Anyone know anything else about Eddie? Is it another case of the grass is greener - or the player is better - if it is from the Southern Hemisphere? What grade at Canberra Vikings? Are they rugby league or rugby union? Is he a pro or an amateur - a la Dan Parks, better or worse? Is he significantly better than Rory Couper, Stevie Manning, or Ben Addison might be with a chance?

Well the Vikings are sitting in first place on the Tooheys table after about half the games. Tooheys is the top club competition in Australia. That's a pretty good standard of rugby with Super 12 players at a number of the clubs competing. He's had a training contract with the Brumbies so the guy must have something. From what I can find out he seems to have a bit of pace about him but he's not a big guy - approx 5ft 5in/6in.

As for being better than what we have, well, I guess we'll find out during the 4-month trial.

A bit of googling has turned up a little more info about Eddie and the Vikings (playing union, not league). From what I can gather, Tuggeranong are a club side who are associated with the Canberra Vikings, who have played in the NSW and Sydney leagues (all a bit confusing, no national league in Australia? so this is the level below Super 12). Both teams seem to be at the top of their respective leagues.

The Vikings seem to have a strong link with the ACT Brumbies, with Viking players regularly holding training contracts for the Super 12 side, being drafted in to cover injury crises or being apprenticed for full contracts. Seems to cause a bit of upset with other clubs when they find Brumbie squad players lining up in club games.

From various bits of press coverage it looks like Eddie was born in New Zealand and played for Bay of Plenty before moving to Oz. A strong first season in club rugby saw him pick up a training contract for the Brumbies for 2005, and he has continued to play and score well for the Vikings, getting some game time off the bench in this year's Super 12 when the Brumbies were having an injury crisis.

From what the papers say, it looks like Eddie has plenty of pace and sharp footwork - a prolific tryscorer. However, it has also suggested that he isn't physically big enough to make it to the very top.

... and yes, he says he has a Scottish grandad!

"However, it has also suggested that he isn't physically big enough to make it to the very top.

..........and yes, he says he has a Scottish grandad!"

Ah...he'll be wearing the blue jersey with the thistle on it soon then!

I will give you the heads up on this young bloke. He is very quick and does know how to finish a backline move. He has very good defence. He is one of those blokes that although he is only a small, his natural ability will help the team win more games, just like he has for the Vikings who host a big group of Aussie Super 12's players that I am sure he has learned plenty off.

From what I have seen of him he wont let you down and with the combination he will hopefully form with Parksy, Glasgow will be crossing the line a lot more than you did the previous season. Go the Warriors.

I can tell you that he is as quick as lightning and he certainly knows his way to the tryline...

That's what I like to hear Ray... can he intercept on his own line and run the length of the field unchallenged as a certain No 11 did last season? And can he take out not just his opposite number, but any of the opposing forwards also? Look forward to seeing him in a Glasgow shirt.

Just really confirming what's been said. He is the Viking's top scorer after round 6 with 5 tries. He also seems to have had a fair run out with the Brumbies runners, and bagged a couple of tries. He sounds not bad- we'll just have to wait and see.

Eddie is my brother, and we're from Rotorua, New Zealand. My grandparents were born in Scotland- Greenock- and came to New Zealand over 50 years ago, but a lot of family still live there. I am so proud of my brother. Yes and we are very Scottish.

Thanks Katie - if you have family in Greenock, that's good enough for me!

Hi, my name is Matt McLaughlin and Eddie is my brother. He will go well in Glasgow- he trains hard, and is one of the strongest people I know, and one of the fastest! Go hard Eddie. We have strong family ties to Scotland through our grandparents, one who has passed away so it is very special to the family that he is playing in the homeland.

Good to see this guy's got family ties. Was just talking to a mate in Canberra, and this guy has got a huge reputation there. Apparently he was the fastest in the Brumbies squad last year, even quicker than Clyde Rathbone. He can bench press the house down. 150 kg when hes only 82 kgs. WOW! I THINK HE IS GOING TO BE A REVELATION HERE!

Yeah mate, he is a freak when it comes to strength! As his brother I stopped messing with him when he was 16. He would have broken my jaw with one punch. Eddie played soccer until he was 15, but some mates from school wanted him to play rugby so he did and the rest is history.

As for off the field, Eddie is a friendly but competative person whether its Playstation or back yard cricket. He will do anything to win; it's like the World Cup to him everytime. That's what makes him an elite athlete- the determination and commitment to training, rugby and to hate losing so much. He will never back down to anything! Go hard my bro!

