Can't disagree. It's not a pretty picture for the remainder of this season - [iat least[/i - is it ?

Is bailey OOC at the end of this year?

yeah he is.

1. Brent Webb (2011)
[i4. Keith Senior (2011)
[/i8. Kylie Leuluai (2011)
10. Jamie Peacock (2011)
14. Ali Lauitiiti (2011)
[i16. Ryan Bailey (2011)
17. Ian Kirke (2011)[/i
18. Luke Burgess (2011)
31. Callum Casey (2011)

Ones in bold are the ones I think will leave.

Players on contract that could leave. Italics is maybe.

9. Danny Buderus (2012) (Quota)
15. Ben Cross (2012) (Quota)

How the hell did we finish up with 4 props all of contract at the same time? That is shockingly bad management of contracts...

And that surprises you? considering how we have been managed for last 2 years, and how our sister club have been managed.

To be fair on this one. I would guess the club expected better from Amor, and saw Burgess has been a cornerstone for years to come before having his head turned. Therefore leaving their options open on the rest.

Ahem - I think you'll find there are five on that list (as of this season anyway..)

I expect that Burgess and Bailey will leave, as well as Kirke, Ali and maybe Webb and Senior.
I personally would move Delaney into second row, and sign a new centre, a new prop and a young half back (is what we need).
We have the likes of Amor and Ambler, and also Singleton who is captaining the Academy, who i reckon will replace JP in a couple of years, considering JP wants to play in the WC, i think we should offer him 2 years. I think to replace the likes of Kirke we have youngsters coming through the Academy such as Jarred Stewart and Dan Smith.
So we only really need 3 signings, from overseas maybe Brent Kite, otherwise im not too sure what other players we should be looking at.
Im hoping Hetherington, last year when he went down under, managed to sign someone for next season, but im not holding my breath..

I do love this constant optimism that Amor and Ambler will somehow be able to step up and command regular places in the 17 next season. Neither have particularly stood out for Quins or Wakefield respectively, and it's a big step up from being a bit-part player at a small club to starting every week for one with aspirations of winning trophies.

I would say you are right with Amor. Just can't see him every making it. But with Ambler I think has shown enough over last couple of seasons to show he would be at least equal to what we have now.

Looking at your squad the priorities to me look in the backrow, threequarters and maybe at prop depending on who leaves. It'll be interesting to see how SL manage to recruit from the NRL with their salary cap rising.

To be honest, if it's culture you want to change, a shift to onew in which the attitude of people like JJB was prevalent would be no bad thing.

On squad building, if the young backs we've got coming through can stay fit then I think we've got a dangerous backline. Maybe another centre wouldn't go amiss, but only if you can bring in something that's a real improvement on what we've got. If we were to stick with the likes of Hardaker, BJB, Watkins then some experience and leadership could be worth looking at (NB, this needn't mean a 35 year-old Aussie). I wouldn't say no to a change of scenery at half back, which is no criticism of McGuire or Burrow (it'd be McGuire I'd keep) - I rate both and I'm not jumping on the Burrow-slating bandwagon - but perhaps a new direction is needed. An organiser with a really good kicking game.

In the pack we have plenty of youth, plenty of OAPs (relatively) but perhaps a change of personnel is needed. If Singleton, Pitts, Amor and Ambler etc can realise their potential and be ready to be regulars next year, then no problem. If they need another year of being rotated then we may need to bring some new faces in. I might argue that Hauraki has been useless and has a lot to prove to a lot of people for the rest of the year, Kirke may now have outlived his usefulness (and he has been more useful than some would like to admit) and there are questions over whether Ali's body will still do what he used to do (if he can get 100% fit I'd keep him in a heartbeat, but he hasn't been fully fit for a very long time).

In all cases, I don't like change for change's sake, so any of the above are reliant on being able to bring the right quality in. Also, should a really top-class player become available at the right price in any position, it's always worth looking at.

Star quality has been lacking in many recent signings. Looking back five or so years, Ellis was signed and soon after Peacock - both were top notch international players with no risk (the sort of risk when signing players from Oz), and both performed as expected and contributed to the successful years.
Players like e.g. Kirke can fill in nicely around talent like that, hence 3 GF rings for him even though he wasn't a leader or star performer - you need players like him with the salary cap.
Recent problems have centred around trying to rely too much on the home grown talent - probably only Ryan Hall and Danny Maguire have reached that international standard, and arguably Rob Burrow, otherwise there have been few quality additions to the squad. The overseas additions have not been good, and the marquee signing Buderus hasn't been hugely consistent and not appeared to be a real leader.
One has to suspect that there are too many players on too much money who aren't performing to the level required now, mainly due to age/injury.
Getting people of the right quality and attitude is not an easy job - there aren't endless players available.
The coaching situation is a worry, not forgetting the rush that the previous coach left in. You see the likes of Maguire at Wigan, Brown and Tony Smith make impact quite quickly when they took over their respective clubs - our man has made an impact, but sadly it has been quite a negative one, with flimsy defence (never a good sign) and obviously over ambitious attack.
So - a new coach probably and more star quality players please!

I'm not sure our attack is inherently over-ambitious, it's more that the ambition comes out without earning the platform to do it from first. You have to do the hard graft, get yourelves on the front foot and earn the right to do the flash stuff. We seem unwilling or unable to do that at the moment.

Agreed - probably not making myself clear - I can't think of many successful teams who have simply thrown the ball about from the word go and simply managed to out-score the oppo. Leeds' GF showings would be testament to doing some hard graft and creating chances off the back of it - the current style seems a long way from that!