By Wildwillie
May 18 2011

When Leeds Carnegie announced that the summer signings last year were all going to be of a better quality than those who had left we were all eagerly awaiting some tasty players,  both forwards and backs. Well we got tasty - just one of the signings set the crowd buzzing with some great performances:

Steve Thompson - There had been a few raised eyebrows when Thommo's signing was announced. Hooker was a position where we had plenty of cover. However we were soon won over by a series of battling performances which got even better when the going got tough. A natural leader, Thommo outshone Marco Wentzel and there was a perception that the team looked better when he was skipper.

Sean Hoeneck - Brought in as the "beef" to replace Eirik Lund Sean struggled to get into the starting XV due to the excellent form of Tom Denton. When he did get the chance he was obviously no Viking & played second fiddle to Dents for much of the season.

Warren Fury - Arrived with something to prove. Whatever that was he proved that he could beat the "Mathie 2-step & pass" with the Billy 3-step! Started off looking as good as Mathie but as the season wore on it became obvious that he was never going to make the 9 shirt his own.

Dan Browne - Lightweight backrow player who, to my mind was 3rd choice at 8. He got preference over the technically better Oakley and the injury prone Paul for some strange reason and the team suffered as a result. Went into the 2nd row when injuries struck & although he showed he could win lineout ball he still went missing  for long periods when the going got tough.

Lachlan Mackay - A good quality inside centre who was brought in as a 10 when the Hodgson venture failed. This experiment was also doomed to failure as Mackay could not string 3 games together without getting injured and lacked the kicking from hand skills necessary for the AP.

Semi Tadulala - purported to be a tricky winger, he failed to make any impression when he got his chance in the side. Lacks real pace and did little with the scant supply of ball he received.

Mike Stephenson - came up from Bath with reasonable reviews. Played most of the season switching from wing to fullback. Showed lots of heart and scored a couple of good tries. Probably  "best of the rest" in the rankings.

Adrian Jarvis - The main complaint I have about Jarvis is that he came in too late to make any lasting impact. Showed some good 3/4 qualities and kicked some vital points. He was also guilty of missing some crucial kicks. On the balance of worthiness he definitely was in credit though.

In part III we will look at the unmitigated disaster that was pre-season.