My two cents:
Shane Shackleton is a big, aggressive guy. He's 27, so still fairly young. He played a great season in a horrid, horrid pack.
Todd Lowrie played a great 3 months for us. He always tried his arse off, but he wasn't a big unit and, to be blunt, his first year or so at the club was fairly ordinary.
Joe Galuvao always impressed me when he put on our jersey. He ran hard, tackled hard and always gave 100%. He was bigger than Todd, but hardly a unit either.
It is my belief that if we were to take one thing out of the Grand Final loss this year it is that our pack simply wasn't capable of matching the Storm's pack physically. They tried, and very valiantly. But they were simply out-muscled by a bigger, stronger pack.
Shane Shackleton will add size, bring a strong work ethic in defence to the table and he bends the line with his runs. Both Todd and Joe were bending the line and working hard in defence, so we're not losing anything there.
Bottom line, I am thinking it will be a master stroke - we can have work-horses like Cayless, Hindmarsh and Benny, and then use Mateo, Fui, Poore and Shack to make metres and cause all sorts of headaches.
As for Kingston, I love the bloke's passion, but he won't be missed. I am sorry to be so blunt, but we have Kris Keating, Anthony Mitchell and Matt Keating all capable of playing hooker. Mitchell, in particular, will be a great addition to this squad and will play a similar role to Kingston - only adding his unique style to the mix.
