Squad overhall next year?

This might seem a little premature, but when you read on it might not seem as premature as first thought……

Based on the Squad details sticky we appear to have 17 players out of contract at the end of this season – ok, some of these are young kids and we will probably re-sign a few of the lads going out of contract but with the number of players potentially leaving, at what point does the club start to plan for 2013?

Firstly a decision needs to be made on Mick Potter (and his staff) – does he stay or go – never mind waiting until half way through the year, this won’t overly help anyone as I see it. All the best coaches will be signed up if we choose to change (Nathan Brown springs to mind), and then following on from that, most of the “higher quality” players will be contracted or committed to other clubs come the end of June / July officially or unofficially.

Personally I don’t see a problem sounding out Nathan Brown on the sly (if we can). If he’s interested, then great, he’s certainly managed to improve a fairly average set of players into genuine contenders for the top 3 or 4 spots in the table. Let’s be honest here, when he took over, the Griffin’s, Brown’s, Crabtree’s and Lunt’s of this world were hardly ripping up trees, but he managed to mould them into a very competitive side on most occasions.

Ok, there is an element of financial clout in the Huddersfield area, but it’s not in the same stratosphere as that over near Warrington, and, by all accounts, we are now clear of any worrying financial constraints thanks to the RFL intervention / partnership…..

Whoever the coach is going to be needs to address a few of the following problems that seem to have been around the club for the last few years.

1. A couple of forwards who won’t take a backward step and don’t mind a little bit of nastiness and agro need to be recruited. I can’t honestly remember the last time any of our players were involved in anything more than handbags. We don’t have anyone who is willing to push the buttons of other teams or rag a few players around a bit. As per other threads we are coming across to other teams (and the media no less) that we have little bite or fire and are a bit soft. RL is a sport that is primarily about aggression. As with any sport, you have to earn the right to play and we seem to be unable to either impose ourselves over other sides, or capable of dragging ourselves back into games when we are behind.

2. Re-signing players. As per the above, one of the few people who seems likely / interested in putting themselves about and getting really stuck in is Oliver Elima – he is one of the 17 out of contract – get him signed up for another few years.

3. Halfbacks – Very early days so far, but Gale and Sammut look as though they could develop into an interesting partnership. Both offer something different and could complement one another very well. Unless we can sign someone who is a guaranteed improvement on Sammut, I’d look to sign him up and for a few years at that to allow that partnership to bond and hopefully flourish over the next few years. His signing may affect our overseas recruitment so get that signing sorted first, whether it be Sammut or a very good replacement. We’ve not had a settled partnership since Harris and Deacon so this is \n area that needs to be addressed thinking longer than one season at a time.

4. Sibbitt, Hargreaves, Walker, Jeffries, thanks lads, but no thanks for 2013 onwards. All have been good pros over the years and I really like the work ethic and attitude/professionalism that these guys omit, but they’re just not good enough any longer if we aim to finish in the top 5 to have a large number of these seasoned pros in the squad. If we are to improve, players like Burgess, Bateman, Addy need to have prolonged periods in the team – probably at the expense of these seasoned pros. By that comment I don’t mean 10-20 mins game time off the bench. We do need some of the old guard – just not too many. Would it be better to have the two salaries of (for arguments sake Hargreaves and Sibbitt) to be pooled into one salary for a Rob Purdham (I know he’s retired) type player?

5. Platt and Sykes – they are both contracted until the end of 2013. Can we get rid without having to pay them off any significant / substantial amount? Platt’s heart is great, his application however can generally sometimes be less effective. Sykes is public scapegoat number 1 and there’s too much negativity from the Odsal crowd when he’s involved towards him, which will affect him and the rest of the team as it is fairly vociferous.

6. Squad fitness and mentality – Who is to blame here? There was a big outcry for Clawson to go – he went and Evans came in – little or no improvement occurs and we still look shattered compared to other sides towards the end of games. Mental fatigue appears to be causing a problem and a sports psychologist or a coach with some bite and motivational qualities is a definite must. We need to change this as the attitude with the players when things are going wrong seems to be so ingrained in the organisation that even the new players pick up the same attributes as those who have been with us for several years. Quotes from Potter at the end of the Cas game were that confidence was high, yet after the Wigan game confidence was low…..make your mind up man! Personally I think that the team believed it could beat Cas – and thus hung on for the victory. Against Wigan and Catalan however, there seemed to be a belief that this wasn’t possible…….were we defeated before taking the field?

