News from a friend of mine, is that you have signed Luke Patten from Canterbury Bulldogs to replace Brett next season. Another oldish bloke at 30, but will be great for Elliot Hodgson's experience and to learn new things from him.

Discuss?

[url=http://www.bulldogs.com.au/default.aspx?s=player-profile-display&id=942Doggies link[/url
[url=http://www.nrl.com/telstrapremiership/playerstats/playerprofile/tabid/10898/teamid/5/playerid/117/season/2010/lukepatten/default.aspxNRL stats[/url

Bulldogs player of the year in 2006 & 2007. NSW Country rep honours. Grand Final winner. Still a regular starter this season. It's a decent enough pedigree, I suppose. If we're true to form, we shouldn't be giving a 30 year old more than 2 years though.

If we sign another full back it is clear that Leroy will not have a future at the club as a Full back. So that will be one wing space tied up.

Would rather see an English Full back signed we have been linked with Briscoe etc, or Leroy given the chance, if not David Hodgson at Full back and buy a speed merchant for the wing. or one of the younger players steping up. At full back we seem to have domestic options would rather get an Aussie winger, prop or centre.

Bit of a blow for Leroy - He always stated he wanted the FB roll when BH moves on.

Does the current set up think he is not ready or good enough?

Patten is pretty safe under the high ball and it's a pivotal position in the modern game. I'd rather have Patten than Briscoe and Cudjoe does look frail under the bomb IMO. It seems the club maybe think FB understudy is th ebest ting for Leroy until he smartens up on the couple of areas he needs to for the role.

Dodgy is still racking up the tries despite his pace drying up and is under contract for another year. You can't knock his positioning. Cudjoe is at present our other wingman and also doing a good job there and we have cover with the likes of Bruno and Jammer playing on the wing this season too and McGilvary out at Barrow.

If Fatz goes home and Drew as expected leaves, along with Brett going, we should have a spot or two available to bring in a couple of top Aussies. FB and Prop are the two spots we need to sort out as priority I think given who we have and who is coming off contract.

We can only bring one overseas player in addition to Patten as the quota number number reduces by one next year.(Drew, hodgy , fatz going)

I agree about a prop but who will be our centres next year lawrence and jammer and no cover except Gilmour:?: that does not inspire me offensively. we need a top quality centre. Dodgy would be good as a full back where his lack of pace would be less of an issue. I would like to see a whole new centre and wing pairing or at least a top quality centre ala Lyons Gidley etc.

So who do we have next year as our quota lads that are under contract? Jammer and Fooey, is that it?

Faalogo as well.

i would be happy to see Patten as a full back.

the players leaving will free up a large part of the salary cap. so if we could also get a quality centre and prop i would be more than happy.

Ah yes...

The quota/import rules are convoluted too. Fa'alogo may count as a South Sea Islander or something, who knows. No doubt we'll find out soon enough.

I think I would like to see Leroy get his spot at FB full time, with Elliot H moving to the wing, good apprenticeship for him there, we dont need a new fullback

But I will say we need another prop (as many suggested we let one too many go last season imo) and definately a top class centre. I'd go so far as to say a top class centre is our biggest requirement.

from what i have seen of Cudjoe at fullback. I don't think he is up to it yet. Fullback is a vital position and i have yet to be convinced Cudjoe offers enough either in defence or attack.
As a winger though he looks ok and would go even better with a world class centre next to him.

The loss of Fatz, if it does indeed happen, will almost certainly mean we need to recruit I agree. Dodgy will no doubt testify to that. I think perhaps people are being a tad harsh on Bruno, although he's not been as dangerous this season ball in hand for sure. Perhaps a bit of confidence lacking.