Great to have it confirmed. A good signing for us. We have a hard working pack but we have been short of size and now with Dudson and Manuokafoa we have added some beef. More protection for the likes of Gerrard and the gauntlet thrown down to Kavanagh and Johnson! Let's hope our outside backs can stay injury free!

First of all welcome to the club Gil.I have to say though a back ought to be priority.Marsh and Phelps have rotten luck with injury and I think Craven played centre in one game last year,the hammering at Wigan.That may even have been his last appearance,must have done his confidence wonders.It's disappointing this hasn't yet been addressed.

Top quality threequarters are a bit thin on the ground. Got to hope that Marsh and Phelps have better seasons injury wise. Phelps has a lot of class, if only we can keep him on the park. 2015 will be a critical season for him, was 2014 just a "bad luck" season or was it the start of a decline in form? Marsh again has a tricky season ahead, he just starts to look threatening and then he misses a string of games.

I have been impressed with what little I have seen from Declan Hulme, so it could be a chance for him to at least stake a claim. Likewise we seem to have a real talent in Ryan Ince, who I haven't seen play yet, but who seems to earn rave reviews. We cant afford to overuse either, but it would be good to see them get some game time!

Hopefully our backline will benefit from Brett Hodgson's full time input too!

At the end of the day the backs can do very little if our pack is coming off second best, so addressing our lack of size is a big plus!

Dudson will hopefully improve in our environment and kick on, no guarantee of that but he's a big lad at still a very young age for a prop so plenty to work with. Certainly plenty of choice in the front row now and that is only a good thing.

We lost 2 prop from our squad last year in Pickersgill & Clough. We now have Dudson and Manuokafia to add to our already 5 other regular props plus the youngster from the academy. Both have size and strengthens us greatly. We are a bit light in the backs but forwards lay the foundation for wins and backs can do nothing behind a losing pack. So strengthening the pack first is good. hopefully we will knock the giving of penalties away out of Dusdson. If not we have Manuokafia, Gerrard and Joseph who we know are reliable with Johnson, O Carroll or Kavanagh to come in. I reckon first choice will be. Manuokafia, Gerrard, Joseph and Dudson. Betts seems to like O Carroll so I would not be surprised to see Kavanagh or Johnson go out on loan. Some Whitehaven fans seem to already have heard rumours Kavanagh is going to them. if so good luck to him but hopefully we will have the clause in there we can recall in circumstances of injuries. Over all this is a good move for us and strengthens us even more in the prop position and comparing with the two we lost we have better players.

I have a feeling Johnson will not get a lot of game time early in the season.

Betts ,as rule ,if available has O'Carroll in before Joseph.

Problem with Dudson according to my mate who is a Wigan season ticket holder is his poor discipline and can have dodgy handling. He says he started vey well and looked a better bet than Flowers but did not train on and ended up disappointing.
He is not that sad to see him go.

Let's hope Denis can bring him on as he is capable of doing.