Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Tue Feb 25, 2020 9:35 pm  

Egg Chasing wrote:

Contracts don't seem to mean anything these days though aside from we get a fee

we could just cancel their contracts, Leigh did it and won the case v the players in court also...madness

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Tue Feb 25, 2020 10:55 pm  

Obviously

Released

Naverette - young lads are better
Escare - irrelevant for a year now
Flower - had his best years
J Burgess - we just need to move on
Greenwood - can see him staying at Leeds

Retire

Tommy
SOL

Lose to the NRL

Gildart - won a lot with Wigan, can see him going.
Hastings - hopefully does another year though

Terrified Smithies, Havard and French maybe tempted to the NRL

I’d try to bring in

Tom Davies - if he’s over his injury and wants to fight for his place

McMeeken - Greenwood replacement who can actually play on the right hand side.

Big name and centre if JH and OG move on.

Not sure I trust IL/Rads with the recent signings/NRL releases

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Tue Feb 25, 2020 11:48 pm  

post wrote:

With Navarette and seemingly Flower moving on, aswell as Greenwood going on loan I’d say we do.

I disagree. We have the players at the club right now to replace those who are moved on or move on themselves. That being said if a player such as McMeeken, Whitehead or Bateman became available we’d be stupid not to look at it. Other than that, roll with what we’ve got IMO and spend the money elsewhere.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Feb 26, 2020 8:39 am  

100% Warrior wrote:

I disagree. We have the players at the club right now to replace those who are moved on or move on themselves. That being said if a player such as McMeeken, Whitehead or Bateman became available we’d be stupid not to look at it. Other than that, roll with what we’ve got IMO and spend the money elsewhere.

I’d say we have the quality and depth in nearly all positions apart from second row and maybe prop. Yes we have some good youngsters coming through in the forwards but we don’t want to burn them out, because at the minute they are the pack leaders and they’re just starting off.

If Flower goes, Escare goes and Greenwood ends up stopping permanently I’d like a decent prop, and play Partington and Havard in the second row when they do play.

I’d really like one of Jordan McLean, Jesse Bromwich, Christian Welch, Jarrod Wallace. I’m sure we could afford one of them.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Feb 26, 2020 9:13 am  

I think we already know within the club that Gildart will most likely be off st the end of the year and probably have for some time.

I think we already have our replacent in Biby, genuinely think that is why he was brought in this year.

Hastings is the key one. We need to know now what his plans are so we can ensure we don’t get caught cold if we need a replacement.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Feb 26, 2020 9:22 am  

post wrote:

I’d say we have the quality and depth in nearly all positions apart from second row and maybe prop. Yes we have some good youngsters coming through in the forwards but we don’t want to burn them out, because at the minute they are the pack leaders and they’re just starting off.

If Flower goes, Escare goes and Greenwood ends up stopping permanently I’d like a decent prop, and play Partington and Havard in the second row when they do play.

I’d really like one of Jordan McLean, Jesse Bromwich, Christian Welch, Jarrod Wallace. I’m sure we could afford one of them.

I think we do have quality in depth but the issue is the inexperience of that quality. We have an abundance of young forwards coming through but none of whom have the big game experience of those we’ll potentially lose, so in that respect I can see the sense in some investment.

OP I would definitely give a shot at in the back row, perhaps a swap with Isa. Havard I’m not sure of going into the back row as I’m not sure he has the line running and athleticism of a back rower and therefore suits prop perfectly. He has the makings of a good prop and will only get better in years to come.

I wouldn’t say no to anyone on that list in honesty, but it would have to be at the right price given we’re likely to need heavy investment in the back line at seasons end.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Feb 26, 2020 11:36 am  

I still think we are a quality right sided back rower and another good prop short of a top side. It’s all well and good having the quantity but a little bit more quality and I think we will be a real challenge.

You’d certainly think there’s something in the pipeline in terms of recruitment with all these outgoings, and the two lads off to Toronto today...looking forward to seeing what happens!

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Feb 26, 2020 12:46 pm  

dh13 wrote:

I still think we are a quality right sided back rower and another good prop short of a top side. It’s all well and good having the quantity but a little bit more quality and I think we will be a real challenge.

You’d certainly think there’s something in the pipeline in terms of recruitment with all these outgoings, and the two lads off to Toronto today...looking forward to seeing what happens!

You may be right but we’re going to have to make a choice at seasons end if, as we all assume, Gildart and Hastings go to the NRL and Tommy retires. We can either roll with Bibby and Hank at centre, Zak back to FB, Smith in the halves alongside French and use the money to recruit said prop and back rower or roll with what we have in the forwards and heavily invest in a centre and HB keeping French at FB and Zak at centre.

We may be able to pick up a prop/back rower in a moderate wage but for the likes that have been talked about such as McMeeken, Bromwich etc, those quality a player aren’t going to come cheap, certainly not marquee type wages but still going to be an expensive acquisition.

We’d need to offload a few more IMO to fit any quality prop/back rower in. We’ve also then got to factor in that Smithies, Havard and Bryne will soon be commanding higher wages to stave off competitors. We have a balancing act here and we need to be very shrewd in how we go about our business.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Feb 26, 2020 1:32 pm  

Sorry mate I was just looking at this season in my post.

It would be a shame if we only get Hastings for a season but hypothetically it frees up a marquee spot for a half, Gildarts wage will cover a good centre I’m sure and then with the off contract players going or other players leaving/retiring I’m sure we will be fine next year.

The biggest problem is if an nrl team comes in for french too as we will certainly have trouble replacing him...Hardaker at fb with hank and bibby in the centres would be such an average looking set up so I completely agree it could be a balancing act with the cap come next season!

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Feb 26, 2020 4:53 pm  

I am firmly in the camp that we bump up French's wages and keep Zak at centre. If French leaves i would want us to sign a top FB and keep Zak at centre. I am really enjoying watching him there. He is way more effective with his defence and for me works better there. His legs aren't what they were and he could very well add a few years at the top level by making the switch permanent. Would be happy with Welch here and i think that would be a possible but for me, i like the look of both Bullock and Clark and if we can get G. Burgess fit and firing our prop department is well stocked for me. If we are going to spend........ Please, please persuade French and Hastings to stay and get the irons in the McMeeken fire. Also am ok with Bibby as a replacement for Gildart. We have a very good player there. Still young and was superb last season, can only get better.