A little change to your post and again it works both ways.

How could anyone have known the Barlow deal would not work out, everyone was happy when he signed.
If he had not put pen to paper with us he would have most likely gone to Fev.

What would we have said if we had let him go and he played to his full potential, we would all have said why did we let him go.

You can't win, it's all wisdom after the event.

Penky was a one off and the likes of which will probably be not seen again at this level but he was getting to the back end of his carrear and part of his moving on was to play for his own town club before he hung his boots up.

We made an offer to Andy Ellis which would have made him one of the highest earners at the club but he chose to go to Rovers, it wasn't like we did not try to get the better players.

Blacky on a good day was one of the best in the division but he took plenty of stick when he had a bad day at the office so again you can't win.

As for six or seven options in the halves and at hooker that KH spoke about it doesn't neccessarily mean 6 or 7 players but players who can play in more than one slot and do a job or options to offer something different.

Murrell could play 6 or 13, Mennell could play 9 or 7, Kaye could play 6,7, or 9 if required etc and we will need cover for if anyone gets injured.

As for other signings the club has said they are doing all they can to get some good lads onboard, lets give the new guys a chance.

Black has pretty much lost the pace and zip that made him such a threat whilst a Fax player, but he's developed his organisational skills and kicking game to compensate for that. He's still one of the best in the league and probably the best half-back we've had since Glen Tomlinson, but I can see why Harrison let him go. He probably Thackeray would be a younger like-for-like replacement.

There are various options to looking overseas like PNG, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga who would likely not want or expect as much as an Aussie or Kiwi. I think there could be an unknown we could pick up from the WC even if just on trial. .
And obviously getting an Aussie is not so simple with the visa changes etc. But I do feel an exchange programme with an Aussie club NRL, QLD Cup or NSW Cup could also be a way to get somebody. Why not send a young U20s lad to Australia for a season in exchange for a young Aussie? Aussies love to travel and having the opportunity to play is an extra bonus. Halifax have had top quality youngsters play before becoming big names later- Martin Bella, Michael Hagan and Paul Langmack were all young kids when at Fax. France also has some very good players that cant get into Catalans. Talent is everywhere but like anything it can have other problems.
Nice to sign young lads but it should not bling us in not looking elsewhere

Didn't M Steele say while at the last World Cup that some of the figures been asked for by so,me Fijians were "like telephone numbers"?

I've said elsewhere that I don't see the point in busting the bank to bring an individual over if it's a gamble. But if a Ben Fisher type became availible then we should still explore the opportunity.

That or if there's a player over here already who becomes availible who would add something without that extra cost of needing to be transported across the world. Then why not?

Why would we want to sign anyone new ? Most of this squad, the current coach brought to this club, it's his job and his back up team to make them play how he wants to beat sides. Part of Karl's team is a chap called Dave Robinson, head of recruitment. In all the years I've been watching amateur & junior RL in & around this district i've seen very little or nothing of him at all. If i were him i'd be into the local clubs, we've got kids travelling from this district to represent Sheffield Eagles scholarship at the moment, that cannot be right for our club. How Sheffield & Featherstone were permitted to continue with scholarships when we & other clubs had to disband ours is beyond me, unless i don't know the full facts, but other than an U20's ( which i understand may be subject to change again soon ) team, how are we supposed to bring kids through ?
Siddal turned three open age teams out yesterday and several other clubs turned two teams out, are we saying that apart from the lads who are too old for the reserves, the rest aren't good enough to have a go at reserves RL ? Get out there scouting mr. Robinson.

Excellent post.

Colin, pm'd you

Seen that guy strutting all over the Shay ground on match days, also reserve games. Makes an impressive figure at 4' 2. I agree with you MM, maybe he is filled with too much of his own importance to fetch any good talent to the club.

Isn't he based over in Wigan, hence why we sign so many players from over there?

I do believe that dave Robinson lives in Harrogate, and is a close pal of KH

To be fair to KH he used Robinson at Salford when he was head coach there & i reckon he will have signed Luke Ambler at that time.
Many people might see it as a bitter post by myself after my previous position as scholarship co-ordinator, i had a hand in recomending junior players to Halifax RLFC & I wouldn't hesitate to do the same thing now & in the future if i saw a kid who i thought had potential in all honesty. Half the lads in the current U20's i directed towards the club & obviously i'll watch their progress with interest in the future.

Recently, I watched England colleges v Scotland at Spotland, Rochdale. There were scouts from several clubs in attendance that i know, or recognised but not our Mr Robinson. Brian Noble was one of the match commentators as it went out live on premier sports channel, that guy doesn't walk around with his eyes & ears closed.....
After the match I went straight over to watch our U20's final match of the season at the Shay, missed the first 20 mins or so & I sat with one of our board of directors who had watched the game on tv. He mentioned one player in particular who'd stood out on the tv game earlier that evening so i told him the lad in question had been released the day before from a pay as you play contract with Wigan. Not exactly my job to go telling club officials such detail ( especially as he plays a similar position to my own son, who at the time was on the books at Halifax ) but i trust the info i passed on will have reached the correct people ie: scout & coach.
In the warm up game for the students, they played a regional squad coached by Steve Crookes former Hull & Hull KR at Cas panthers ground. A certain John Bastian approached myself & Brendan Hill & asked how our sons are doing & which clubs they're now playing at, I first met Mr Bastian while he was head of youth development at Warrington. He recognised me that day at Cas panthers & did the necessary networking that makes him such a reputable figure in that field. Leeds, Bradford & Huddersfield scouts along with Lee Crooks whoever he was working for at that point were also in attendance that afternoon, not Halifax.
Not good enough in my opinion.

I sometimes wonder if it's worth the effort for Championship clubs? If we did harvest someone like Zak Hardaker how long do you think he'd be at the club for? All that effort and rearing just for Leeds Rhinos to slap a fat contract down.

My thoughts as well, it quite simply isnt worth the time, effort and money

A realistic turnover of SL players per year is around 10% , thats around 35 in total, knock of the overseas part of that and its nearer 25

The SL clubs alone will have over 200 ( and these will be the cream of the crop ) in their senior - junior squads, and then another 200 in the junior-junior squad, not even looking at the scholarships

So a turnover of around 150 per year at least, so even from their point of view it is expensive, Championship clubs, having to work with what is left will have a very small % success rate, all to catch the occaisional late developer or one that slipped through the net

A better system would be partnerships with local amatuers