* * * Rumours & Signings XII * * *

: Mon Jun 15, 2009 5:24 pm

Don’t jump the gun about the 6/7 we need being signed.

Our front line of the pack, needs to be dealt with first and that is our main priority

The back line of the pack, are superb in places.
No-one gets close to G. Hock’s standard of game, throughout the league in that position.
I believe S. O’Loughlin needs to be moved to Second Row on the right hand side, very good defence, but very good attack, something that’s currently lacking within the area.
Loose Forward is an area the young J. Tomkins could become a natural too, given the match time to develop to that position he could be superb.
L. Mossop is one of the biggest talents currently up and coming, without doubt next year, he’ll be bench.
H. Hansen is a player I do not rate, simply not good enough for us, with the talent around him, very good defence I’ll admit, but go forward poor at best.
M. Riddell in the middle of all of these, will become a better player, the guy is quality, people are just to quick to jump on his back. M. McIlorum is doing very well in such a key position the guy as some much pressure on his shoulders and to deal with that I respect the young lad greatly.

The props are the area, we need to develop soon, simply all our props are not good enough.
I wouldn’t keep a single one of them if possible.
A. Coley is playing very well at the minute, but I think he’ll leave come the end of the season, shame but are his performances just to earn that deal? Will they continue, only club staff will answer that.
S. Fielden hasn’t had a poor season, people are to quick to jump in his back due to his wage bill, if you look at his stats, the effort and knowledge behind the scenes he puts in, he’s nearly worth it.
Feka an opinion of mine is he needs to lose a slight bit of weight and the staff and players around him need to control him, telling him to run from deep. All O’Loughlin as to do is whisper in is ear, stood by his side usually.
The younger props, P. Prescott, simply needs to be loaned out, prove he can play a whole season and challenged other props. Not playing in front of fans with such big expectations would help him I feel.
E. O’Carroll quite a shame this season, playing very well and now he needs yet another op on his foot.

To fill the front line with what we need, we should be looking at players like L. Burgess, N. Cayless. The Griffin signing will help us till the end of the season I believe, he’ll give us much more in go-forward, something completely missing this year.

The back line I have no problems with, the odd tweak yes, nothing major.

A. Roberts, P. Richards or C. Phelps at fullback are good enough, with them they we can win games, but to add a lot more to our attack, we need a good game reading FB (Clint Greenshields) is a FB I hold a very high opinion of, reads the game very well, popping up in the right plays all the time, ball on the full 85% of the time, making very good yards carrying the ball back to the line.

Wingers, A. Roberts is our right winger for years to come, he’s becoming more and more confident with every game, yes he's made errors, he make's up for in try saving tackles/cutting the overlap out. P. Richards should be the left winger full time, he could have a complete field game every game, taking the ball outer the air in the corner, out jumping any winger, do we use this move much these days?
S. Ainscough, talented young lad, ready for SL, we could argue all day and night, saying yes and no, needs a few more months in the reserves to develop certain aspects of his game.

M. Gleeson is fairly quiet at the minute, could be due to him and A. Roberts developing a bond, but the main reason I believe is having a very poor second rower at his side. S. O’Loughlin at the side of him, would increase both the attacking side and defensive side of that wing. G. Carmont, one season the guy’s under-rated the next completely over-rated, the season will show if he’s become an injury prone player, which will show if he gets the contract extension or not.

Now the half’s - Seems to be the biggest talking point on this topic.

S. Tomkins is a 6 for the next few seasons, developing into a 7, 3to4 seasons down the line. Does his partnership with T. Leuluai work, simple answer no. We do need a new experienced 7, the rotation I’d play would be from the start.

6 - New Signing
7 - T. Leuluai
9 - Riddell

20 minutes into the game

6 - S. Tomkins
7 - New Signing
9 - T. Leuluai

T. Leuluai is one of the fittest players within our side, the lad could play an 80mintue game, every game of the season. M. McIlorum could do with the same as Prescott, a year to develop with huge expectations off they shoulders.

Who should the new signing be?

S. Myler - I’d love it, but the risk of playing two such young half’s is suicide in this current style of rugby. Could two young half’s play well under such huge expectations, with one bad game meaning you have the fans pulling your hair. The guy has been linked with Warrington as far as I know, just talk, as it is with us. I believe the guy will see his contract out with Salford, very respectful player. The 7 we’ll sign will be over the age of 28.

Number One priority to us, would be D. Lockyer, yes he’s a 6, the guy could play 6,7 and have a half decent shot of playing well at 1 still with the knowledge the guy has of the game.
M. Orford comes in at a close 2nd, proven winner, great attitude to the sport, great kicking and passing game, proven the ability of playing under pressure.
B. Kimmorley is a no, no at his age and current standard.
B. Finch is an interesting one, a player who walks from a club, do we want that sort of player? Will he leave Storms if they don’t sign anyone might sign another deal. He is a very good player, NSW quality.

On another note B. Noble, will remain at the club, once the inconsistency has been removed, the team will move on leaps and bounds, until then the club needs the support of us no matter what. People will always wine about an underperforming team and an underperforming player. Players seeing there names bad named on such places as here can’t help, in this current situation can it? We need to change our ways as much as they do. The atmosphere within the JJB as become poor over the past few seasons, it needs to change. Turn our ground into a place were teams are scared of coming.