7. Pre-season preparation / mid-season free weekends/ gaps. Could the club utilise some club legends and successful ex-players to come in and do a few talks one-on-one with players to discuss what the club means to them and the what the right attitude should be to succeed? Imagine someone like Kopczak benefitting from speaking / guided by Karl Fairbank, Luke Gale with Dereyk Fox, last but not least, Brett Kearney being taught how to be the last line of defence by Stuart Spruce or Mick Withers………… that last one is very important as his (Kearney) one on one defence is woeful.

Now our finances are secure - time to start planning a little further into the future rather than the next 12 months.........

Or we could get rid of the waste of salary Brett Kearney, play Kear at FB and spend the money saved on his salary better elsewhere.

If Bulls did want to get rid of Kearney, serious question, do you think any other SL team would be interested? Could he actually displace any other SL fullback? I have doubts he could be offloaded, which would mean a payout would count on the salary cap.

Have to say a lot of fans seem to think Kearney is all that and is our so called marquee player. It's just further evidence of how far backwards we have gone as he would not have got in our 17 in 2005. I know we are rebuilding from the financial difficulties the Harris saga etc caused us but we are now back to spending the full cap or so we are told. Thus meaning Kearney will be on a very good salary = a complete waste of money.

I'd like to see some priority given to getting our youngsters signed up on long term deals. Several clubs were quick to act at the start of this season - Leeds with Hall/Watkins etc, Wigan with Sam and Hull with Tom Briscoe. We should be looking at getting the likes of Whitehead, Burgess, Bateman, Donaldson, Olbison, O' Brien and even Addy/Crookes all tied down for as long as possible. The key to success in the future will be a spine of the team that has grown up together and played in the same team together for years. We need to keep hold of as many of these guys as possible.

I doubt to many, maybe Wakefield and Widnes.

I heard that Leeds were interested in him last year before he signed an extention... Webb is getting on and very weak... I for one don't know what BK is, he's not a fullback and not a stand off, possibly a winger or centre but not a fullback, positional sense is attrocious!!! I think we should attempt to bring in someone like Scott Grix who can give a really good pass and defend really well

Then of course release Scruton, Hargreaves gets some stick but with a nasty prop (Nas?) or Evarn Tuimavave (N'Castle Nights) and a hard, consistent prop (Jaiman Lowe - Storm / O'Meley) he and Kopczak could really follow and make inroads... With the infux of cash i think it would be relatively easy to bring in these sorts of players... And we need a loose forward, i for one would put Joseph (who, from Swinton!! looks fitter than all of our players) 13, he has a great pass and put Langers in the back row or prop (been carrying well so far) what do you guys think, personally i think its better to change things now before we get too established together

Lama Tasi at Sydney Roosters is off contract this year and he's a unit but he's be harder to attract because of his age

Great post Badger. Agree with it all, you certainly hit the nail on the head.

One thing though, it's all very well saying get the youngsters signed up but who says they will want to if this malaise continues?

If I were a promising young player at the Bulls I'd be very careful what I signed. When you look at how the likes of Atkins, Patrick, Wardle and George Burgess have done since leaving they've gone onto better things (and more money). I'd want to see clear signs the club was on the up, rather than people just talking about it.

So far, Elima and Crookes need re-signing. Then focus on the other players. Can't sort out Sammut yet for obvious reasons.

Firstly, we have to give Potter a fair shout. Bad luck with injuries, new signings not fit and struggling to gel, coupled alongside a tough opening run of games says to me that we shouldn't be making decisions on the coaching staff until early May. By the we'll have played everyone once and with a little bit of luck with injuries we'l be able to see how we stand.

Secondly, a former Bulls legend with an intimate knowledge of Salford told a good friend of mine that the problem at both clubs was ultimately the same. The top man was too nice and didn't know enough about rugby league. Any squad/staff overhaul has to start at the top in my view.

Elima, Crookes, Burgess, Donno & Addy should all be offered deals imo.

Jeffries and Sibbit should be let go.

The rest need a good season, although if it wasn't for Crookes' early form i'd have put Ainscough on the top list.

Scrutes is playing poorly at the minute. But we have seen he can put in some quality performances and at his best is punishing in defence. He's had a lot to deal with (Diabetes, several injuries) so I think he deserves a bit more time to find his feet again.

But if it is that simple then we'd owe him alot seen as he'll be on a decent packet and he's signed up to 2014

Up until recently I've had plenty of time for Potter but he does seem to come out with contradictory stuff and more so lately. It may be that he's not so great with the media but then Peter Hood's come out with contradictory stuff too and he's got less excuse. By "top man" I assume you mean the chairman? I guess that takes us back into the debate of who wants the job?