martinwildbull casually saunters on to stage centre and addresses audience:

"As I told you all a day after KH got the Fux heave-ho, a shoe-in for assistant coach because: 1) forward 2) championship experience. I think that was a few weeks ago, so catch up guys..."

scenes of awe genuflection and praise from the assembled RABble who all chant "we are not worthy of you oh marginalwildbull"

Having "folded" twice in the last few years I will be happy if the Bulls hold next season!

Interesting to see if any of our pre-season hit outs include SL opposition to really benchmark our potential for the 8s later on?

This is spot on. If we're going to gain promotion it has to be in 2015.

Any thoughts on who next year's captain should/could be? I'd go for Gaskell.

Long term I'd like it to be obrien but think next bye is maybe a yr too soon. I'd reckon Gaskell or maybe Purtell.

Sidlow, Ferguson (if fit).

Sidlow for me.

I guess Jimmy will wait and see if any 'natural' leaders turn up to training - best get the gobsh&%$es on your side..

Don't think I would have Gaskell as captain. Let him concentrate on his own game. I would like O'brien, also like Bullseye's suggestion of Sidlow and Ferguson.

The reason I went for Gaskell is because of his role on the pitch, playing at stand-off. He'll be the one dictating the attacking moves and organising the attack. He also is fairly experienced for a man of his age; he played in the 2011 Grand Final.

I wouldn't have Ferguson as I don't trust his fitness and I haven't really seen enough of him to make a judgement.

O'Brien only really started to prove that he could turn out to be a class player at the back end of the season and we were all impressed in the progress he made in that time. I'm not sure if I'd go for him this time around but definitely a future captain of the club.

I can see why people like Sidlow but he's a prop and isn't going to be on the pitch for the full eighty minutes. I like the captain to be someone who is on for the duration and is always telling his players what he wants throughout the game. This is of course just personal preference.

What we don't see is what these lads are like on the training ground. We don't get to see which players are the most enthusiastic and we don't always get a clear view of their personalities. I'm sure that Jimmy will get it right.

That pretty much sums up my thinking. Prefer captain to be on pitch full 80 and think it works well if he's also one of playmakers. Gaskell seems obvious choice as I think it's too soon for obrien. Think sjelkas too much of a gamble to consider at this stage. Whilst I'm not keen on an incoming player getting captaincy, mullaney might be another option. At fullback you'd hope he'd be pretty vocal in organising defence anyway.
Am I right in thinking Sidlow is most experienced player in squad? How about making him club captain? Seems to be a role we've gone away from last couple of years, appointing a vice captain instead.

Not sure why you think Jimmy would know about being gobby....

No, Chev Walker most SL appearances but as utility not going to play all games, Purtell by the time you have added NRL and SL appearances together must be there or thereabouts I just cannot be bothered to do the sum, then Paul Clough who has not just a lot of appearances but a lot of quality appearances. So maybe I will throw in a googlyfirst[/del real preference is Gaskell with a prop as vice captain, my preference Clough but no doubt from a clubs point of view Sidlow as a resigned re-signed (thanks FA) player. Gaskell because the squad is built around his running game, so he has to boss the rest of the team around to optimise that. and that makes the idea of captaincy distracting him from his game absolutely risible.

Sorry whoever posted that thought, just wanted to get risible into the post. FA, how many RAB posts in the last 5 years have included the word risible compared to say, callipygian?

come on FA, what sort of service is this?