i'm guessing they've given up on the SL site for club/player stats, this is atrocious https://www.superleague.co.uk/stats#

i'm guessing they've given up on the SL site for club/player stats, this is atrocious https://www.superleague.co.uk/stats#

FMC my reference was in regard to moving King for a game not the possible acquisition of Holmes.

I've not paid too much attention to Holmes to form a proper opinion TBH but he always struck as decent. As I said it depends on what you want your SR's to be, where they sit with the type of Centres the team has, I know he played elsewhere FB and SO but there aren't many Jonathan Davies types knocking about or classic ball handling 13's if the pack needed a "biff n barge" boost.

Interesting times

Interesting times indeed, it's gonna be very interesting, new coach plus potentially half a new squad, rather than a year of him sounding them out (or a month in Russell's case)

Trueman is clearly a good one to get from Cas. As it stands, I don't see many others from there that would add to our squad unless we do lose Clark, D in which case I'd take McShane. Most of their pack are below the level of ours.

If I wanted to be a Cas supporter I would be a regular at the Mend a Jungle stadium.

And, as I've mentioned before, most fans of most other clubs would say the same about the Wire squad, in comparison to their own squads.

Reality is, the league is full of mediocre, average types and there aren't a great deal of true, standout players any more, such as a Hanley or an Offiah, who fans would genuinely get excited about joining their club.

Interestingly, Johnny Davidson well respected and very reliable RL journo posted on Twitter that George Williams could be coming to us.

Signing players should be done to improve the team. He’s not better thank Hughes, certainly not better than Currie. He’s not young, or have untapped potential (or his current coach would have unlocked that by now, surely) and he’s not experienced enough to bring much to the table in that way i.e. big games/international/trophy winner.

I don’t ever recall seeing him make big carries to skittle defenders out of the way, nor has he the skill of a Currie/Grix style back rower who can create space for others by having an armoury of pass/kick/run option.

No offence to the guy, but he’s an “up and down” player. All the talk of the positives of Powell’s appointment was him playing enterprising rugby and giving youth a chance. This signing doesn’t tick either of those boxes. He’s at risk here of a) derailing a potentially successful Cas season by getting the fans backs up (not our problem, but would be a poor indicator of the guys integrity) b) creating a “jobs for the boys” environment at his new club and c) spending the budget on the squad fillers before the key components are in place. These types of players are a dime a dozen.

As a fan of a club who would like to see you make poor signings, I think Holmes would be top business. The lad has got better and better over the last few seasons. He’s 28, so is right in his prime and he looks ready to kick on a level to me. We obviously had Jack Hughes and if somebody said we could take Hughes back or sign Holmes, I would pick Holmes every day of the week. He’s a far better player IMO. He’s a real threat with the ball, bags his fair share of try’s and has a good engine on him. I don’t think it would be wise for Powell to just focus on bringing his Cas lads with him but Holmes would be right near the top of any I’d choose.

Exactly. Someone said Holmes isn’t better than Hughes, I still don’t know what Hughes does. There’s a reason Wigan got rid. Average player at absolute best.

Hughes is average, no argument here. But he’s also better than Holmes. He has been selected by GB, and was selected as captain of the same Knights squad that Holmes was a part of. He has experience of playing in big games, winning a GF, challenge cup and touring with GB.

Plus, he’s under contract. So we’re not replacing one “good pro” for another. We have got Hughes, and signing another similar player alongside.

Strange business if true, I just hope this isn’t a part of a wave of strange, average signings. I’ve said on other threads about Powell’s recruitment and the difficulty of working for a club with means as opposed to a plucky club that shops for bargains.

It's hard to criticise individual signings when it's likely that there will be significant turnover of the whole squad. Holmes, if he signs, might make perfect sense when the first 17 is named next season.

That was the same GB tour that Josh Jones was selected and Ben Currie wasn’t. Does that mean he’s a better player than Currie? Or Ash Handley is a better winger than Tom Johnstone/Regan Grace?

Who is under contract?

From what I have seen of Holmes (admittedly not a great deal) he seems to come with a better skill set in attack than Hughes. But another angle on his recruitment is that he will know exactly what Powell expects from him and the style of game. That should help the coach to hit the ground running when he moves over.

How's mitch clark getting on?