It surprises me that both Smith and Price were/are keen on Eastmond to be honest. Is this Morans influence by any chance, rather than someone Price has identified as being a good fit?

Who were your half-backs at the time?

Ratchford has to stay at FB for me.....IF he comes...and its a big IF IMO...he will replace Brown at 6

No way. Ratchford was a poor six and is thriving from not having responsibility as a main play maker. Right now he is playing the best football of his career at fullback and it would be a ridiculous decision to move him out of that role.

Agree with this.

It wasn't that long ago you said he wasn't a fb.

Ratchford is the best English fullback in Superleague.

I wouldn't argue with that...but if I had Sam and Steph in the same team....both of them would play and Ratch would be my 6 and Sam my 1.

This. Crazy to suggest anything else!

I think initially it was Leon Pryce and Sean Long (And we still didn't win the Grand Final, shows how standards have dropped in SL. Can you imagine how dominant a team with those two in the same side would be these days?), but quickly became the infamous 'Lomaskell', Lomax and Gaskell. Eastmond did play at 1, 6 and 7, but was terrorised by the fans, players and coaches in the halves at Saints because he was so scared of taking the line on.

Looking at Youtube clips of him from last year, he seems plenty fast enough, lightening quick. I think he could be a great signing for you.

He'll do for me. Everything is a risk but I'd be dead chuffed if we get him.

Same here.

You sure they aren’t old clips from a few years back? If he’s still pretty damn good I don’t why he can’t get a gig in a sport where you don’t need to be that quick.

So with Patton signing an extension it looks like next year will be Eastmond and Patton at 6 and 7 - would we be happy with that?
I am assuming Roberts is going home, and Brown is retiring.

It could be that one of Roberts/Patton will still be here and first choice with Eastmond, and Patton is re-signing on the expectation that Eastmond will spend a lot of time on the treatment table and there will still be plenty of first team opportunities.

I have a bad feeling about Eastmond, although Price and the staff must be better informed in terms of seeing his current form and fitness.

This year we seem to have had a really good team spirit without any big names or egos. Charnley is a big signing but he seems the kind of guy who can fit in well to a dressing room. When Eastmond was at Saints things seemed to go badly between him and the club. He had injury issues then as well.

My concern is we will end up with Eastmond on a 3 or 4 year contract spending a lot of time out injured and eating up space on the cap which restricts the opportunity to sign other players. If he still has the attributes he had in his younger days, when he was similar to Jason Robinson in terms of explosive speed and ability to flat foot defenders and beat them one on one, he would be a great asset, but if his body has started to decline then it could be he has had the best days of his career and is going to play out the rest of his career as a lesser version of his former self, and one that is often injured too.