Columnist

IMPRESSIVE NEW Hull recruit Andre Savelio probably doesn’t remember this but 20 years ago he was living in a rented house on Rochdale Road in West Vale.

This was because Samoan father Lokeni (better known as Luke in the Shay dressing room) had moved to Halifax as part of Gary Mercer’s major reconstruction of a Halifax side still suffering from the financial restraints imposed by the 1999 CVA.

Departing for pastures new had been the likes of Nick Pinkney, Paul Broadbent, Graham Holroyd, Craig Randall and Andy Craig.

New recruits tended to come from either Leeds or Wigan reflecting the contacts of Mercer, newly appointed assistant Martin Hall and conditioner Steve Walsh.

Names like Marvin Golden, Phil Hassan, Brett Goldspink, Stephen Holgate, Gael Tallec, Mike Peters, Danny Ellison and, more famously, Greg Florimo.

As far as I can see

Savelio had no particular connection to the previous cohort of Fax Samoans like John Schuster, Mike Umaga and Fereti Tuilagi and had previously been playing in England at Salford and Widnes.

More importantly, he was relatively cheap and available!

Savelio didn’t play in the first two matches of the 2000 season (cup victories over Hull KR and Castleford) and debuted in the first league game of the season, a 30-27 win over Hull at the Shay on Friday, March 3.

He only just made it onto the pitch though as a 78th minute replacement for the injured Danny Fearon.

Mercer’s team that night was Damian Gibson, Jamie Bloem, Florimo, Hassan, Golden, Pearson, Andrew Dunemann, Goldspink,

Paul Rowley, Jim Gannon, Mercer, Tallec and Marty Moana.

Starting on the bench with Savelio were Oli Marns, Andy Hobson and Fearon.