Anyone know where our recruitment is up to for 2013? We have a lot of contracts expiring & very little is being said by the club.

I think we're in a really nice spot at the moment. Whilst we do have a few players getting on in age, we also have plenty of youth coming through too. My concern would be the middle age group. We have some over 30's, quite a few under 25 but very few in the prime of 25-30.

If we review the squad I wouldn't say there is a particular position we NEED to address:

Fullback: Hodgson (offer one more year, reduced terms) Ratchford, Riley as cover.
Wings: J Mona, Riley, Williams, Evans
Centre: Bridge, Atkins, Joel, Blythe, Evans, Ratch
Halfs: Briers (one more year), Myler, Ratch and O'Brien
Prop: Wood, Carvel, Hill, Harrison, Cooper and potentially Morley.
Hooker: Mona, Higham (maybe his best year for us this season) and Drew
Back row: Westwood, Waterhouse, Blythe, Cooper, Currie, Grix, Harrison. Let Solomona go I think.

This is a nice position to be in I think. It means we can buy luxury players in their pomp and not have to sign where due to not having cover.

So on that, I would like us to sign a first class prop to replace Morley if he calls it a day, and a classy ball playing loose to replace Sol.

That would give our youn guys another year where they would get increased game time again

I'm sure most of our business is done amd they'll tell us when they're ready.

I am still peddling the idea that everything is on hold until they find out if there are any Bradford free agents.

I had also heard we are interested in a Wakefield forward, but only if we don't sign a certain Bradford forward.


I am telling you all this in confidence Ian, so don't go spreading it across the whole board - you know what they are like !

Briers has got more than one season at the top left in him. He's still outstanding.

I dont even know what I was thinking. Ultimate face palm.

Or maybe subconsiously I think we should sign Brad Drew???? You should all be glad I'm not Head of Recruitment ha-ha!

Australian International halfback signed for 2014.

He'll turn out to actually be a hooker, whoever this mysterious Australian international halfback is.

Mixed view on this really.

It would be good to have a top level half with experience in the ranks.

On the other hand, it would limit the appearances of either Myler or O'Brien...what most see as our long term half pairing

Well I know we like to sign mature Aus stars, but at 37 I really think that would be pushing credibility a bit far. Good player though.

Hodgson, Morley, Higham all 1 more year.
Briers, Cooper, Williams, O'Brien, Laithwaite 2+ years.

Dave has the rest of the season to earn himself a new deal.

That's what I would do.

Why would Hodgson accept reduced terms? He's done everything asked of him this season and you'd ask him to take a pay cut?

Got to agree. If we don't bend over backwards for him, someone else will and, having seen what he did to us in the hudds playoff game, I don't want that. Plus, we can always offer him a coaching job for afters.

After watching Ratchford today I'm starting to wonder do we need to retain Hodgson?

I'm a massive fan of Hodgson, but we realistically can't retain everyone can we? I have no doubts that Ratchford can fill his boots and the money saved on Hodgson can be used to retain / improve the contracts of our excellent youngsters.

I wouldn't want to be in Smiths shoes with all the tricky decision making he is facing come the end of the season (not to mention his cup final team!!)