Re: Leigh improve, Bulls get worse : Wed Dec 09, 2015 8:37 am  

Compared to the squad we started the season with I feel that we have a much better group now but see the loss of Mullaney as being quite damaging. Leigh needed to improve and have done so. Whether they have improved enough remains to be seen. Playing one sided games in the Championship will tell us little. We have a squad full of Super League experience.......more so than last year at this time.

Re: Leigh improve, Bulls get worse : Wed Dec 09, 2015 8:46 am  

I'd rather have a stable and sustainable club - in any division - than a club spending more than it can afford in a desperate, short-sighted attempt to gain promotion.

Good luck to Leigh in 2016. We had our shot at promotion last year and we blew it. Maybe now it's their turn.

Re: Leigh improve, Bulls get worse : Wed Dec 09, 2015 8:47 am  

I think we're a good scrumhalf away from a competitive middle 8's squad again.

[Bullseye]

Re: Leigh improve, Bulls get worse : Wed Dec 09, 2015 8:56 am  

I think a scrum half is a priority if we're to mount any kind of challenge. Losing Mullaney means we're also missing our best back too. While we should make the 8 I think promotion is out of the question with the current squad.

Looking at Leigh a lot depends on whether some of their loose cannons perform when it matters. On their day they look like realistic SL contenders - unlike anyone else in the championship. However they blew it last year and I wonder if their new guys have yhe right attitude when it gets tough.

Re: Leigh improve, Bulls get worse : Wed Dec 09, 2015 8:57 am  

There are areas we've improved on. Wings and props are certainly better than what we started with last year, as I would say are centres, even if Nielsen doesn't return.

Key positions are the problem though. Scrum half, fullback and to a lesser extent hooker (with one less cover player than previous) are not as good as last year. The worry is that while we have better cover in some areas, we don't have good first choice in those.

It's going to take at least 1, maybe 2 signings in those areas for me to get confidence back. Not that it'll stop me going, I've already got my season ticket. And not that I'm saying the club should break the bank to do it, I'd much rather the club didn't have financial problems. But purely basing on confidence in the squad, I don't have as much as I did this time 12 months ago.

Re: Leigh improve, Bulls get worse : Wed Dec 09, 2015 9:15 am  

HamsterChops wrote:

I wouldn't just limit it to Leigh.
From what I can see, the likes of Sheffield and Halifax have improved squads this year too. As well as Wakefield who are likely Super 8 opponents (if we make it).

All the teams, with the exception maybe of Salford, who I would say are our closest rivals in terms of league placings, have improved their squads I would say. I don't think our squad is better than it was last year, especially with the lack of quality in key positions like 1 and 7.

This time last year I was at least confident we could compete in our own division and push as close to promotion as possible without actually getting it. Now I'd say making the Middle 8s is a success and then not finishing bottom of it.

I still think we'll make the top 4 comfortably, although top 2 is a different matter. We played pretty much the whole season without either Gaskell, Mullaney or Siejka together and on more than one occasion all 3 were missing.

I agree with other posters about feeling deflated, but as others have said, if we can get 1 quality SH, then we're back in with a chance. O'Brien, Gaskell and decent SH would frighten anyone in the middles.

My gut instinct though is that Jimmy isn't in any rush to find one as he seems happy playing Addy or Purtell there which would be curtains for us.

Re: Leigh improve, Bulls get worse : Wed Dec 09, 2015 9:21 am  

I generally agree. A decent scrum half would completely change my confidence levels. A decent specialist fullback aswell and I'd start to think we may get back into SL. If that SH or FB could also cover hooker in the event O'Brien gets injured, I'd practically mess myself.

I just hope that in the desperation for that quality 7, we don't end up with another Herbert or Siejka.

Re: Leigh improve, Bulls get worse : Wed Dec 09, 2015 9:37 am  

We managed to reach the MPG last season with an assortment of makeshift halfbacks /fullback. We need to be patient and ensure we get the right people in ..... people that can make a significant difference. It's not like we start the season playing SL opposition. Maybe paying top dollar for 12 weeks would be enough.....when it really matters.

Re: Leigh improve, Bulls get worse : Wed Dec 09, 2015 9:57 am  

8ULL5HITT4 wrote:

We managed to reach the MPG last season with an assortment of makeshift halfbacks /fullback. We need to be patient and ensure we get the right people in ..... people that can make a significant difference. It's not like we start the season playing SL opposition. Maybe paying top dollar for 12 weeks would be enough.....when it really matters.

I have wondered for a while if that's the plan with the scrum half. Mentioned it before on here. Go for most of the season using Addy, Purtell and/or Thomas, then come transfer deadline week, go round banging on doors of the good halfbacks who aren't making their Super League 17 most weeks (there's always a couple out there) and throw money at them for 3 months' work. Much like Wakefield did with most of their squad last year.

That worked for them. Although it's always a worry asking a halfback to gel with a team so quickly, and that you make the Middle 8s in the first place.

Re: Leigh improve, Bulls get worse : Wed Dec 09, 2015 11:30 am  

Quality scrum halfs who can change a squad aren't easy to come by! Bradford will still challenge next year I don't think Sheffield have improved at all! Fax maybe a little bit fev have gone backwards! you will still be up there! If I was lowes I'd got Gaskell/purtell and play behind your pack nice basic rugby! Someone mentioned our depth it isn't as bad you think w Weill line up McNally Kay Armstrong Tonga higson/pownall ridyard chase hock beswick emmit Patterson Hansen Barlow subs higham Hopkins Weston moi moi. Leaving us worthington foster higson/pownall spencer Acton breirley(injured) Dixon matuai pala still got one to come in being announced on Thursday I don't think we will be that bad!