Cockayne v Brown
Paniu v Latus
Hallett v Heil
Keeting v Dobson
Poore v Tuimvave
Robinson v Withers
Weyman v Paea
J Walker v Beaumont
Netherton v O'Hara
Larroyer v Paterson
Costigan v Mika
Langley v Griffin
Maki v Hepi

Full back Guzdek and loose-forward Holker have also joined the squad.

Thoughts?

I think the pack looks a lot stronger, depth wise, we have versatile forwards now that can chop and change positions. Paea is a massive loss and I have doubts on Weyman but overall the pack is stronger.

Keating is a player I like and he will add a new dimension to our attack. Think he will go really well, could form a cracking partnership with Burns, only worry is our kicking game. Obviously there are worries regarding our goal kicker, think Sandy hinted it will be Burns at the recent forum, just going to have to hope for the best.

Losing Withers leaves us a bit short of pivots. Hopefully Carlile and Beharrell will kick on. I'm always nervous about ignoring the loss of players who made no or minimal contribution - there's often one, and if they're never replaced after a few years you'd end up with a very thin squad. Tbf though, if Latus counts as an out, Netherton is an in - so O'Hara - JN could be added.
Overall we've got to be pleased I think. Especially given how things looked in the aftermath of that game on Easter Monday. The pack looks very solid, so they'll hopefully set a good platform. And if (when) we get a couple of injuries we're not straight into having to throw in youngsters, simply because there's nobody else.

Done



Regarding hookers, Josh Hodgson will be our starting hooker with Carlile coming off the bench (assuming CS wants a hooker on the bench).

If we get an injury to either of these two then Costigan can do a job there.

If injuries cut deeper then Robinson is likely to come in and get a chance.

All in all, that's a pretty good balance I think.

Hall into the halves, with Burns or Keating to 9 might even be an option?

I reckon CS has given himself more and better options. They're bound to diminish as injuries hit, but I think there's a big difference on having potential in the squad and relying on it.

Lots of changes though and a tough start to the season, so hopefully the fans recognise that and give 'em some time to bed in.

I think that coincides with the injection of cash the club have had.

We'll see what he's about as a coach next year I think.

I don't really know all the players, but from what I know it looks like you have improved in defence and maybe lost a fair bit in attack.
Paterson, Mika and Paea are all hit or miss defenders with a low workrate, while Weyman, Poore and Costigan are all ferocious defenders who love to own the middle of the field.
But the real difference is Keating for Dobson. Keating will be one of your best defenders and will replace one of your worst, but he won't have anything like the same impact in attack either.
I'd say you are a two tries a game better side in defence and a 0ne or one and a half try worse side in attack.

I see your point Roopy regarding Dobson v Keating, I think a lot of people are worried on how it will work out as we have been used to know what where getting week in/week out with Dobson. In Keating I also think he has the potential to score more tries than Dobson.

I'm not sure that it is our best 1-17 since we have been in Super League but it is deffo our strongest and deepest squad. My only concern is our lack of established cover at half back. If we had one more player capable of playing in the halves then I would feel a lot more comfortable.
If we manage to keep 2 out of Burns/Keating/Hall on the pitch at any one time then I think we will take some beating come June/July time when everybody has bedded in. As has already been stated, we will have to be patient to start with due to the high turnover of players.

I think we've got the type of pack that will steam roller a lot of sides. just depends whether the hb's can unlock defences.

Tough pack, more depth, more quality. Bit worried about the kicking but we're definitely stronger. Just hope Burns & Keating combine well...& stay fit. We've lost one of our starting half-backs by the first couple of games for 5 of the last 6 seasons.

The problem with the player to player comparisons is that whilst we know exactly what the outgoing players did in 2013 we can only speculate on what the replacements will offer in 2014.

Familiar players tend to be looked at warts and all whereas new signings are shiny and unblemished.

We also know who missed loads of games through injury in 2013 but can only hope for the best that most of our new signings have better luck.

And the real $64m dollar question is how Kris Keating goes. Sandercock rates him so let's hope he excels in more than just defence because frankly although that is welcome it is not top of the tick list for a half back.

Sandy does tend to tell us how good his Australian signings are going to be but so far it's been a mixed bag. Mika, McDonnell, Paterson you can make a case for all of them but they all came and went in rapid time and with the same question marks remaining as when they arrived. Let's hope that will not be the case with Keating.

There's no doubt Sandy has tried to toughen up the team and teams will not welcome coming to Craven Park, I feel. Will it be enough to threaten the top 4 probably not. Sandy will still be able to talk about opposition teams as 'full of superstars' safe in the knowledge that nobody will be saying that about us.

Really looking forward to the new season any team that is not up for it will get bullied by us which will be a welcome turnaround. There was only a cigarette paper between 5th to 8th last year so we are not talking step change to climb significantly albeit the upper limit probably 5th IMO.

Yeah, I think that is the way many of us are seeing it at the moment too.

Sandercock said soon after arriving that we'd be defending better - then in 2012 and 2013 we had our 2 worst defensive records since promotion. Tbf, he had a slightly different remit and challenges to Morgan - but I think he's realised that much as coaching is important, you need the the right type and quality of players to deliver on your plan.

It's taken him two bloody years to realise that he needs players that can tackle in order to defend?

The bloke's a ruddy genius.

A way to look at it is that he signed a bunch of players Wayne Bennett got rid of for reasons that seemed unfathomable at the time, and now he has figured out why and is signing guys Wayne Bennett used to win premierships.

I think he's been given a bit more freedom (ie budget), but it's also been a learning curve for him. About the game over here and being a [uhead[/u coach.

Kids and talented but erratic players - they have their place, but relying too heavily on them has significant downsides. As does being solid, hardworking but a bit predictable - that took us to 4th in 2009 though.

Not been funny but shouldn't all Rugby players be able to tackle? It is a fundamental basic of the game after all.

Really don't understand why it's been such a problem or so difficult for us, pick your man out, he runs at you, you tackle him....easy!

IMO We have a problem with winning the floor, both in attack and defence, most teams seem to get up and play the ball much quicker than us and in defence they manage to slow us down and get there line set.

Hopefully we will see some improvement there too.

Players obviously show varying amount of aggression when going in to make a tackle. When watching footage of Weyman & Costigan and then watching Mika & Paea its really evident. Some players are just simply stronger in that area and fail to drop off tackles due to determination & heart whilst others are alot more technically good at tackling and use there body weight to really good effect.

To say it's as simple as picking your man out and tackling is very poor. The man running at you has varying degrees of power, intensity, speed & agility. Your having to compute this all in a split second half the time. Not sure we are giving rugby players enough credit here.

Still it not only missing tackles that makes for a bad defence Rovers at times have been positionally poor we also jump out the line far to often leaving large gaps for teams to waltz through whilst we've also failed to stop teams offloading at will against us.
The big issues as well is composure and discipline we give to many free sets away to teams which really punishes us. We can't expect our line to hold when it's subjected to 4 or 5 consecutive sets due to poor discipline of players.

Good to see we're no longer relying on foreign imports.

Zzzzzz

2014 is only our 8th season in SL though. We need more tarm.

I don't care if we had 17 chinamen taking to the field. I just want to see a winning team.

you do know were the only team in the world to have overseas players

Wigan Saints Warrington Bradford etc have been in SL 18 seasons and all of them have overseas players whats there excuse