Saw this and wondered if anyone has heard anything? www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sp ... -Taia.html I know its in the Sun therefore it should be taken with a few pinches of salt If there is something in this does anybody know much about him apart from his wiki page lol.. Roopy?

Saw this and wondered if anyone has heard anything? www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sp ... -Taia.html I know its in the Sun therefore it should be taken with a few pinches of salt If there is something in this does anybody know much about him apart from his wiki page lol.. Roopy?

He is a quality player who missed all last season with a neck injury that affected the strength of his right arm so much he couldn't tackle.
He had a radical surgical procedure that has only been done to one other Rugby League player - Anthony Quinn of Melbourne.
He basically had a vertebra removed and replaced, which sounds like science fiction to me.
He came back this season and started very slowly after a year off, at which time Wayne Bennett made the decision to replace him with Beau Scott for next season.
Since then he has improved a lot and is nearly back to the form he had when playing for NZ and is one of the Knights best.
Quinn has played a full season with his bionic neck and Zeb doesn't seem to be having any problems, but i think it's a gamble.

No he didn't.

Is he as good as Mika Roopy?

I'll play your silly game.

If Mika improves to reach his full potential in the next few years he still won't be fit to shine Zeb's boots - assuming Zeb doesn't get another big knock to his neck.

and half a game off the bench in a final where he tried hard but didn't have an impact was not really playing in my books.

What silly game? Genuine question.

What about the start of the season, didn't he play a few then?

Roopy, Sheldon said you don't know what you're talking about and said you smell of sausage rolls.

Sheldon, Roopy said you're a fishy pommy with bad teeth.

love it

He will slot in perfectly.

The Sun is definitely NOT my reading material but they have been right about Manu and Turner.

Taia is more likely Catalans bound; a replacement for Lopini.

Unless, Taia is a genuine target because Ben Galea is retiring?

Would have thought that if we were genuinely interested, we would have a natural advantage over any other club in SL.

Its getting like the Morgan years all over again only this time instead of just dealing with one agent (now a banned agent..ahem..) , we are just looking at signing from one club...

Shows the strength of the coaches "connections" within the game i.e none...

Sorry Craig , really wanted you to do well but you are a massive disappointment so far, at the senior level at least...perhaps assistant coaching/teaching is really more your bag , maybe a step down to Director of Youth development may be the way forward...

And Roopy , you DID say Mika was in the form of his life and a top signing for us whereas i DID say he (and other signings) was more like a Salford level player so your credibility with regards the ability of Knights reserve and fringe players has gone...

Barry!

How have you been?

I've missed you, had to get my old posters out.

Pining I was.

Oh good, he's back to bring his thrillingly pessimistic opinions.

I just had to stop myself committing suicide, It's not that bad, Larry.

All hail the return of happy crack!

Ok fellas i know when i'm not wanted...

But am i wrong...?

Yes.
You are wrong , DR Doomandgloom.

Last time I checked Newcastle Knights and Saint Helens are not 'one club' just for starters.
So the answer is that yes you are wrong.

If Newcastle Nights were to emigrate to England and ply their trade in the ESL with the same squad and coaching staff, where would they finish?

You might be right, but I'm not prepared to throw Sandercock on the scrapheap after 13 games. As for his recruitment policy, we have thus far signed 2 ex Knights players, one of which will be leaving us at the end of the season, and another who wants a rocket up his 'arris. It's very common in our sport, and others for coaches to go shopping at former clubs. Paddy Kenny has made a career out of following Neil Warnock - watch him sign for Leeds over the summer. Nowt wrong with looking at players you know and trust already.

I'm genuinely glad to see you back, I think you add a bit of balance. This board (and I'm one of it's biggest culprits) can be over positive. We've had a number of years and I do think we're going in the right direction but we need to improvement to pull in more revenue.

I suppose it depends what you see Sandercock's role as, for me it's about strengthening the playing side from the bottom up and I'm more than prepared to give him the full two years to do that.

Cox had had very limited game time and was looking good up until an unfortunate injury, Taylor is building and could (come on BOD do the right thing) be a corner stone of our pack for years to come, Salter has not looked out of place.

No team brings through eight youngsters all at once and so far out of those three one can only be completely confident of Taylor having a good career.

Most of our signings were made before we'd got Sandercock.

I'd be interested to know what you think was a realistic aim for this year?

People will point to MacGuire at Wigan and Brown at Huddersfield. Wigan; Excellent academy that had finally stopped gifting it's youngsters to other teams, an assistant with a total understanding of the club and a bit of cash. Huddersfield; A team that had been building for a long long time, good old Uncle Ken happy to provide cash to get the likes of Brough and George whilst also tying players such as Cudgoe, Lawrence and MacGilvary down to long term deals, previously coached by Smith a coach well known for getting the correct structures in place (and also wearing horrible brown suits) and an academy that will probably bare fruit for years to come.

If I had to chose a post to give a gold radio award to, It'd be this one.

It's like panning a river in mid nineteenth century California.

Mainly cack with the very occasional nuggett.

Ha, with that in mind, you look like the guy on the Golden Nuggets cereal box.

South Wales?