy never takes a backward step, would love to see him helped out when smith and huby are back with ikahihfo

Who has been better? A very consistent player, he knows what a quick play of the ball is, is rarely pushed back as he runs harder than any other prop on impact and is difficult to put down. First full season back after a serious injury he's been extremely good in my view. I'd go as far as to say my POS so far.

Lawrence has been our best forward by a mile. Ta'ai was our best ball carrier but has now developed the drops. I also thought Johnson was our best prop on thursday. All in my opinion and sure plenty will disagree.

Rapira is not the problem neither is he special imo, but as Brearley says he has had to do more than anticipated and will be better with Huby and Ikahihifo in the team.

With Smith to come back as well I think we will be ok come the middle 8s.

I do hope the new coach brings his own conditioner as quite simply the players fitness is not good enough, I believe we are the least fit team in the competition.

Who is this other dominant force we have in the pack ?
Who else is as consistent as he is /
He gets better pubs than any other giant forward ?
Who else has had the appearances we have had /

He is head and shoulders above any forward we have and has the class that the others should aspire to.

What matches has he dominated?

I was actually referring to dominant defence, which is pretty clear if you understand English. Our dominant force in defence would be Michael Lawrence.

You want to see a dominant prop look at what Fafita did to us on Thursday, even though he is a bit on the heavy side. Rapira has never had that impact on any game for us, happy to have him in our squad, but you are kidding yourself if you think he is one of the best props in super league, and that is the standard we should be aspiring to.

You may have noticed Michael Lawrence is one of the best defenders in Super League.

Your original comment can be read both ways. You should practice your English.


He is the best prop WE have which is all that matters now.

don't agree with you about Lawrence either. Solid but not spectacular or dominant. Not like Ellis at Hull or Westwood used to be.
Very rarely takes downs man by himself. Now that is dominant.

Fafita had a great game no denying it, if he does that every week then great, but l doubt he will. Rapira is a very very consistent performer. He'll rarely catch the eye but just you spend a couple of matches watching him, you'll see.

agreed

Agree fully 100% and highlights all thats wrong at the Giants if fans think Bruno is dominant

He is a decent defender in that he doesnt miss many tackles but what he doesnt do is hurt people in his tackles (not only one!!). Upto this season his go forward was non existant, he seemed to have fixed that up in first half of season but seems to be slipping back into his old ways of dropping to floor as soon as a hand his layed upon him, Eorl been doing this far too long too. No fire or aggression in either of em on the pitch and imo if everyone was fit with a decent coach in place neither will be getting much gametime going forward. Props we have Rapira, Seb, Huby and Mason all ahead of Eorl and backrow we have Symonds, Taai, Hinchy (loose forward is his natural position) and Roberts all ahead of Bruno.
If Wardle is off next season my starting 13 would be:
A N Other (Need to sign top fullback)
Jerry
Leroy
A N Other (need a top class centre)
Ormsby
Brierley
Brough
Huby
Leeming
Rapira
Symonds
Taai
Hinchcliffe

I wouldn't pay Eorl in washers I really wouldn't. The guy is a fantastic icon for the club but as a player he has given up upstairs, complaining about his treatment by the sport that pays his wages and blocking fans on Twitter.

Has no impact in games, limited work rate, looks overweight (there's a theme there) and has no desire anymore. Sad but true. Deny it all you want.

I could live with that.

He's a big average gain player for our side and a solid defender who makes few errors.
Having said that our average gain as a team isn't great.
We have scored more tries than Wakey and Wigan who are above us, our team is the second highest for tackles made and near the bottom for missed tackles. So why are we doing so bad? we are in the middle for errors, offloads and penalties- but at the bottom for clean breaks or tackle busts

How on earth can you interpret "ok in defence but not a dominant force" as a comment on anything but his defence?

Typical DG twisting to suit your all knowing opinion.

I never at any point said Rapira was not a decent player, but he is not the superstar he is being lauded as. I doubt there is one fan of another SL team that would think of Rapira as someone they really wish their team had. A fair few would want Ta'ai (whom I note you ignored in my comments as to whom was better - doesn't suit the DG twist?)

Our team are crap this year because of coaching, fitness and poor mentality amongst the players, not because I don't think Rapira is as good as hyped.

A site like this should allow opinions rather than be subject to the likes of you mocking others, which you do too often. I shall leave you to your delusions.

we wont be signing a full back. we have brierley.

we may sign gaskell for centre...

we will look good if we can put our first 17 on the field

Have to admit that he certainly seems to have gone a bit backward this season but we are still a better defensive team when Eorl is on the pitch, he doesn't miss many tackles. So for now he would always be in my 17 until somebody better comes along to replace him.
As for overweight I think you would be better looking at our no7 instead of no8.

1. yes we have brierley and the sooner someone accepts he ISNT a fulL back but a half back I M HONEST OPINION the better

2. will assess the Gaskell situation when its fact -not supposition -and theres a contract in place

3. still to cross the "line" where what looks good on paper plays well on grass Seen no ongoing consistent evidence for months and thats the new coach`s first hurdle Make em look like they respect each other and play as though they WANT to win Obviously the other team / bounce of the ball/ refs come into the equation but think a desire to win (Widnes) wakey etc isnt even on the agenda sadly With sport PRIDE comes into it -and it certainly aint there in any shape or form WHY? tell me!! Sod the coach angle -they should want it forthemselves!!

Mate we have people who think we have the long term answer at half, with Ellis, PA was one of them, Think they confuse effort with quality.

Why has a good news thread turned into another moan thread?

Simples jools, One persons post is another persons moan.

YEAH lets all be happy bunnies like the team appear to be!!