singnings to come? Bird is no longers on his way and looks like young Halley could be staying at Wakie.

Our pack is second to none, but Jeffries is poor in the last year of his contract and our 3/4 line is weak, will we bring anyone in with our remaining cap space?

Thoughts?

We need someone, our backs are dreadful, theres only Chris Nero who seems to do something when he gets the ball.

Doubtful. Although I am sure the club will move to sign players if any of the right calibre become available. But given the problems with visa's it would seem unlikely to come from overseas.

The fact that Bird will now play SL for the French and is seemingly ok to play in England and Wales stinks a little but we have to move on now.

Does anyone know if the Catalans have the same quota rules as clubs such as the Bulls?

think catalans were allowed some leniency with regard to quota for there initial 3 year period but afaik they are on same rules as us now. Think celtic have some leeway for there first year or two due to being an 'expansion' club too

Sykes looks a bit better than the rest also. Agreed though our backs are one of the worst in SL.

Apart from Deacon I disagree. You could Bulls backs man for man against half of the teams & they would measure up. I used the example of Wakey elsewhere - a team of average, at the mosty, backs - playing without half backs, yet performing way above expectations.

You're watching different backs to me.

I'd say Deacon, Nero & Tadulala are decent enough to play for a top team, but the others have shown me nothing more than average so far. A little harsh to judge Sheriffe in there as he hasn't had chance to show anything yet, but as it stands, he hasn't proved he's good (although hasn't proved he's bad either, thanks to a lack of service).

Sykes is nothing better than an ok player. Platt is not a top class fullback, even his attacking ability seems to have drained a bit recently. Jeffries again, is nothing more than "decent".

I do consider Halley to have the potential to be better than average, but sadly, it looks like his face doesn't fit.

We can but hope that youngsters like Straugheir, Hyde & Crookes turn out to be excellent players. They certainly seem to have some potential.

The problem with needing to sign some quality though is that it's just not available. You can't sign players that aren't available. And as Wigan have proven with the likes of Cameron Phelps & Tim Smith, you don't just want to sign anyone who's played in the NRL, as they can turn out to be overpriced and not very good.

Please tell me anything he has that would attract a top team to him, apart from the ability to convert their many tries.

A long standing friendship with Brian Noble.

i'm sure st. helens could do with someone of that ability at the moment?

The quality of Deacon's team organising skills are proven when he's not playing and the team looks like headless chickens.

But it's pointless arguing Deacon's ability with Tigertot since he clearly will never rate him no matter what the evidence.

However "rubbish" Deacon is, his record surely offers evidence to the contrary?

The evidence is clearly that he offers nothing but kicking. Most of the organising I have witnessed comes from the hooker at PTB - Lowes & Newton. It is interesting that 'organising skills' are the one skill that can't be measured or proven. If you compare the much maligned Jeffries stats from last year he stuffs Deacon in all these offensive areas - Tries, Try assists, Metres gained, Carries, Tackles, Offloads, Attacking Kicks, Runs from dummy half, Tackle Busts, Clean Breaks.
Every half back has organising responsibilities & abilities, the only reason it's trotted out for Deacon is that he has nothing else to his game.

rlLinkrl

Unfortunately Deacon needs to do more than organise to be rated as a top scrum half in SL. Just because the team are rubbish when he's not there does not mean he's a great player. He lacks pace and does not take on the line enough IMO.

When half backs fail for other teams a reason oft-cited is that they are playing behind a beaten pack, yet if Bradford have one of the best packs in the league, surely Deacon should stand out more and be a match winner in your favour. Unfortunately he seems to have been anonymous even when the pack is on top in the games so far this season. The likes of Burrow and Long are still able to make something from nothing when the chips are down - not a trait I'd associate with Deacon. Even his kicking game isn't as good as it used to be.

I would rate him firmly in the lower half of a league of SL scrum-halves, with Jeffries firmly rooted at the bottom on current form.

Back on topic, Lee Smith will be out of contract at the end of the season but I doubt he would want to go to Bradford unless they offered him markedly more money than Leeds.