BBC SPORT | Rugby League | Morley: McKenna will serve Leeds well



By Adrian Morley Sydney Roosters forward and BBC Sport Online columnist

It is a pretty tough job filling the sizeable boots of Tonie Carroll but Leeds have managed to come up with a decent replacement in Chris McKenna.

I played against Chris when he was at London in 1995 and have obviously seen a lot of him since I came over to the NRL.

I could be back playing in two or three weeks

Adrian Morley

He has not got as much flair in attack as Tonie - not a lot of people have - but his strength is his defence.

He is also versatile and can play in the second row. In my view, he is a good buy for Leeds and will not let them down.

With Chris leaving and Lote Tuqiri switching to union, you could see that it has been a bad few days for Australian rugby league.

But not too many people are losing any sleep.

One or two are upset that the NRL continues to lose some of its top players to union, like Tuqiri, Wendell Sailor and Mat Rogers.

But it will not be too long before the next batch of stars comes through.

Lote Tuqiri
Tuqiri will soon be replaced by the next Aussie star
That is the great thing about Australian rugby league.

They have so much strength in depth and are constantly able to produce brilliant players that the game will not suffer from a handful of defections.

It is not quite the same in Great Britain.

If we lose our top players for whatever reason, we struggle.

Australia can call upon five or six players in each position and still field a team that commands respect.

I have been given some good news, with my specialist indicating I could be back playing in two or three weeks.

I have already stepped up my training.

Now it is a question of getting 100% fit and waiting for the green light to pull on a Roosters shirt again.


	Links to more Rugby League stories