Bulls youngster fully tested on return to side (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Two words...Too Small! He may be quick, but Pat Richards should never have been able to score his try in the corner, not from where Crookes was positioned. Fortunately, he won't come up against Pat Richards every week and might have a better time against Chris Riley at Warrington. But, credit where it's due, Pat Richards wasn't even in the second half and he worked well with Sykes (who has been superb recently, not just in attack, but his "revolving door" defence has been halted as well!)
On a non-related note, does anyone else think the team look 1000x fitter this season? I know we're only a fifth of the way in, but there's no hands on knees, gasping for air after 10mins and the subs are jogging on AND off the pitch. Geoff Evans might not have been here long but he seems to be doing an excellent job with them.

Adey wrote:
Two words...Too Small! He may be quick, but Pat Richards should never have been able to score his try in the corner, not from where Crookes was positioned. Fortunately, he won't come up against Pat Richards every week and might have a better time against Chris Riley at Warrington. But, credit where it's due, Pat Richards wasn't even in the second half and he worked well with Sykes (who has been superb recently, not just in attack, but his "revolving door" defence has been halted as well!) On a non-related note, does anyone else think the team look 1000x fitter this season? I know we're only a fifth of the way in, but there's no hands on knees, gasping for air after 10mins and the subs are jogging on AND off the pitch. Geoff Evans might not have been here long but he seems to be doing an excellent job with them.

Agree Adey he is a bit small and Halley has very much the same issue. Richards might not have got there if the Wigan player inside him hadnt been holding Beaver back from joining the tackle!
Riley has pace if given the space so need to close that down and also Reardon MUST mark his man on his side!
Agree very much about Sykesy, been great this year, aggressive and pretty solid all round.
Yes we are fitter it appears that we can still run and tackle like we are for full 80 mins whereas last year, no chance!

He needs to learn to catch a high ball under pressure and bulk up a little.

Hope the rumours about the Volcano returning in May are not true,. He did us great service but heis knees are shot and unles he is on pay as you play it wouldnt be a good move by the bulls.

birkybull wrote:
He needs to learn to catch a high ball under pressure and bulk up a little. Hope the rumours about the Volcano returning in May are not true,. He did us great service but heis knees are shot and unles he is on pay as you play it wouldnt be a good move by the bulls.

not heard these stories about les, but wouldnt mind having him around again, maybe he would do ok as an impact bench player, coming on in the pack, fastest second rower around! just a thought, and i would rather see him playing for us than against us any day! also from a marketing point of view it might get a few more through the gates?

birkybull wrote:
He needs to learn to catch a high ball under pressure and bulk up a little. Hope the rumours about the Volcano returning in May are not true,. He did us great service but heis knees are shot and unles he is on pay as you play it wouldnt be a good move by the bulls.

not heard these stories about les, but wouldnt mind having him around again, maybe he would do ok as an impact bench player, coming on in the pack, fastest second rower around! just a thought, and i would rather see him playing for us than against us any day! also from a marketing point of view it might get a few more through the gates?

In RL size really does matter. But I was very impressed with the young kid. Trust someone to make a remark about his catching!! It was the first game for 12 months and his first touch was a high bomb with Richards roaring on to him Mmmm!!
This kid has a lot of talent and yes size may be an issue but we can only play the players we have and he looks up for the job.
Sherrife will be back on the wing when he's fit and with Platt soon available, the 3/4's don't look quite as bad as we feared. COYB!!

He's 5'11 and 90kg, the ideal build for a centre, which is mainly what he is. Identical stats to James Donaldson who nobody thinks is too small. I thought Crookes did great after a torrid start. He didn't let it phase him. Let's face it, Richards is a freak. He's six foot three, leaps like a salmon, scored 5 tries in his previous game and collecting crosskicks is his speciality. I bet the queues of volunteers to mark him on Friday night were thin on the ground when Sheriffe dropped out. Let's give young Crookes a chance. I rate him and think he has a decent future ahead of him. I'm not a Macca critic but he does play backs out of position probably because the squad is a couple short.

Yeah to small and not strong enough.
Doubt any other threequarter would have been pushed off like that. The lad is dominated to easily.

