WWW.RLFANS.COM

capewell would be a great signing for us if we could pull it off.

I agree, more to the point is there any such thing these days as a second row. Players like Arona and Taangonia can play prop/SR or Loose ditto Batchelor, Westerman and Crowther can play multiple positions, IMO only Fifita and Koppy are pure specialists.

This gives us huge resilience and depth in the pack meaning that all but the most horrific injury crisis will see us through.

Yes hooker is a priority still but this is a classy signing of true.

Although having seen this it was said on here last week that there was nobody of interest at the moment from overseas.

Although hes a second row, and I feel we already have plenty, Bachelor seems a bit injury prone at the moment, and I dont feel his body is ready to play week in, week out. Also we don't know how well Ashurst will come back after his back injury, which was pretty serious.

He does look a good player and will boost the pack.

I mostly agree but I do think SR is the more specialised.
Defending in the middle is physically harder but technically easier. If you put someone at SR who doesn't normally play there you have a real problem in defense. Kirmond coming back showed this to me.
Angles of running are different too.
8, 10 and 13 are interchangeable.
SR to prop is OK if they are big enough like Kelepi, but it isn't so easy the other way around.

I'm also guessing and it's a guess that CC and his team have poured over the match tapes and decided this is where we were weak?? Also he can't be sure that Ashurst and Arona will fully recover or that Kirmond will offer much so if you take them out then suddenly we do look a bit threadbare.

I don't think people give CC the benefits, he has some flaws but his team-building has always been outstanding, very few duffers and that includes Randall He may not always know how to get the best from his teams all the time but few do but he signs great players IMHO.

He mentioned lack of penetration from the SR a while back, that's why he tried Pauli there and then got Tanginoa, who gives the defensive line a real bend when he runs at it.

Perhaps he's also had a season to look at the new interchange rule and has gone for utility and mobility over size.

No doubt a year on after the interchange rule was changed he'll have leaned more and may tweak things, but then again we have signed Green.

Yeah, you still need some size but I'm guessing he has as you say tweaked his strategy.

I don't think there's a problem wherever Kelepi plays. He'll be destructive wherever. We get hung up on size of players. A few good runs with big metres followed by slow PTB and zero energy (Where have I seen this before). Obviously if you get a unit with everything then bingo! Kelepi out wide will be great and a handful. Kelepi's energy down the middle will be great too. You may not see this as clear as out wide but it's huge for the team.
Wherever he plays I'm just glad he's on our side!