Is anyone else a bit underwhelmed by our recruitment so far? The 3 signed already are just squad fillers / projects ( no disrespect)
I know we have a lot of good youth coming through such as Hayes, Lindop, Holroyd, Wood, Taylor Wray etc but i still believe we need to strengthen on top. Unless the plan is to just have another experimental / building year whereby we see if these youngsters are good enough. As i expect them to feature more. To me i like the ‘next man up’ mentality and am happy with another year of building but i also don’t want to get left behind because we are sat on lots of free cap space. St Helens found this out the hard way recently by not recruiting and pinning success on the youngsters. Albeit there youngsters haven’t cut the mustard so far where as our look more promising.

I would argue we haven’t lost with Bateman, him only being on loan.
His inclusion displaced Holroyd, who will be coming back matured an hungry to disprove Wire’s decision to drop him for Bateman.
Fitzgibbon fit is a greater presence than Nicholson. We still have Currie too.
And with the academy lads pushing themselves on the fringes, backrow is one area Wire really has no weaknesses.

Re: Bateman, I was considering the strength of the squad as 2024 ended vs the projected squad for the start of 2025. Bateman was in the former, but won't be in the latter. Hence a loss. His performances really improved over the final weeks. But I like Holroyd and hope he continues his development.

If the squad numbers are anything to go by it looks like Currie and Fitzgibbon in the 2nd row with Yates at loose forward.

If Fitzgibbon can stay fit I think that's a pretty strong back row. Let's hope his shoulder is in full working order going into 2025.

I also like Holroyd, would just like to see him pile on some bulk asap as he's pretty fearless and is going to take some knocks.

Russell, we'll wait and see but using a quota spot on a player with his record still leaves me a little surprised.

I believe Fitzgibbon's surgery went as well as could be expected, fingers crossed he stays fit as he's an excellent second row. Also hope Holroyd has been bulking up a little as he's a real quality player IMO.

Fitzgibbon, who has a history of shoulder problems, underwent surgery that is believed to have uncovered and corrected an underlying issue, so the hope within the club is that he will be able to play a full part in 2025.