I had no issue with any of the signings including Cox (cheap gamble). Bailey has the potential to come in and be a bad influence on younger players, his attitude has been off for quite a while and can't see any reason why it would change. Would have had similar concerns (although not the vitriol) if eg we had signed Chase.

Yeah, I agree. Everything we'd done before Bailey was looking good to me, but this has potential not just to not pay off but to backfire spectacularly... It's too late now, so I guess we should hope for the best, but I'm not optimistic at this point :/

As for centres, we do have plenty of people who can play there - Atkins and Toby King as well as the injury-prone Evans and Wheeler, with Ratchford and the new guy Jullien for more cover. I think Lineham can play there too if we need it, we have plenty of wingers.

Maybe because the world-beating players you crave just aren't available?

Yep, you have missed someone out. Although it seems everyone else on this thread has forgotten about him as well. One of the best signings we have made for next season, Jack Hughes.

The reason being I would guess is that Hughes was generally accepted as a good all-round signing by most, the other signings in one way or another causing a tiny bit of a stir.

I've got to agree a very good signing who has a lot of ability.

I see there's still a lot of talk about replacing Smith.

Who would we get in?

Are there top coaches around or is it likely to be a very underwhelming name?

My guess is, if we start next season badly, we will part company with Smith and put Agar in charge. We will then mark time for a year, like we did under Lowes, until we get rid of Agar at some point in 2017 by which time we will probably have lost ground and become a mid table mediocre team.

Who will come then? Will we be pitching at the top end for top Aussie coaches or will we be looking at someone like Iestyn Harris, or getting Lowes back etc?

The more I think about next year, the more it makes sense.

Hughes is a good signing, no one really questions it. Good athlete and could develop into a cornerstone of our pack.
Dodds while a risk with injury is a top player. Let's not forget, he was keeping Garbutt out of the Brisbane team, who has recently developed a handy silver collection.
Gidley is as fit as a fiddle, model pro, mouthpiece, leader, big game experienced player, who we were crying out for last year.
Sandow is a jack in the box, but can kick. The first 15 minutes of his debut was the best we have seen of him. Kicked well, found the ground and took the line on. If we can get him on plan, keep him on plan, he is a handful. Kicking the ball effectively is the difference between teams in tricky games, we saw that in the 3rd test with Smith, did nothing but kick, and got England position to go on and win the match.
Lineham is pace and power. No reason why he can't continue to score tries.
Westerman is a bit of a diamond in the rough. The 'potential' tag is now played out and it's backs against the wall time. He needs a big season. He will always make a lot of tackles, which is what Harrison brought, like Harrison he's not a massive meter eater, but he has better hands. Has all the components (including a goal kicking option) to be a good player. Ferres had similar reviews at Bradford and Wakey, it was only recently that things ticked for him and he became a leading back rower.
Cox is a big unit, still young in prop years. Minutes for props will be hard to come by if plan A works, with Sims Hill Westerman Dodds and Westwood in the middle. Why not add a cheap option low risk number to the squad.
Bailey is the strange one. Again, big strong and cheap. He has a bit of big game experience to boot. Never going to break tackle or meters records, but it is a sizeable body to plug gaps in case of injuries. Similar to the Isa signing for Wigan, probably won't play but he's a body who knows what he's doing.

Chuck those into what we already had, plus the Kings, Philbin, Wilde, Laithwaite, Johnson etc a year older and wiser we have a decent squad.

Lineham good at scoring tries although his injuries have taken a bit of his pace off. Still a powerhouse although his defence is e.westy will tackle all day and he's a big unit for a loose forward won't let u down.

Well, if we are going to change the car I don't think we should buy a British one. And we certainly can not afford a new model from Oz, which means a second hand one from someone like Sheila's Sydney Bangers.com. Alternatively we could ditch the car and use the wife's runaround for a few months in the hope we can pick up a bargain somewhere else. Our current set of wheels appears to have a couple of flat tyres, no water in the radiator, no navigational system, and the MOT is due at the end of the year - time for some forward planning methinks.

So please tell us all who you would have bought in the current climate. We would all love to know

Regarding Tony Smith it is certainly a big year for him at the Wire next season and if things don't work out too well it could trigger a merry go round on the coaching front
An ex Hull FC player told me that Radford is in the same boat too and that if things don't improve there then they have earmarked Tony Smith to take over

If Tony Smith does leave then i would imagine that Daryl Powell will be the next Wire coach although it will cost you to get him out of his Tigers contract

Powell certainly seems to have done pretty well and gets the most from his squad(s). Would we be better getting an Aussie in though ? Wait until we see who is released from down under ? The Oz game looks to be very structured. They 'play the odds' and 'hunt the error' which is an anathema to us. I must admit I don't fancy watching robots, I like free flowing rugby and seeing players chance their arm from time to time. But I also wan't to see our coaches going through set moves with the players on the training ground, and if the stats show charge-downs as being unproductive, I would hope the coach eliminates them. And most of all I would like to see forward planning with the squad such that we replace ageing players progressively rather than having to bring in 9 new players at the end of the season.

I think the close season recruitment was as good as could be achieved. Even if you have money though, you may not attract the best players because they wan't success as well, and we have fallen out of the top 4 atm. The players that we have brought in though look much stronger to me than last year, so unlike quite a few people on here I am expecting a top four finish and the sniff of a final. But yes, as we approach the end of next season the choice of coach for 2017 will be crucial. As Tony Smith once said, every coach has his shelf life.

I think the point being made is that with careful succession planning you don't need to have to buy 8 news players in one off season and be subject to what's available. Instead project where the replacements are going to be needed on a 2 to 3 year time frame and plan your recruitment around that with 2/3 changes per season.

Bailey is a good example. Leeds no longer deem him good enough for them and get shut. We snap him up after failing to get our real targets. Result is we are buying players that are not good enough for those teams we aspire to compete with. How is that going to work - already we are at a disadvantage.

What the club have been guilty of is hanging onto some of the older players too long in the hope of winning more silverware but the idea didn't work out. As for lack of succession planning ,that was taken care of by the dismantling of the Academy system & left us & a number of other clubs with under 19s & flawed dual registration to work with. As a result promising under 23s had to move on because they couldn't stay with their parent clubs.

Yet, we have players those teams we aspire to compete with want. Swings and roundabouts.