Re: Rumours and signings v7 : Sun Aug 07, 2011 9:27 pm  

cadoo wrote:

If Deacon doesn't sign on for another year you could well be right.

Absolutely.

On the bright side, we are arguing where we need to strengthen, but there's only 1 urgent position (HB) and we should have 2(?) quota spaces available, as well as Coleys/Deacons/Hoffmans salary. I think thats enough for Benji Marshall don't you?

Re: Rumours and signings v7 : Sun Aug 07, 2011 9:31 pm  

I think we desperately need to recruit more players next year.

The reason for our success this year is our strength in depth, and if we lose Hoffman, Coley, Deacon and Davies and replace them with no-one then that just eliminates our depth.

With Roberts, we either need to release him. Or get him playing some games and back to some form because we cant afford to go into a full season with an overseas player whos never going to get a game and is taking up a chunk of the salary cap.

Re: Rumours and signings v7 : Sun Aug 07, 2011 9:33 pm  

inside_man wrote:

Absolutely.

On the bright side, we are arguing where we need to strengthen, but there's only 1 urgent position (HB) and we should have 2(?) quota spaces available, as well as Coleys/Deacons/Hoffmans salary. I think thats enough for Benji Marshall don't you?

I think it's just Lima, Finch and Roberts on the quota. With Hoffman and Cross leaving that does leave us with two spots to play around with. Plenty of prop forwards available from the NRL. Not sure on halfbacks and centres.

Wouldn't it be nice to be in a position where Benji Marshall could be a realistic signing? Imagine a team that contains the footwork of Sam Tomkins and Benji Marshall. SYOOPER stuff.

Re: Rumours and signings v7 : Sun Aug 07, 2011 9:36 pm  

cadoo wrote:

I think it's just Lima, Finch and Roberts on the quota. With Hoffman and Cross leaving that does leave us with two spots to play around with. Plenty of prop forwards available from the NRL. Not sure on halfbacks and centres.

Wouldn't it be nice to be in a position where Benji Marshall could be a realistic signing? Imagine a team that contains the footwork of Sam Tomkins and Benji Marshall. SYOOPER stuff.

I forgot about Cross as well. And to be perfectly honest i'd be actively trying to shift Roberts out, just think that we could be rid of Roberts, Cross, Coley and not be any weaker. Hoffman + Deacon will both be losses, but Hoffman will be easily replaced. That's a lot of salary cap space there.

Re: Rumours and signings v7 : Sun Aug 07, 2011 9:51 pm  

inside_man wrote:

I think that a possible solution with regards to Mellor would be to use Roberts as his alternative. Roberts to FB and Sam to 6 when Mellor needs a break from the first team?

Why would Mellor need a break from the 1st team, dont understand that all. The issue is if he's good enough to be our starting 6. As this year has shown, a settled half back partnership is a must, moving players in and out of positions is too disruptive.

Either Mellors good enough to be a stand off in a team that wants to challenge for trophies, or he isnt, in which case we either offer Deacon another year (has he got another year at the top in him? been excellent again this season but maybe 2012 would be a season too far?) or we look to recruit someone in (who though?)

Re: Rumours and signings v7 : Sun Aug 07, 2011 9:56 pm  

inside_man wrote:

I forgot about Cross as well. And to be perfectly honest i'd be actively trying to shift Roberts out, just think that we could be rid of Roberts, Cross, Coley and not be any weaker. Hoffman + Deacon will both be losses, but Hoffman will be easily replaced. That's a lot of salary cap space there.

You dont think we'd be any weaker without Coley? He is a massively under-rated player in this team IMO.

Re: Rumours and signings v7 : Sun Aug 07, 2011 10:04 pm  

The Ginger Pearl wrote:

You dont think we'd be any weaker without Coley? He is a massively under-rated player in this team IMO.

Im not underrating him at all. We've just got Fielden to come back in. And to be perfectly honest, with the way all our props have performed this year, I'd probably drop him ahead of Prescott/Mossop + Lima.

WARRIORCRAIG wrote:

Why would Mellor need a break from the 1st team, dont understand that all. The issue is if he's good enough to be our starting 6. As this year has shown, a settled half back partnership is a must, moving players in and out of positions is too disruptive.

Either Mellors good enough to be a stand off in a team that wants to challenge for trophies, or he isnt, in which case we either offer Deacon another year (has he got another year at the top in him? been excellent again this season but maybe 2012 would be a season too far?) or we look to recruit someone in (who though?)

Purely because he can't be expected to be the starting HB when he has barely played for the first team so far. If he makes the position his own, great.

Re: Rumours and signings v7 : Sun Aug 07, 2011 10:10 pm  

I'm in the camp of not giving up on Amos Roberts. He's played the last few months carrying an injury in the U20's. That has to be utterly demoralising. However he has been given the all clear now and scored a hat-trick in his last outing I believe. Amos Roberts is an outstanding RL player. One of the most naturally talented players we have at the club. He was devastating in 2010 and was smashing the try scoring charts, clean break charts, tackle busts etc etc shoe-in for MOS and all the other accolades you can think of. Now he's fit again I'm willing to give him time. He still has a year of his contract left. A few games in the first team to rotate the squad (rest Sam?) and let's see how he does.

With regards to Joe Mellor - you can't expect a 20 year old lad with barely any Super League experience to play stand off for an entire season, week in week out for the current Super League champions. That's too much pressure - I don't care how talented or how much potential you might have. All the best halfbacks have been spelled. Having him go on duel registration for a year helps. Rotate him with Paul Deacon. Give him the stand off role and see how he does. If he struggles Paul Deacon can fill in. Mike Gregory didn't want to give Luke Robinson the 7 shirt for the entire season because he thought it would be too much pressure on the lad - despite how highly he rated him. I don't think it would disrupt the side. We stick to our structures and they work. Anyone can come in and not look out of place. It's the best way of introducing Joe Mellor to SL rugby as a first team player IMO.

It goes without saying for me that prop is the priority. Andy Coley needs replacing. Five senior props is a must. Six is ideal, but five senior props with O'carroll and Crosby will do.

Re: Rumours and signings v7 : Sun Aug 07, 2011 10:15 pm  

Would you not class O'Carroll as a senior prop now? Fair enough he hasn't had THAT many games, but he's not exactly a youngster anymore.

Re: Rumours and signings v7 : Sun Aug 07, 2011 10:24 pm  

If we signed Benji Marshall, the rest of the league would be outraged that we'd bought "Another bloody foreigner"

It'd be brilliant though.