Well first of all , we are not doing as well as the pre season hype promised and overall our signings aren't of good enough quality for us to push into the playoffs ( though i think we might sneak 7 or 8th ).

To rate individually:

Diskin - Good quality. Done better than i thought. though i will add he seemed a lot more lively first few weeks of season than he does now.
Ainscough - Seems to have great commitment and it's always good to see that, but is he good enough? Not fully sure.
Walker - Didn't expect a lot and so far have got what i expected. Even before his injury he didn't look that good at HKR after his return.
Ah Van - Good goal kicker with a casual style, but doesn't seem as good when under a bit of pressure to make the kick ( a lot of that could be based on that woeful effort against dragons today mind).
Hargreaves - Decent prop, does the job he was brought in to do.
Elima - Works hard, still not convinced about his attacking ability. I'd rather have Menzies for the year if i'm honest.
Sibbit - Garbage, pointless signing given the youngsters we have who can do just as good a job.
Raynor - I like the look of him, but he really doesn't have that class. I would have liked us to sign winger that can score from far out. He seems to make an offload that we never take advantage of, unfortunately it's usually in our own 20.
Royston - He's done well, considering the step up he's had to make. Never let us down, but never looked amazing either. Supports well.
Herbert - Average halfback. He's not bad, but he's not that good either.
Briggs - Not seen enough of him, though it seems we might never see that much of him. Feel a bit sorry for him as it seems he was only signed as we couldn't find a real quality stand off. I like many others was told we had signed Leon Pryce.

Agree with most of this.

I'd add:

Elima - complete machine in defence. Not seen the best of him in attack yet, but started to against Leeds, and as the side get to know each other over the next couple of seasons he'll get the ball in some better positions to do real damage.

Herbert - Has been getting plenty of stick, but recieved some praise aswell. He's not really a flashy halfback, but he's getting the try assists and thats what you want from a HB. (I think we do need a stand-off who attacks the line alot and offers support, as this is the bit where herbert is lacking)

Ah Van - He's no Les or TV - but he's hugely improved on our wing options last year, and I think he'll get better in time. Improved our goalkicking alot too, although he does have the odd poor one which he should nail over. (Although he can be forgiven for the penalty today, terrible conditions)

Agree with all the above. We need to get Ainy and Royston tied to new deals asap. I also think Walker played his best game since he came back from injury last night and if he stays like that I'd be happy with him to stay on. Hebert also has been getting better.

Only a few comments on some of the team

Elima – Works hard for short spells, can fall off tackles a fair bit
Sibbit – needs a lot of work not too impressed
Raynor – Ok not enough work and gets caught out of position to much for me, however I think he will improve a lot more than some
Royston - Average nothing bad but nothing outstanding
Herbert – Has got us out to the crap a few times, when he is on form he knows where the try line is.
Briggs - Not seen enough of him.

pretty much agree with all that. If I was being a bit harsh I'd say im a little disapointed in hargreaves so far. Think new 2 yr deals for ah van,ainscough,royston and herbert. Walker maybe. Dont think we need to retain raynor if we keep ainscough and ah van and halley/finnigan kick on. Unfortunately sibbit already signed up for next year, but would look to move him on if possible.

I'd give Royston & Ainscough new deals now. I think Walker & Ah Van have shown potential but haven't quite earned new contracts yet. And I haven't seen enough from Herbert or Raynor to warrant one and I think they need to continue with the improvement before we think about giving them another.

As far as the longer contract boys go, Sibbit has been very disappointing, Diskin & Hargreaves very much doing the job I expected of them. Briggs has had one decent and one very bad game, difficult to judge really. Elima has been fantastic IMO.

think problem is if wait too long then other clubs will come in for them. widnes in particular. In an ideal world we'd be able to give likes of herbert and ah van a bit longer before deciding but think we need to gamble a little, hence only the 2 yr deals. Of course a lot will depend on l'estrange and kearney re-signing or not as to how much cap space we have available and what positions we need to fill. Ideally if we could retain the ones above plus kearney and l'estrange and add another half, a strike and maybe a prop/big 2nd rower.

I see where you're coming from. I wouldn't be gutted to see Ah Van get a new deal, but I'm not convinced on him yet at all. He's perhaps shown enough to be worth the risk of giving him an extended deal. Herbert though I wouldn't actually be that bothered about. While I agree that he's improving, I don't think he's yet improved enough to take the risk of having him for longer than this season. If he got no better than he has been so far, would anyone really want to keep him?

We all want to give him a bit more time before judging (except those who don't want him to succeed obviously), but by the same token, I don't think you can take a risk of giving another contract to him when he hasn't shown enough yet, in such a pivotal position in the side.

It's a risk either way. But judging on the performances so far, I think I'd rather take the risk of losing him than the risk of having him signed up for too long if he's not good enough.

Who said Sibbitt has signed up for another year? Where did u hear that?
Last rumour was that he demanded to go on loan due to refusing to play with kids in u20's
Really can't believe he has been given another year??

Quote: Bullsfab! "Who said Sibbitt has signed up for another year? Where did u hear that? Last rumour was that he demanded to go on loan due to refusing to play with kids in u20's Really can't believe he has been given another year??'" From when signed news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 990825.stm

Quote: Bullsfab! "Who said Sibbitt has signed up for another year? Where did u hear that? Last rumour was that he demanded to go on loan due to refusing to play with kids in u20's Really can't believe he has been given another year??'" From when signed news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 990825.stm

Wow didn't realise he had penned a 2 year deal. Did think he did ok yesterday (not that we saw a lit of the first half due to dreadful sky coverage) not sure if he gave any penalties away? How do others think he did? Was stunned that he dropped donno tho and then what was the point of Bateman sitting out all of 2nd half. Koppy was at lose forward all 2nd half.

He seemed to go ok yesterday actually. I think Donno was rested rather than dropped. It's hard to back up inside a week and to be fair he's just come back from a long term injury. Not sure about the Bateman situation, didn't think he did too badly either

Difficult to judge Bateman in the first half. I was too busy getting updates about Shorpe and Swansea football clubs......

I also got the impression that Donaldson and Burgess were rested. Potter won't want to overload Burgess (or Olbi) and Donaldson isn't far back from a big injury so 2 games in 5 days is a big ask.

Ahhhhh.....Wrong Bateman! He's the left back for Shope

Interestingly, when they started giving out the Shorpe report before they'd even told us the latest score in Perpignan, the word I was thinking of to describe the people at Sky is also part of the word "Shorpe". Albeit it was the plural of the word I was thinking of.