Hi gang I'm officially declaring an end to duck hunting season.

It's neither appropriate or entertaining probably easy meat is a better description not in a good way and it's certainly not rugby related.

We've all got our foibles and that is what I like about our board. Let's keep it on track please and that goes for everyone.

You could just change the name of this thread to duckie rumours and links?

Back on track I don't think we will be making any more signings for next season but feel we should be pretty happy with the squad and the coach we have appointed. If this squad want to win as badly as Burgess will then next season should be a lot more enjoyable than recent ones have been.

I am pretty content with the squad for next year.
On paper it looks competitive but conscious that results and performances over recent years have made a ass of that statement.
I think we look stronger past squad number 17 with a lot of experience in Bullock, Kassiano, Dudson, Dwyer, Russell and Powell and then Green, Hayes, Thomas etc.

I still have a couple of worries.
A) the past couple of seasons have shown that we are a bit fragile when it comes to things derailing the season. There was the contract situation in 2022 with players like Cooper and King moving on mid season and then the Maguire situation in 2023. It just feels like any type of wave comes along and the ship capsises. It will be interesting to see how Toby King (suspect he will be the new escape goat) is welcomed back and Abe's recent statement about Tai could be one to watch. .

B) I know everybody has a view on Phil Clark but I don't think he was wrong when he said that to lift the SL title you need a ball playing fullback. I know the week after that Dufty threw a miss out pass to put a winger (Thewlis I think) over but I don't think he is quite at the level of say Brett Hodgson in that department. If we are going to compete for honours we have to get the most out of Dufty. He has frightening pace but we just need a way to maximize his abilities to make him a point of difference


So there are 4 final spaces up for grabs and it will be nearly 5 years since our last appearance in a final. If the big fella and the coaching team can get an extra 5% out of most of that squad then we should be challenging in at least one final.

Re Worries : Mine are mainly that Drinkwater will continue where he left off - that being having 3/4 season of having very little positive impact on games. Another worry is the fragility of the players confidence/egos when under duress.

Re: fullback. Leeds won the title in 2017 with Jack Walker at full back, Wigan won in 2016 with Dan Sarginson. I don't think Dufty will be the reason we lose a GF if we get there but he may be the reason we win one.

Re : "Challenging in at least one final" - Personally I am only interested in one final, the GF.

SB discussed this tonight at the fans forum, he said they would be working on playing a style of rugby that allows JD to play his best rugby and said he has been excellent on the training pitch but also bigged up LH and his qualities.

<stops posting dog doo through duckies letterbox>

ok, lets all move on from this.

Philbin is up end of 2024 too. I look forward to seeing him exhibit his 2019 form and winning an extension. I think SB will get a lot out of him.

I agree as I thought ended last season coming back on decent form. IF he stays injury free I think that Sam could fine tune Philbin to his early career form and hopefully reach his potential.

In what might be considered a lean year or two he didn't lack application IMO but needed to be less predictable and discover a bit of self belief (all not helped by injury)

Yeah I have never doubted his commitment at all, and he was becoming more effective towards the back end of the season.

Drinkwater

Years
2013 St. George Illawarra
2014 London Broncos
2015 Wests Tigers
2016–17 Leigh Centurions
2018 Catalans Dragons
2019 Hull Kingston Rovers
2020–22 Catalans Dragons
2023– Warrington Wolves

We are Drinkwater's eighth club. He is the classic journeyman professional and I don't believe you will ever see the level of commitment that you would get from most other players, particularly the home grown like Thewlis. We are stuck with him for another year and I guess SB is just trying to make the best from a less than optimum situation.

And thankfully Burgess has been harping on about how impressed he is with Leon Hayes in training. I get the feeling a Price / A.N Other Aussie type coach would have Drinkwater as first option every day of the week.

Good to hear his comments about Conor Wrench playing centre too.

Hopefully he will give Wrench a decent chance to secure that position, it depends I suppose if Tai settles in Warrington, or whether the lure of the NRL is too great.

Drinkwater often looked impressive for Catalans and Hull KR though, to be fair, and the reaction on here was largely positive when we signed him. I hoped that he was going to finally provide us with an excellent attacking kick option. Instead, he just became Mr Anonymous for most of 2023, unfortunately.