Stop talking sense!

I fear we're going to be dammed if we do, dammed if we don't.

We play our young lads we'll get smashed to pieces by expereinced teams, yet getting players in with experience we'll get told we're not giving young lads a try. We'll hopefully get that blend right but year 1 will surely have more current SL and NRL players in the team than year 2 and 3, it's needs must to compete.

Indeed, and just imagine how difficult it would be if you had to avoid relegation in year one

With teams like Crusaders and Harlequins in the same competition..... not very.

Gareth Ellis will not sign for Widnes. If he comes back in reasonable condition, he will play for Cas.

As for whats been said. Its fair enough, If your sure he is the right kind of player. We have for many years just signed a player. Without thinking if he is right for the team, This is the first year we actually signed exactly the players we needed.

I hope Widnes can recruit well, They need to.

really, id have never seen that one coming

Not sure why people would give Widnes stick for targeting the likes of Lockyer and Bowen. Both of those are better than any player in their position in SL.

As you keep mentioning I am guessing that Ellis is a Cas lad / fan and want's to one day play for them? (FWIW I think he'd be the least likely of all those linked anyway).

Bowen is sooo not the kind of guy who would handle the move. He's from tropical North Queensland. Never lived anywhere else. Can't see him settling in Widnes. If Widnes were smart they'd target players who will be good value but aren't necessarily big names.

I dont know if he has ever stated it publically

He is a local lad, I wouldnt be able to tell you where from, But he knows some elder friends of mine very well, And to a few people personally he has stated his intention to finish his career at Cas, This goes back to the days before he even moved to the NRL.

A couple of youngsters who are going to feature in SL include: Craven, Brown, gilmore, Gore and Owens. Not to mention a couple of the older guys like Ben Kav(23) and Flynn (23). We'll certainly have our fair share of the young lads in the team, we need to combine this with a bit of experience and talent, whether this is from SL or the NRL i dont know but without it we'll get smashed to bits.

Flynn will get a contract at least 100% good cover at FB & wing at least (won't be too expensive too) FWIW I think Paddy's a great winger and would go well as a starter in SL! He claims everything, is a great returner of the ball and some of his finishing is outstanding.

Would like to see him & Tyrer play together as outside Toa he was scoring plenty!

I'm not speaking with a Widnes cap on here, more of a British Rugby League one. But if a SL club picks up Matt Bowen, then it could be fantastic business. Among the import full-backs that are currently plying their trade here are Phelps, McGoldrick and Dorn, all who have had relative success in this comp. You don't need me to point out that Bowen is vastly superior to all of them, as well as being the right side of 30, unlike Hodgson, Schifcofske and Webb, who I'd put on a par with him, talent-wise.

iirc ellis said in the LE that he wanted to play for cas when he returned from the nrl, just before he went over there, he is a big cas fan and used to be a ball boy at cas. He was originally from cas i beleive then moved to selby when he was a kid.