Just because he's the best of a bad bunch doesn't make him worthy of a new contract

long and horne are our best half backs but I'd get rid now if I could

Wasnt the highilght of the weekend though was it

Lovegrove misses nearly 15% of all tackles, name one prop or indeed any player in a top club who matches that...that is NL standard i am afraid....

And he hasnt made the most yards or tackle busts for a mid table Rovers at all.....nowhere near and a complete lie BR..., he is not even in the top 50 for tackle busts in the league...yards wise he lags behind the likes of Korkidas, Tronc, Wood nevermind the good props .....if he didnt play for Rovers and you didnt have those red and white specs would you really be champing at the bit for us to go out and sign him..???

If mid table averageness is all we strive for then signings like Lovegrove are fine and dandy....

It is nothing to do with the rule change. The situation at Rovers is that the players around 20 years of age didnt have the benefit of coming through a structured scholorship and academy structure that we now have in place. Because we didnt have those structures the best players in the area went to Hull. The reason i mentioned the 16,17 and 18 year olds is because Rovers have offered these kids the correct structures and have arguably got the lions share of best local talent to Craven Park.

How do you think he performed for us last season?

He did his bit for sure along with the rest of them, however i think it is significant the only league win he started in was the Salford home match, i am not going to say Rhys doesnt try his best most of the time because he does...what i am saying is he is far from a quality number 8, in fact he is very far removed from a quality number 8...

If we signed him to play a back up versatility role i could live with that, he would be much better as an occasional second row/centre replacement, however he has Hull KRs first team number 8 shirt.....and he shouldnt have...

So which of ours props have made more yards or tackle busts then? If I'm wrong I'll hold my hands up, if not I expect an apology for being called a liar which I didn't particularly appreciate.

I'm starting to think you have a personal agenda against Lovegrove and to some extent the full rovers team. Can you name a prop we've had in the last 20 years that you would have kept? In fact could you name any of our players you would keep? Do we have a current prop you would keep or are you just holding out for us to sign 4 players of the Graham / Morley standard.

My OPINION is that over the last 2 years RL has done a good job for us, better than realistically any of our other props and as such deserves another contract.

BR, just to be clear, you stated Rhys "is the top performer in each of these stats".....that is incorrect, although prop wise you are correct in terms of yards (til sunday) by a small margin from the much maligned Vella..

And i rate many members of Rovers squad, some i clearly do not...Vella has been one of the best props we have ever had...up there with the Broadhursts and Nieblings, Caseys and Lockwoods..he is getting to the end now but his first two seasons were exceptional...Clinton is clearly a good player, perhaps we will see the best of him next year...but Rhys is not and never will be a top number 8...

So how many games did Lovegrove actually start at prop?

Morgs obviously wanted him to play in the front row as we have been possibly lightweight/short of numbers in the position, its not say he is going to stay at prop.
He has played S/R recently so is that not the kind of versatility you have talked about?
You are making a big play about him being 'number 8', as you know, very little is made of squad numbers these days.

good news, thats 2 young highly rated props commited fot 2 more years