Hayes has already been earmarked, considerably. Have a read of Burgess’ comments on pre-season and his favourite players. Quite encouraging, and you feel Burgess is being genuine rather than the usual ‘we’ll give them a chance at some point’ rhetoric.

The other significant negative would have been if things don`t work out with Sam Burgess and he leaves, we would have had a Marquee player on a long contract taking the mick.

I thought the whole squad was having a training game against them. I thought I had read that?

Alongside training at the home of the Premier League champions, the Panthers will face Sam Burgess' Warrington Wolves side in an opposed training session as part of their preparation.

Good. We really need this.

Interesting further reading on the Tom Burgess saga. He's to be the highest paid player in the league on a 3-year contract



Some soundbites from the two clubs:

Ian Watson: “I just told the club to go and have a crack, it’s worth a shot to go after him".

Sam Burgess: “Tom told me exactly where he was at and I had a perfect amount of time to counter-offer, but the numbers were just out of this world. I’ve got to put my head coach’s hat on, it wouldn’t have been the right thing for the club and with the salary cap as it is, I can’t do too much with it in the near future. I’ve got to be responsible in that respect. It’s the first time I couldn’t afford my younger brother.But I have to be responsible for Warrington as a club. Huddersfield came with a three-year deal and we just weren’t there. Financially we were way off where they were, but that’s the nature of the beast".

[iTalks never really developed too far once it became clear that Huddersfield had tabled a monster deal. It was something Warrington weren’t prepared to match on two fronts: the length of the deal, and of course, the salary itself.[/i

Are we finally learning as a club? This is actually quite encouraging.

I agree. The salary cap issue is one thing, but we must also consider the state of most clubs' finances in the post-covid world. Financial responsibility isn't exciting for fans but it is vitally important all the same. If Huddersfield can pay for this deal without causing themselves big problems, then good luck to them, genuinely, as it's great for the competition to have a player like Burgess joining (and not going to Wigan, Saints or Leeds!).

I think you also have to question whether two such high profile characters would really have hit it off as a coach & a player. Could have caused friction.

thats very unusual for such detailed commentary from a club thats NOT signed someone

Maybe I didn't make it very clear, but it was an interview with Watson and Burgess rather than official comments from the clubs. I should have said 'soundbites from both camps'.

Best option for us now would be Mike McMeeken and 3 years younger than Burgess so could offer longer deal.

I really rate McMeeken as a 2nd rower, I don't know enough about him at prop.