Reds unveil O'Connor, Hunt rugby signings

I'd say he was a cut above Folau's class in league, Folau was a finisher, Hunt set up and scored tries (a couple for Folau I might add) and defended like a lock... S15-wise? We'll see how he goes

Hunt could have a crack at 12 given he's played 6 at club and origin level when Lockyer was injured... He was experimented at 7 by Bennett but that fell through... Excellent attacker, strong defender, wonder how his body will hold though? Fingers crossed he can pull through

Well put Rob9.

Yes he was 11years old... That's precisely making the point against your argument rather than supporting it. He was a child that had ability that the system HERE turned into an athlete not a prodigy who transcended his environment because of coming from an advanced gene pool.. Oh and you are more than welcome to have Quade Cooper back.. To NZ or Mosman wherever

The irony of the being that Pritchard was born and grew up in Australia.

I know it is early to say but Kerevi could be world standard if nurtured probably

Hunt will be full back centres will be Kerevi/Tapuai/FSautia IMO

Hirsimaki has some potential

He actually played fullback at school (where he started playing rugby).

He was courageous as I recall but often got obliterated very often he was bottom heavy big thighs small upper body.

Again all about JOC's and not about the team. "I" can be nurtured and can reach "my" potential... Also, is he saying the other teams he played for did not invest in him? Sound a bit victim like. Hope I am wrong.

not another buzzard alias

"Hahahaha tell that to Aussie boys warming the bench this week while a bunch of blow in kiwis that have been here for 3 or 4 years tske there places." That is such a throwaway line. Where do we go to tell these Aussie boys? Yea there are Kiwis playing in our rugby clubs across the country. There's one million of them living here and the vast majority are rugby-crazed. I finished up playing rugby last year and we had kiwis and aussies on the bench and kiwis and aussies on the field through all of the grades (and we all got along fine). I'm a PE high school teacher and in our rugby and rugby league teams we've got a similar mix. What do you want us to do... exclude kiwis from playing here?

I don’t think it’s a lack of respect. Most Australians don’t really care what our kiwi cousins think. I put it down to just plain ignorance. Let’s put a bit of perspective on this: Out of the Wallabies current squad of 32, 5 players were born in NZ (you do know 2 of the current 31 AB’s were born in Australia??). This hardly suggests the Wallabies represent an ‘All Black B-side’ (not to mention ‘half the team being New Zealanders’- how’s the Math curriculum in NZ??). Of these 5, most came to this country before they hit high school. Cowan- 13, Skelton – 10, Lealiifano- 7, Tomane- 3, Betham- Primary school. Surely this suggests most of these players development into professionals occurred within our system. I’d have absolutely no beef if these boys decided to go and represent their country of birth but considering the time they’ve spent here coming through our systems and developing affiliations and a bond with our country and its sporting/rugby culture and infrastructure, why on earth should their intentions (or our selectors intentions) be questioned? It’s an attitude that borders on xenophobic. Furthermore, 1 in 4 Australians was born off shore. As a multicultural society and a country that has been built and become great thanks in part to the people that have chosen to make a home here, it’s something that we’re very proud of. So considering this fact, wouldn’t it seem logical that our national sporting teams include people that were born overseas? Again, suggesting that someone shouldn’t have the right to chose to represent the country they grew up in projects a xenophobic attitude. Absolutely, there have been the more questionable selections such as Harris who qualified on the GP’s rule and Speight who’s biding his time waiting to qualify on residency grounds. But these selections are few and far between and by no means is Australia the only rugby nation who’ve tested the limits of the eligibility criteria. But the fact remains, we’re breaking no rules in these regards and Australian rugby has hardly been carried forward on the back of these selections. I’d be happy for the eligibility criteria to be tightened to 5 or 6 years of residency and scrapping the grandparent rule to say a parent rule, and this would have next to no effect on the talent available to us (Speight would have to keep on waiting or go and represent Fiji). Its utter rubbish to suggest that rugby in Australia is on struggle street because there’s this mentality that the Wallabies is an All Black B-side made up of ‘mercenaries’. We know what we’re up against here and where we’re falling short. Thanks for your off the mark opinions but please educate yourself before shooting off into the wind and understand why your point of view is taken with a microscopic slither of sodium. On Hunt, he came here before high school at 11. He started playing rugby in Australia when he was picked up on a scholarship for Churchie. You can hardly suggest he’s taken the easy route to the top having decided to align himself with Queensland and Australia in league. In Queensland he had Billy Slater ahead of him at fullback while also competing with Darius Boyd and he was also up against Brett Stewart and Anthony Minnichello at the national level. Beyond fullback, there was also a tremendous amount of backline talent in Queensland and Australia competing for representative spots. Meanwhile, he would have walked into the Kiwis squad backwards with a blindfold on. He’s an Aussie, he feels like an Aussie, get over it.

So because the polynesian boys and other players on scholarships can't afford the school fees means they don't have a commitment to or love rugby?

So here are a couple of backline options 9. Genia 10. Cooper 11. CFS 12. Tapuai 13. Kerevi 14. JOC 15. Hunt 9. Genia 10. Cooper 11. CFS 12. JOC 13. Kerevi 14. Other winger 15. Hunt Taps on the bench. I really think you need Kerevi in there starting to get used to the standard. He's going to be a handful, and with JOC and Hunt surrounding him, defences can't focus solely on him.

"c) Centres – no ball players or genrals" Sorry - I reckon Taps fits that description.

Welcome JOC!

why dont you go tell em urself and and save us ignoring this rubbish

you might want to check your facts there