Doubt if we have the Salary Cap left for next season to sign 3 more backs.

Maybe one more.

We need to trust our youth system and play the kids.

Saints, Wigan and Leeds do.

We are being linked with an NRL halfback and it's been stated we want wardle. 3 is probably far fetched though. I agree regarding the youth, promoting 8 kids to the first team for next season and giving most of them a game in recent weeks is a good sign. Powell stated in an interview very recently that the youngsters at Warrington are far too impatient. I would think they wouldn't be so impatient if the first team didn't look pretty awful and they weren't wanting to try to make a positive difference.

Hayes looks like a real prospect but what would that say to Riley Dean who also looks to have a professional future? I think it's a bit much to put on young shoulders really. They would sink or swim for sure but I wouldn't want either written off too soon.

Yes, I have read that we have been linked with Adam Clune, but then another poster on here said that he has already been signed-up by a NRL club? I haven`t been able to find a link to indicate that he has been snapped-up, so maybe he is still available?

We need an organising halfback, to complement Williams, Hayes is an organiser, but Dean isn`t.

Blah, blah, NRL half back, yackety yak.

Wigan (Harry Smith who had a lousy 2021 but was backed by the club and has been superb this year) and Saints (Dodds) aren't afraid to pitch youngsters into the melting pot - the caveat being they protect them, and encourage them when things go awry.

Back in the day when we didn't answer every problem with a cheque, so did we - Holden, Crompton, Briers etc

To be fair we wrote a cheque for 65k for Briers and I'm pretty sure we paid 10 grand for holden.

i wouldn't be against blooding hayes (funny how dean has been stepped over, tho as we say, he seems more of a 6 than a 7) but we'd need to protect in him defence, with a decent right 2nd row who can bloody tackle (aint currently happening) and a decent right centre, who can defend properly (aint currently happening)

Those are my worries.

The £65k that we paid St Helens for Briers was really part of the cash that Leeds had to pay for the Harris transfer to them.

Essentially we got Briers for nothing.

Will never happen but I'd like to see:-

1. Dufty
2. Ashton
3. Wardle
4. Wrench
5. Thewlis/New Winger
6. Williams
7. Hayes
8. Vaughan
9. Clark
10. Kasiano
11. Currie
12. Nicohlson
13. McGuire

14. Philbin/Thomas
15. Walker
16. Bullock
17. Harrison

Give the young lads a go - most of them are good enough.

I like what Mikaele has done since he came in, he’s clearly been carrying an injury for a few weeks, but he’s added genuine impact and has an offload in him (he also has a few errors in him I think). Dudson looks less needed now Bullock has had an upturn in form but I think he can do the kind of no nonsense job we maybe need, Vaughan, Kasiano, Mikaele, Bullock, Philbin off a lot of impact, Dudson is more a grunt type of prop - he could go well.

As for the younger players, props develop later and Vaughan, Kasiano & Dudson will likely not be with us in 2025, when these guys will be 22, plenty of time for them still

Harrison looks a good bet for a bench spot next year covering prop, second row or loose. Philbin place looks threatened, wouldn’t surprise me if he went out on loan once he’s fit in 2023, could free up some cap space for us too.

Looking forward to Nicholson and Holroyd putting some pressure on Homes & Currie, they could well be the future of our backrow.

Indeed we did - sometimes a nominal fee will be required but our spending in the Moran era makes the Kardashians seem prudent.

More diligence, less american express gold card please.

We did pay a fee for Holden, which I thought was £5k. Either way, £5k or £10k, it was a bargain. Shame his knee went and ended his career, if it happened in this day and age, he'd have been able to continue after an op and recouperation. Same would apply to Mark Roberts and a lot of other sportsmen back in the day.

We have to be a bit smarter with the salary cap and I think Powell is trying to do that.
We cant have 70 or 80% of the salary cap tied up with 10 or 11 players.
It need to be spread about more evenly for a number of reasons.
A) In the past when the big earners are not on the field we have then had a compromise. We have seen front rowers like Hill and Sims or Hill and Cooper leave the field and with all due respect to Akoala, Mulhern, Davis etc there is not the same standard.

B) It all then makes us more reliant on the big earners, meaning they have to do more minutes. So is it any wonder that we can get to the odd challenge cup final and even win some but cannot maintain that over a season or back to back knock out games in the play offs. Then because we are so reliant when contract negotiations time comes round we have to pay more because we feel like we cannot do without them.

C) In any environment when there is a big disparity in earnings then there will always be grumblings. Why are they paid more etc.


It feels wrong to label some players as "compromises" because they have been good professionals (insert names here) and I have enjoyed watching them but there is a big list of them. So this process has started in the pack with hopefully less reliance on the few.

According to Serious about RL (I know) half back Adam Clune turned down a deal for 2023