Re: Rumours - Liam Watts : Tue Mar 13, 2018 5:03 pm  

A real shame as he's a great player, one of the best props in the league on his day. The flip side is that he can easily cost you a game by giving a daft penalty away or throwing an impossible pass.
I'll Just have to trust the club on this. If someone like Gaz Ellis has been involved in the decision making process, that's good enough for me.
Years ago we only got rid of problem players when they were of no use to us (I.e. Hutch Maiva). This makes a real statement though.
We are now weaker in that dept. though. I know LR has been an admirer of Mossop in the past, but I d rather we went for a line breaking player in the Fifita mould. Easier said than done though.

Re: Rumours - Liam Watts : Tue Mar 13, 2018 5:04 pm  

des lawson wrote:

He wanted 2 move to a big club,a huge loss imo.

Mulhearn?

Re: Rumours - Liam Watts : Tue Mar 13, 2018 5:05 pm  

des lawson wrote:

He wanted 2 move to a big club,a huge loss imo.

His last move gave him that

Re: Rumours - Liam Watts : Tue Mar 13, 2018 5:09 pm  

Big loss on the field as he is a maverick prop with a good pass and step and almost impossible to replace from that angle.

However, off it we will regain some much needed credibility because he's such a daft lad at times. He's been in trouble internally on several occasions in the last year. Oh and as someone said to me this afternoon, can anyone honestly say the way he massaged that players head with his against Warrington at that point in a game was not the actions of a daft lad? He;s done that sort of stuff so often he ain't gonna change now.

That said, I'll miss him he was a good player, I'll remember him charging in for that last try in the semi against Leeds for a long tume he's certainly a character and we've all shared some magical moments with him that will live forever for us all however it was always going to happen sooner or later he brought it on himself. Believe me he didn't want to leave, but the club and the senior players group just ran out of patience in the end.

Good luck to him and indeed to Castleford they have paid us a shed load of money for him they had to beat Toronto's bid but he'll be far more under the microscope around there now than he was when he was playing for a team 40 miles away and yet his reputation still went before him.

Re: Rumours - Liam Watts : Tue Mar 13, 2018 5:14 pm  

You cant really say its a mistake unless you know what goes on behind the scenes. He is our best prop imo, but if his drinking and lack of professionalism has become a big problem then I cant fault the club for having the guts to do this.

As for replacements. I think Kopczak is a really good prop, but I didn't realise how old he was (31) so perhaps wouldn't be great business. Although some props do go strong right into their mid 30s. Sam Burgess has said he would like to have a shot at winning SL before he retires. Would like to think the club will at least be asking the question. Although it would be unlikely to be this season.

Re: Rumours - Liam Watts : Tue Mar 13, 2018 5:27 pm  

Seems he's the type of player that regardless of opportunities will just end up reverting to type and getting sacked. Took a couple of years longer than I expected but it's happened.

The likes of him and Kelly will always end up brain farting and getting sacked, you might get lucky and get this year out of Kelly before his nrl return but he'll get sacked in his career again as will watts at Cas.

Re: Rumours - Liam Watts : Tue Mar 13, 2018 5:33 pm  

On the field he was our second best prop. No way is he better than Scott Taylor.

Think we should look to re-invest the salary in other parts of the team.

We still have 6 props, 5 of whom are local with good attitudes and have many years ahead of them.

Hadley or Abdull both look promising for loose forward which means less need for a prop to play there.

Mini and Sika will not be around forever, Carlos could leave and Connor may end up stand off when Kelly leaves. So we will need money available for some quality in second row and outside backs.

Re: Rumours - Liam Watts : Tue Mar 13, 2018 5:34 pm  

The Dentist Wilf wrote:

Big loss on the field as he is a maverick prop with a good pass and step and almost impossible to replace from that angle.

However, off it we will regain some much needed credibility because he's such a daft lad at times. He's been in trouble internally on several occasions in the last year. Oh and as someone said to me this afternoon, can anyone honestly say the way he massaged that players head with his against Warrington at that point in a game was not the actions of a daft lad? He;s done that sort of stuff so often he ain't gonna change now.

That said, I'll miss him he was a good player, I'll remember him charging in for that last try in the semi against Leeds for a long tume he's certainly a character and we've all shared some magical moments with him that will live forever for us all however it was always going to happen sooner or later he brought it on himself. Believe me he didn't want to leave, but the club and the senior players group just ran out of patience in the end.

Good luck to him and indeed to Castleford they have paid us a shed load of money for him they had to beat Toronto's bid but he'll be far more under the microscope around there now than he was when he was playing for a team 40 miles away and yet his reputation still went before him.

he club made a shed load of money in Aus, now they sell Watts for a shed load, well I hope this money is reinvested in the playing rosta, because I will be even more disappointed in the club than I am now, you just don't sell one of your best forwards to a rival in the middle of the season without a good replacement lined up, very poor and im not hiding behind a load of spin when I say that wilf as good as our young lads are there not on Liams level yet props come into there prime around 27 /28 Cas will have the best years really disappointed that we could not deal with this situation without resorting to this

Re: Rumours - Liam Watts : Tue Mar 13, 2018 5:39 pm  

There must surely be off field issues....if this decision has been made purely due to his on field disciplinary problems it's a crazy decision!!!!

Re: Rumours - Liam Watts : Tue Mar 13, 2018 5:43 pm  

gutted hes gone, but something has gone on which we will properly never find out, gonna back the club on this one as you don't get rid of him for nothing,