Will, Huddersfield wrote:
He's 5'11 and 90kg, the ideal build for a centre, which is mainly what he is. Identical stats to James Donaldson who nobody thinks is too small. I thought Crookes did great after a torrid start. He didn't let it phase him. Let's face it, Richards is a freak. He's six foot three, leaps like a salmon, scored 5 tries in his previous game and collecting crosskicks is his speciality. I bet the queues of volunteers to mark him on Friday night were thin on the ground when Sheriffe dropped out. Let's give young Crookes a chance. I rate him and think he has a decent future ahead of him. I'm not a Macca critic but he does play backs out of position probably because the squad is a couple short.

Ah that's because, despite his size, Donaldson has hit up, tackled and played well above his weight and size. Very much in the same mold as Kevin Sinfield who, again, some think is too small for Loose Forward.
Crookes may be a match in height and weight, but in terms of power and defensive reliability...Donald
son easily has the better technique. Proven last season when he had Pa'aleasina running at him all night and, somehow, took him down with considerable ease.

Too many people condemning the lad too soon At least give the kid a chance. He has just returned from a shocking injury and has yet to have a sustained run in the first team. Donaldson too has a size issue, lets not forget that. Some players can handle it and some just always "look" small. It's far too soon to start judging which category young Crookes comes into at 19 and a rookie. Just lay off guys. one thing in his favour is that SMFTS has said he's too small and he seems to be getting EVERYTHING wrong at the moment!

haitch wrote:
Too many people condemning the lad too soon At least give the kid a chance. He has just returned from a shocking injury and has yet to have a sustained run in the first team. Donaldson too has a size issue, lets not forget that. Some players can handle it and some just always "look" small. It's far too soon to start judging which category young Crookes comes into at 19 and a rookie. Just lay off guys. one thing in his favour is that SMFTS has said he's too small and he seems to be getting EVERYTHING wrong at the moment!

hi haitch, think your poking a hornets nest with that last bit, SMFTS will be less than pleased, still will make for interesting reading later on!!

Steampig wrote:

haitch wrote: Too many people condemning the lad too soon At least give the kid a chance. He has just returned from a shocking injury and has yet to have a sustained run in the first team. Donaldson too has a size issue, lets not forget that. Some players can handle it and some just always "look" small. It's far too soon to start judging which category young Crookes comes into at 19 and a rookie. Just lay off guys. one thing in his favour is that SMFTS has said he's too small and he seems to be getting EVERYTHING wrong at the moment!

hi haitch, think your poking a hornets nest with that last bit, SMFTS will be less than pleased, still will make for interesting reading later on!!

What ARE you thinking of Steampig, comparing smfts with a hornet. Still I suppose if you think about it a hornet has a sting in its tail so they may have a little in common i.e. a PITA ??

Crookes made loads of yards in the second half. He looked very strong going forward and to come back with his second half performance after getting trampled in the first half shows great promise for the future and his positioning was very good to say hes a centre.

haitch wrote:
Too many people condemning the lad too soon At least give the kid a chance. He has just returned from a shocking injury and has yet to have a sustained run in the first team. Donaldson too has a size issue, lets not forget that. Some players can handle it and some just always "look" small. It's far too soon to start judging which category young Crookes comes into at 19 and a rookie. Just lay off guys. one thing in his favour is that SMFTS has said he's too small and he seems to be getting EVERYTHING wrong at the moment!

Agreed,haitch - Crookes is a bona-fide centre,not a converted back-rower,or a full back playing out of position.

As regards size,I'm pretty sure he's at least as big as Gidley,probably bigger.

The keyword here is PERSEVERANCE.
After giving the likes of Platt,Worrincy,Nero,
Sheriffe,et al,endless opportunities to "prove" themselves,both last season and this,the least we should be doing is giving an actual centre a sustained run in the team,in his true position.

According to the Superleague stats site he's missed one tackle , gave away zero penalties and made 2 mistakes. Not that bad when he's up against the form winger in SL in his first game for a year!

Especially considering how the whole team played in the first half.

I don't think he's a bad player by any means and he looks good against lads his size and weight. It's a different kettle of fish playing against men and youve got to have something that sets you apart. Not sure Jason has that.