I HAD a hectic time at the end of last week -- and now we have three new players on the books.

Danny Seal, impressed with the A team on Saturday, and he is joined by Dean Hanger and Graeme Hallas.

Dean is a player I've been chasing for a while, he has plenty of experience and can play almost anywhere in the back line. He'll be useful cover for Martin Wood at stand-off and should feature in my line-up against the Centurions.

Graeme is from Dudley Hill, and toured Australia with me in 1992. We were team mates at Halifax and Hull Sharks. He tried his hand at rugby union but didn't like it much and moved back to league. I know he'll bring a lot of experience to the backs -- and he's also a proven goal kicker.

He's got a slight hamstring strain at the moment, so I don't expect him to play for a couple of weeks.

I toughened up the training last week because we didn't have a match and brought in Leeds Rhinos' fitness conditioner Mike McGurn who took training on Friday.

A different voice with a new approach and some pretty innovative ideas helps keep the players on their toes. He was impressed with our fitness compared to a Super League outfit, and I'll probably have him back in the future.

The weather was terrible on Sunday, the day our marketing department had arranged the club photocall. A string of photographers turned up to take team pictures and the players' mugshots -- it all went well despite the rain.

Look out for Craig Robinson who tried to do an impression of our new MD, Peter Rowe, by spiking his hair with gel. I told him 'there's only one Rowie!!!'

AFTER the photo session I shot over to watch Dewsbury against Villeneuve with my trusty assistant Steve Deakin.

We were trying to sign prop Davide Collado on a month's trial to cover for Michael Slicker, who's getting married next month (sorry girls!).

Steve was coach of French side Cannes for two years and speaks fluent French - with an Oldham accent. Even he could not persuade the Villeneuve president to part with his star, but it was worth a try just to hear Monsieur Deakin in action!

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.