I guess I would be happy with a straight swap as Herbert wouldn't be on the £££ Orford was on and that would free up more money to throw at Leon.

how can they swap a player they dont have on their books mick?

Apologies I didin't know.

Well as you say if he's been released by the club he can't be that good, but you did say we should look for another Dobson to bring over.

Maybe he could fill that expectation?

I think for now I'll stick with Bosc and Pryce.

cant believe no one picked up on the subtle reference to him I put on rumour thread a few hours ago. obviously too subtle

just a name I've heard mentioned on a few forums.can't say I know anything about him as a player but like I said to mick, fact that he was released by canberra before they bothered sourcing a replacement doesnt bode well. If we're looking at relatively unknown halfs from oz I'd rather we looked at younger toyota cup players on the verge of breaking through over ones that have already broken through and then been dumped by NRL clubs.

Could see a straight swap for Josh Mccrone happening. If we're not going for an established star, Cherry-Evans looks good to me. Seems to have all the attributes of a future star. I know he's contracted to Manly, but since when does that mean anything.

The more I think about it, the more I can see a swap with Josh Mccrone happening. He's always struggled to break into the 1st team but built up an excellent partnership with Terry Campese at the back end of this year. Campese being the star of the show. As it looks like Campese will be out for most of next year, Canberra obviously don't think Mccrone can cut the mustard on his own, hence there eagerness to sign Orford.

Straight swap for Orford, pay him half of what Orford was on (still a good whack) and throw the remaining cash at a star stand off. Jobs a good un.

think the key phrase there is 'partnership with terry campese'. surely they will now want him to form a partnership with orford?. dont think many clubs would expect 1 half of a halfback pairing to cope for a season on their own hence why they need orford to replace campese.

although, that said, they may face salary cap pressure having campese,orford and mcrone on books at same time. especially if they also sign moltzen (sp) who they were chasing.

I'd agree if Mccrone was the stand off in the partnership. I wouldn't really expect Canberra to pair 2 scrum halves together especially when they have the rising star Michael Picker as a possible stand off partner for Orford.

I'm pretty certain they'll want to keep hold of Mccrone, but then again, we don't want to lose Orford so there may be some bargaining power.

suppose it depends how interchangeable you view the 2 halfback roles. A lot of people these days see them as pretty similar and my thinking was that canberra would prefer to only bring in 1 new half rather than an entirely new halves pairing. If they go that route then as you say mccrone could be surplus to requirements. at lest in short term - maybe its a case of them not wanting 2 inexperienced halfs on pitch together. in which case bringing in orford to partner picker makes sense. maybe option of a loan deal for a year for mccrone?. after all ideally we only want someone on 1-2 year deal to allow for southernwood coming into team.

As I understand, Mccrone is an organising scrum half, similar to Orford. I wondered if a loan deal would be an option. Would work for both parties as Orford doesn't have too many miles left so they'd need a replacement in the next year or 2, and it would be a stop gap for us while southernwood develops or it would give us time to line up a big name for next year.

Is be more than happy with that.

dont know which board to put this on,ie(is the pryce right)or (rumours) but from what i've heard from a friend who was talking to leon at a wedding a couple of weeks ago,he (leon) was saying that as soon as the orford saga is sorted out the money will be made available for us to purchase him (leon),that coming from the horses mouth,apparently.thoughts anybody,or is it leon talking through the beer

Just wonder then in reply to an earlier poster which said something along the lines of 'Saints' silence is golden and they kept quiet when rumours of Graham to Wire were rife and this didnt happen' that they are keeping quiet because they cant deny Leon is coming home but dont want to announce until as late of possible so not to have an impact on their season ticket sales?

and breathe!!