In the eyes of Raiders, QLD and Australian prop David Shillington, new recruit Matt Orford is just the man that the Raiders need to challenge for the 2011 NRL Premiership.
In what was a drawn-out saga, Orford and the Raiders finally agreed to terms to join the Raiders from the Bradford Bulls on Monday.
Shillington believes that the arrival of the Raiders will be a massive boost for the club, in light of Terry’s Campese injury, which could potentially see him miss as few as 8 weeks, or as many as 20 weeks.
“Campo’s going to leave a big hole in our team next year. So Matt Orford will fill in nicely and will be a good leader for the team,” he said.
“It makes a big difference having a good halfback like him. He’s got plenty of experience. He’s won a premiership, got a good kicking game which will help us.
“As a front rower, when we’re taking the ball up the field we want a halfback to finish off the sets for us and score some tries for us too.”
“Hopefully we’ll have the icing on the cake for us and we’ll go one step further, but we’ll just have to see when the games start how everything mixes together.”