I think the big thing with Widdop is that he has mainly played behind dominant packs and like any half back when he has been behind a poor pack he has struggled. Ive no doubt if we had a very good pack he would have been a great signing for us but you just can't get away from the fact we spent a fortune on a player in a position that we did not need whilst ignoring positions where we are light. By all accounts this signing was somewhat forced apon Finn along with the Greg Eden signing.

For just a suggestion of how much Widdop is allegedly being paid, if you can put up with listening to and believe anything Mick Gledhill says, check out the Full 80 minutes “Assessing the Championship Club Season” from Feb 21st 2024.

Whilst not saying the exact amount the figure hinted at even had one of the other hosts saying “surely it can’t be as much as xxx k” with MG nodding oh yes it could.

My info has RD being particularly keen to get the Gaz deal over the line.
When it first surfaced on a brief online chat interchange with RD I mentioned asked / suggested that having achieved so much in the game that to go out playing for your home town club could be another important milestone / achievement and if there was any chance / truth in it.

The reply was, “ If not it wouldn’t be for the lack of trying.”

Ive heard figures of between 35-45k banded about by pretty reliable folk and the same story that it was RD that was very keen to get the deal over the line more so than the coach. I also hear our wage bill went up this year by over 100k which if true is crazy and shows agents had his pants down. Back to Widdop though that sort of money would bring in 3/4 really good props or a couple of very good centres and that decision is clearly been made by someone who does not know rugby at this level.

That's less than I thought it could have been and had heard. But also that half of his costs were being covered by a sponsor and not all out of the clubs finances. And that this money had been up up purely for getting GW in.

And I believe we have at least one player paid in that region, and if you were to believe all rumours, that's the sort of money Gwaze was demanding.

Just watched the first half. Why did it take 5 tries and 40 minutes for the coach to decide his position selection was wrong? And what did Widdop keep kicking into the shade side of the field when clearly the only kick into sun caused problems.

You called it right, greg, the Toulouse game in particular showed how inadequate our pack is, either too small or too old. The Toulouse pack murdered us in the first half, I thought it was going to be a 50 niller but spreading the ball in the 2nd half was the better option against their big tiring men.

Finn picking Davies to play hooker was the most daftest idea yet

Not sure why people are still backing him, but I can not watch more of the cr@p we are having to endure

I can not see us escaping relegation as it stands and the win over Donny paperd over the cracks seen as fev hammerd them at Donny yesterday

Thankfully not all Fax fans are like you as we wouldn't have a club at all, never mind a League 1 club.

No idea what results you're looking at. Fev lost at home to Swiinton. Maybe partly due to them playing Greg Eden at scrum half!

That's the sort of figure put forward by Jimmy on TF80M and MG suggested it was even higher leaving J a bit speechless and us a bit cashless.

Not many left going by how empty the south stand now is

He as been a breath of fresh air for me solid in defence and a constant threat in attack. I just hope you don't want him back anytime soon.

The positives was us showing some effort in the second half to get back into the game after a embarrassing first half. It is not like you do not know what Toulose are like they start like a house on fire but if you can stay with them they drop off the intensity as the game goes on just like they did last year. Our middles were once again shown to be not up to the job unless you want to be in a relegation scrap which i think we are. Barber as to play centre for me at Barrow with hopefully McCormack in the other spot and if we can get Cory back at 9 we can then ease O'brien back if he is alright to play. Ruan hasn't cracked any pots playing on the edge i would like to see him in the middle if he doesn't improve there then there is no point him playing instead of our own players. I would also bring Charlie Graham in for Pons and give Hantz a crack we need all the help we can get in the middle of the park.

As for Finn we have some big games coming up against some of the sides around us on the table, Barrow and then you can forget about getting anything from Wakefield before we play Whitehaven on the road who have improved since we last faced them. If we come away from those games against Barrow and Whitehaven empty handed his position as to come under question unless the board are happy to stick by him whatever the consequences.

Cheers, he's shown excellent footwork in our Academy/reserves, good to hear he's coping well in the Championship

The Leeds lads have all been rubbish and should be made to stay with us until, the end of the season as punishment.