You need quality experienced payers around to bring young players through. Would be naive to stick Newman and Broadbent together together from next year. Plus look what injuries can do. Both been extremely unlucky so far.....

But you dont want to block the young players path forever, if we hadnt resigned L Suttcliffe on a long deal, id be more inclined to want to keep Hurrell on reduced terms, but with Suttcliffe, Newman and Broadbent + with T Briscoe maybe being better in centre than wing these days, there in case of injury, we'r more than well covered. Thats not even mentioning Hall and Edwards.

I must be watching a different player, but Cameron Smith does little for me. Against Castleford on Friday night being there he did not have a good game he was no better than any of the forwards.
Going forward if everyone was fit he would not be in the starting 17.
I think how he has played these last few seasons he’s no better than Championship player at best. I know this piece will come in for a lot of stick, and it’s only my opinion, but when I saw him first as a young kid he has not developed into what I would of expected of him. As a youngster he was brilliant, but I don’t see the quality in him. Only my opinion,

Club really needs to make up it's mind - and this shouldn't be agar's call - whether we go all out for a title next year. Potentially, we have the squad to do so imo. But that'd mean a hard nosed appraisal of all players - no projects unless injury forces it on us.
Or, we can go with continuing to develop young players, rehabilitate the likes of jack walker in the hope we'll be all the better for it after yet another year transitioning. I think there's a choice to be made.

They will have experience players around them ie Austin Sezer We wouldnt starting with Broadbent it would be Sutcliffe if Hurrell isn't retained. Retaining Hurrell means Broadbent is 4th maybe 5th choice. If players don't play they go backwards sometimes you have to make tough decisions and play the young ones. I expect Hurrell to be resigned I just hope he starts to improve and if he doesn't I hope the coaching team have the balls to drop him.

It’s clear I have a real soft spot for Hurrell, just makes the game bit different from the usual dross we have to endure. However Broadbent has an exceptional future, I see him more as a realistic wing option to Briscoe and might spur both of them on a bit. Then after 1-2 years he’ll be ready to make Centre his own...

I personally think Martin is the only one that stays for next season. He’s been getting better in that past few weeks. With the money from Vuniyayawa, Hurrell, Mclelland and Briscoe, we could bring in a big name aus prop aswell as look further down the leagues. Plus bringing Johnson, Field, Sinfield into the ranks. I’d like us to go bring in a back and maybe Scurr and Parke.

I cant understand the king signing at all.
better players in the championship and he takes an overseas spot

Not sure about that plus he was only signed for a season.

I keep saying it a good prop is a must not a project prop.

We need 5 good quality props, and then can move into the ranks after that. We have Mik, Prior, Tet, Tommy the Tank, and then a gap. King hasn’t proven himself and honestly isn’t worth the O/S spot. We need to sign another good prop before we start talking about projects from Bradford or the like.

Props are one of the most likely to get injured, and you need 4 per game so 5 good ones is an absolute minimum.

For me if King was that prop then fine. I'm still not 100% ruling him out because he got knocked out again, we need to consider performance over time.

However if we was that good then he probably wouldn't be in a position to sign a 1 year deal in SL on a wing and a prayer - and we need to make a decision on this because that high-quality prop spot is important.

If everyone is fit it gives us options to let Prior or Tet sit back at 13 if needed too - although I think Cam Smith has been in good form when fit this year.

We need four up front who really take it to the opposition all game with no let-up. Once we sort this pack out, and we're almost there I think, then we can really turn attention to the back line. I don't think gaining field position has been our problem this season, it's been lack of ideas and decision making in good ball, and costly individual errors.

Another potential benefit Austin signing gives us is that we may be able to train 13 v 13 in pre-season: we have Gale, Sezer, Austin and Sinfield (assuming McLelland goes, he might not)... Opposed training is really useful and it's good for competition for places in first grade too.

I’ve actually like the look of King in terms of contact and defence, he looks handy. The issue for him is giving away completely needless penalties, and fitness. He look gassed after about 5 minutes. It’s tricky, because he seems like a nice guy, and if we release Martin and Hurrell, which I think we will, we might not be desperate for the O/S squad. It is more about cap space at the minute than O/S spots, which is why I think they’ll move on Hurrell and Martin.

As other’s have said, Martin is playing well, but we just don’t need him with the Bentley signing.

The other main concern for me about King is the head knocks. You only have to look at Stevie Ward, and how he is still suffering to realise it's not worth it. Hopefully someone at the club is keeping a close eye on that.

not sure martin is playing well. kicking goals for fun but that's about it

Not saying I agree with the point about Smith, I think he's a good player. But it's interesting you say he hasn't developed how you expected. I was having a conversation with some friends on the weekend about this very thing. How many times have we seen young players with bags of potential, but never really fulfil it. I know it's a numbers game, but in Ais they seem to manage that transition better. It made me think that if the NRL ever did take over SL, maybe part of that could be using their methods over here. Whilst we don't have as many youngsters playing the game, our top ones regularly give them good games and get the wins