What a pleasant change to read so much positive comment about a Glasgow Warriorss recruit, and how re-assuring that it is all free of SRU spin. Hope he lives up to his billing!

Hey, has he touched down to your green land yet? When's the first game? Miss ya heaps, Eddie, plus you would have wasted Matt in a fight when you were five! Hehehehe- luv ya bro-- Katie.

Hi! My Name is David McLaughlin (looks like all the family are getting in on the act!) I'm Eddie's first cousin. Just a bit more info on Ed for those of you want it.

Ed and I are the only members of the family to play senior rugby as all of our family are soccer crazy. Ed's father and two of our uncles represented New Zealand in soccer many moons ago. I myself, having chosen rugby league in the days when you had to chose one or the other, played for various clubs in New Zealand, Australia and the UK at a professional level, so I have seen plenty of players in my time.

I actually started to train Ed when he was about 11 as he was exceptionally quick, he was playing soccer at the time but as things go in NZ he started to play rugby when he hit senior collge.

On some of my vists back to NZ, I visited Ed and his family and once again trained with him, 'attemptiing' to give him some training advice. I was amazed at his strength as he was not even profesional and he could bench 150kg at his size. He was consistintly clocking 11 seconds for his hundreds and i was teaching him to run 400 for stamina. I know that he has a clocked 100 of 10.8s, so he has still got his speed.

As like his dad and brother he is a natural sportsman but Ed has the advantage of having a very strong will to win and training ethic. My mum will take claim for that as she helped look after him when he was young. He will do well for your club and will play as if he was bought up there as both our grandparents are from Greenock. We still have family there, which I'm sure Ed will visit and have support from.

We have been bought up to have pride in our Scottish heritage and I'm sure Ed will play with pride in the jersey, especially for our grandfather, and will want to make our grandmother proud of him.

Back to his playing, Ed has been unlucky in NZ as he is only a short guy. Now NZ has the monster wing attitude, he was unlucky not to make the NZ Sevens team. We thought it was great laugh when they were complaining of not having any speed when they wouldn't pick Ed, so he went to Australia where he was given the opportunity and has excelled.

I hope Ed does well (and I want a jersey!) and he brings luck to your club. UP THE MCLAUGHLINs!

Hi Dave, Matt here. Yeah mate, I reakon he's going to carve up over there. I think I might have to join him over those ways and play some high level cricket! No point wasting my talent here in New Zealand. Go hard Eddie "Wilderbeast" McLaughlin.

I am a Canberra girl and have watched Eddie tear it up for the Canberra Vikings and the Brumby Runners (the Brumbies A/2nds team) for the last two seasons. During many games for the Vikings you would audibly hear people shouting out 'Give the ball to Eddie!' and a lot of the time the team would! He certainly knows his way to the tryline. He was always up for a chat, he seemeed a great guy the few times I spoke to him. I say good luck to him but the Canberra Vikings have been missing him like crazy... he left and we lost 5 straight games. GOOD LUCK EDDIE!

Hi! My name is Aaron and I am one of Eddie's best Mates here in New Zealand. He is doing us all proud over here in and we wish him all the best with his rugby. I have no doubt he will be a success, and a talking point over there in Scotland. He is a prolific try-scoring machine and if anyone looks at past results will clearly see what i am talking about. Go hard Eddie and give it heaps!

Go Fast Eddie you legend.

Eddie, still got those wheels I see. Tena Koe!

Eddie, you little legend! Hi, my name's Mack Hudson, and I had the privilige of playing rugby with Eddie back in Rotorua, New Zealand before he left to go to Canberra. We are very good mates, and we used to get up to a lot of mischief back in Rotovegas. Late nights at the Lava bar and Aces were just some of the writable things we would get up to. Any way, I heard about Eddie at the beginning of the S12 season, when I was told that he had gained a training contract with the Brumbies. That buzzed me out a lot, 'cos a lot of the guys in our squad knew he was highly underated. This just proves our point.

He's easily the quickest guy we had ever had on our wing and some of the tries I have seen him score, well, let's just say that no ordinary winger would have even competed with him. I just wanna say, 'way to go , eddie the "EGO"'. You're the man, you little freak of nature and it would be good to catch up with you through some e-mails or something like that, 'cos I haven't spoken to you for ages. Anyway all the best over in Scotland, and go hard for the boys back home at Rotoiti. A big Whaasssuupp to Katie and Matty and Johnno too, back in Vegas.

Go hard young fulla!!
Watch out for the Vegas Steam train when the handbrake comes off!!