If he kept his feet on the ground he'd only have scored two.

Maybe more a case of crookes being first ooc hence slightly more urgency in his case. I'm sure were talking to all the players being mentioned though re extensions.

Potter's commented after the HKR match that at 21 Crookes is now doing what he needs to do to be a SL standard player. If he keeps up this kind of work ethic he's definitely worth another deal, he's obvioudsly keen to sign one with us as he's already said as much in the T&A.

I'd be interested in finding out who the predatory clubs are. Hopefully it isn't Leeds, although we did recently pinch Luke Briscoe from Hull.

Warrington (having asset stripped Salford), Huddersfield (ditto Wakefield) and Hull (new owner splashing the cash) would be my guesses.

Which clubs have very wealthy owners, who seem prepared to buy success?

I don't put Leeds quite in that category, since (unique in SL) they have a corporate owner and are owned by a plc. And that plc's owner is careful with his money. And I am reluctant to put Saints - and its highly-capable owner - in that category either.

I always assumed the Briscoe deal was really sealed a bit before the contract was signed, across El Presidente's dinner table with his soon-to-depart-Hull missus, to be honest - but that is only my speculation.

Warrington gave Salford a substantial amount of cash for Richie Myler (as they did to Wakefield for Atkins)....Is it Wire's fault that these clubs never re-invested this cash into some signings of their own??

Maybe rather than 'asset stripping', some of these less ambitious clubs are actually being kept in business by the generosity of Simon Moran and his ilk??....

You really are one arrogant patronising fool. You confuse "ambition" with "money". It is very hard to fulfil your ambitions if you lack the money to compete with those who are bankrolled (overtly or otherwise).

At this rate, all the likes of Moran will do is create an elite of - at best - half a dozen clubs, and the rest will fall by the wayside. At present, you'd say that Elite would be Wire, Wigan, Saints, Leeds, Hull and Hudds, and probably Catalans. But I can see Leeds and Saints not being prepared to pump money into a RL arms race indefinitely. And you'll almost certainly not see any new entrants intop the mega-monied category.

So if your idea of enjoying your game is a super-duper league of half a dozen clubs, playing each other five times or more a year, then just carry right on as you are.

No he didn't.

Money creates arrogance in fans.

If we ever find a sugar daddy I hope it doesn't do the same to us lot. There's a difference between being ambitious and having money to pay transfer fees.

The Bulls would love to have signed Myler from Salford, in fact, if he was OOC we'd have probably gone in for him, but the fact you have the money means you can practically ignore contracts and get whoever you like. Doesn't mean you have more ambition, just more money to back it.

Cheers, I'll ignore the compliment for now....

So do you suggest that Mr Moran and other wealthy owners actually pull out of the sport and let clubs, and the competition as a whole, struggle and flounder along, instead, letting Rugby Union poach our best playersd and the sport become a mediocre one, as it is left with under funded teams playing in outdated stadia?

As for confusing ambition and money??....Unfortunately, and I think you know this being astute in the air of finance, you can't really have one without the other in the world of sport.....Yes, a 'smaller' team can be ambitious and work hard to produce young talent, but its the simple world of the free market, when a richer club comes along and makes offers for those players.....It isn't new to our sport, its just that the buyers and sellers change at regular intervals, thus creating 'cycles' in a club's successes.

Don't forget, not so long ago, we were the seller and, undoubtedly, somewhere down the line, we will become again.

Which is where the salary cap is meant to come in, if it isn't ignored.

I think you are right to a point, however signing youngsters like Donaldson and McAvoy who were chased by all the clubs in the league shows ambition, without needing a rich backer. Signing a proven coach like Mick Potter rather than a Lowes or an Agar shows ambition. Andrew Bennett spending hours writing to potential sponsors and backers shows ambition, as well as a commitment to the club in acknowledging that were not the most well off club in the league, but that we have people who will do whatever it takes to get us back up there.

And the signing of Keith Lulia, who at the same time was considering a contract offer from Melbourne. Matt Orford, Steve Menzies etc.

We don't have the money to pay transfer fees, we do have ambition.

is it true what i hear about whitehead heading to hull?

Not according to Whitehead's twitter.

whats whitehead said on twitter?

He says he's not heading to Hull.

Obviously.