Shannon McDonnell

Its starting to look likely that the RFL have broken their own rules on the none-fed trained rules and anyone who has been over here for more than 3 years is off that list now.

So if that is now true then Dobson comes off.
That leaves us with.
Quota :-
Dobson
Galea
Webster
Green
Clinton

None Fed
Green
Clinton
Paea
Taulapapa/Mika

Leaving us one None-Fed spare as Withers and O'Hara are exempt for this contract period.

I personally don't like it and I would say so to MH/MS if I could but there is little that we as fans can do about it.

I will say that Sandercock is clearly his own man and has told the board that he is picking his team.
I for one am glad to hear it.

I have to agree with your last comment. I hate the fact that all clubs will seemingly do anything to fill their squads with 2nd rate overseas players (hull included). Until we get away from this mentality, the quality of the British players won't improve

The link you make between opportunities for British players and their quality, is arguably a logical fallacy. It is just as possible (more possible IMO) that the dearth of quality explains the reliance on overseas players rather than vice versa.

Giving young British players more opportunities makes sense as an end, more so than as a means.

If we put aside the goggles of patriotism for a moment, we know, deep down, that '2nd rate overseas' is by SL standards 'quite good'. That's why those whose livelihoods rely on results sign them.

That said - 11 is a lot. As long as they win games, I suppose.

Players like Mika are the ones you should be signing.
NRL clubs have about 30 under 20s players each year, of whom maybe 10 could go on with it to be NRL standard, but at each club there are about 3 or 4 spots in the senior squad to fill each year.
There are a lot of 21 and 22 year olds like Mika who could still be anything.
Signing old guys who are on the downhill slide is why your comp is going backwards.
If you changed the rules and plundered the NRL for promising 20 year olds you would improve rapidly.

Where does everyone reckon he will be playing then, my guess after looking about is 2nd row - a decent size with decent speed with a great offload in the tackle.

2nd row makes sense but coming off the bench to make an impact. I would say the same for Paea as well, which would mean playing Galea at loose, his best position in my book.

McDonnell is all but signed up, and like the signing of Meeks I don't expect Rovers to officially announce it until they both get visas - but you never know with Smithy lol!

Looking at some of those clips i think he has the look of Sam Stewart about him. I will be very happy if he turns out to be as good as that great backrower we got from Newcastle.

Maybe, or maybe clubs could invest some of tehat cash which is going overseas into improving their youth systems and likely improving teh output from them.

Not sure I agree that 2nd rate overseas is quite good by SL standards. There are plenty of overseas players in SL who are garbage