Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Feb 19, 2018 12:16 pm  

I believe all parties have agreed to a long term deal, with behavioral clauses throughout to protect the club. A fresh start, away from Yorkshire is the main catalyst for the move. A 12 game back-dated ban is the general consensus.

I would not be surprised at to see either Joe Burgess, Morgan Escare, John Bateman leave the club or even as Whiffy stated a large transfer involving Sam Tomkins to facilitate the move.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Feb 19, 2018 12:33 pm  

RichieS wrote:

I believe all parties have agreed to a long term deal, with behavioral clauses throughout to protect the club. A fresh start, away from Yorkshire is the main catalyst for the move. A 12 game back-dated ban is the general consensus.

I would not be surprised at to see either Joe Burgess, Morgan Escare, John Bateman leave the club or even as Whiffy stated a large transfer involving Sam Tomkins to facilitate the move.

Is there any idea of why Hardaker's ban may differ from Chase's given the similarity of their drug taking?

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Feb 19, 2018 12:35 pm  

Honestly, no, other than maybe a very efficient legal team that could argue it was not detected during a period it could be classed as performance enhancing?

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Feb 19, 2018 12:52 pm  

What if FPN has left would that not free the space?? I would rather keep Sam and Morgan, though Joe Burgess at the moment is a shadow of his early form and seems more enthusiastic about getting back to Souths than playing well for us.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Feb 19, 2018 12:56 pm  

RichieS wrote:

I believe all parties have agreed to a long term deal, with behavioral clauses throughout to protect the club. A fresh start, away from Yorkshire is the main catalyst for the move. A 12 game back-dated ban is the general consensus.

I would not be surprised at to see either Joe Burgess, Morgan Escare, John Bateman leave the club or even as Whiffy stated a large transfer involving Sam Tomkins to facilitate the move.

I wouldn't want any of those guys to leave to facilitate a move for Hardaker. I am all for giving people a second chance but he has had more than enough chances and moving 60 miles west probably wont change any habits he has acquired in adulthood.

ST has stared to show one or glimpses of his former self and personally I would be gutted if he were to move on to Wire or any other club for that matter. The rumour of ST exiting is one that I don't particularly want to even consider being remotely accurate. Opposing fans can call him all they want be he has that natural ability which makes him a game changer and there are not many like him around in SL or the NRL. He surely has got to be our future captain and the guy who we build the team around for the next 4 to 5 years.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Feb 19, 2018 1:00 pm  

Itchy Arsenal wrote:

I wouldn't want any of those guys to leave to facilitate a move for Hardaker. I am all for giving people a second chance but he has had more than enough chances and moving 60 miles west probably wont change any habits he has acquired in adulthood.

ST has stared to show one or glimpses of his former self and personally I would be gutted if he were to move on to Wire or any other club for that matter. The rumour of ST exiting is one that I don't particularly want to even consider being remotely accurate. Opposing fans can call him all they want be he has that natural ability which makes him a game changer and there are not many like him around in SL or the NRL. He surely has got to be our future captain and the guy who we build the team around for the next 4 to 5 years.

Sorry, re-read my post and I must state, there is no substance to ST/Wire transfer, I was simply saying it would not surprise me...I for one doubt the club would consider selling him to a rival club.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Feb 19, 2018 1:04 pm  

That Mon wrote:

What if FPN has left would that not free the space?? I would rather keep Sam and Morgan, though Joe Burgess at the moment is a shadow of his early form and seems more enthusiastic about getting back to Souths than playing well for us.

When Burgess first started to play for us he was a breath of fresh air. The first winger for quite a while to back his speed against anybody else on the pitch and prepared to go on the outside.

Like a lot of other fans I haven't got a clue why he seems to have lost his mojo since his return but a fit and focused Burgess would walk into any SL team. If he does want to go back to Australia then I'm afraid there should be no clause stating that we get first refusal if and when he does return because to leave again so quickly surely means that he has burned his bridges.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Feb 19, 2018 1:09 pm  

RichieS wrote:

Sorry, re-read my post and I must state, there is no substance to ST/Wire transfer, I was simply saying it would not surprise me...I for one doubt the club would consider selling him to a rival club.

Good!!
I know you are close to the club so thought that you may have heard something was in the air so to speak.

Ive got a felling that this will be a good year for ST. Barba excepted if fit, he is the best rugby player in the competition and with a fierce competitive streak which will always ensure that he is hated by opposing fans.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Feb 19, 2018 1:57 pm  

Burgess was a true winger and looked like being world class. I think if he had gone to Souths from the start he would not have returned to us. When he came back it looked like little had changed early tries seemed like he was back and in form. The swithch to centre and him getting injured seemed a point he never returned from. The fact he mentions returning to NRL so early sfter return is annoying... I wish players would have a little more respect for the club and fans. Somtimes saying nothing is a better option. Not just Burgess is guilty of this I think the reports/ intervies pre season and the photos of players out with an NRL coach while out on a trip payed for by our club show a lack of respect and lack of thought.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Feb 19, 2018 2:53 pm  

RichieS wrote:

I believe all parties have agreed to a long term deal, with behavioral clauses throughout to protect the club. A fresh start, away from Yorkshire is the main catalyst for the move. A 12 game back-dated ban is the general consensus.

I would not be surprised at to see either Joe Burgess, Morgan Escare, John Bateman leave the club or even as Whiffy stated a large transfer involving Sam Tomkins to facilitate the move.

I'm not a fan of signing bad boys, but I suppose if you must sign one, he should, at the very least, be a top quality player. And Hardaker is all that and more when he's in the right frame of mind. If there are safety clauses built into his contract to protect us from idiotic behaviour then it doesn't seem like too bad a deal.

In terms of the losses we might incur in order to fit him in, it seems a near-certainty that John Bateman's going to Aus anyway. No one is really denying it, and if anyone's earned a crack at the NRL, it's him. Budgie is a more baffling case. When he was last down there, all we heard was that it wasn't working out for him. He then came back, seemingly at his own request, did absolutely nothing for us for a season, and now we hear that he allegedly wants to go back again. If he can find an NRL club who'll actually take him - and good luck with that - I can't see that he'd be a massive loss. But Escare I definitely would NOT want to lose. He has all the makings of a great utility player for us, and he knows where the try-line is.

As someone else has said, if we could play Hardaker at centre - and let's face it, on current form he isn't going to face much of a challenge from Sarge - then hopefully, the flying Frenchman will feel that he can stay.

One thing that's undeniable: a back division of ...

1 Escare
2 Marshall
3 Hardaker
4 Gildart
5 Davies

6 Tomkins
7 Williams

... would be one of the fastest in the British game.