Lee Crooks on the inside

He was tipped as one of the stars of the future when he played for the Bulls and I still rate him a real quality player. He has been a thorn in the side of the Cougars when playing for Swinton and I think he can really make the grade with Keighley.

He has signed for 18 months which means that we willhave him for this season, and the next.

It also means that he will have a bit of stability and the chance to really look forward.

Although he seems to have been around in the game for ages he is still only 22 years old and has a lot of potential to develop further. I expect him to be a really classy performer with the ability to rip defences apart.

WE COULD still spring a deal with Lee Hansen, and it would be superb to see to see him in the squad, but I'm not going out to twist his arm.

As a player I never liked to be forcdto do anything, and wouldn't put anyone else in that position.

We have to be patient and make sure people are coming to the club for the right reasons. I think he could learn a lot at Cougar Park and really put himself on show to the rest of the Rugby League world.

At the end of the day he has to want to come here and be a part of the squad.

ONE thing that has been obvious in the lst week has been the difference a few new players give to our training sessions.

The new boys have really added a buzz on training field and the standard of effort has risen to Super League level.

Because we didn't have a game last week we have been able to put a lot of effort into our fitness training and this should begin to pay dividends tonight.

Everything is coming together and I think we can give Hull KR a real battle.

I KNOW we have another toughie on Monday when we travel to Featherstone, but I haven't even thought about that match yet.

Our first job is to get tonight's game out of the way - we have to concentrate on one job at a time.

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