Well Burgess and Co were happy to sign Zane Musgrove. He makes Nikorima look like a church choir boy.

I hardly think Nikorima pulling a one off sickie is going to disrupt team chemistry. Deary me.

Is he a better player than Drinkwater? Yes. Will he improve us? Yes.

In other news, I believe Luke Yates has asked for an early release from his Hudds contract to join us this season.

Hope not.

"Deary me" what's all that about??

In the case of Musgrove perhaps Burgess thought that it was an area of the team that needed strengthening, he may have a relationship with the player or his advisors, it was a planned piece of recruitment and he might even had the time to speak with the player to set the club's stall out and to get some reassurances from the player themselves.

IF it was a one off sickie and this guy was squeaky clean in other aspects of his attitude and behavior I'm not so sure that's a sackable offence and it's still a no from me.

And yes I get that and quite like the fact that rugby league teams aren't generally built with "church choir boys" (I'm a big Boyd fan) but to rush into something like this a risk for a potential marginal gain doesn't seem like good business.

I did wonder when Watson leaving was announced whether we could get Yates in earlier somehow.

Be good if we could, that way he would be well used to our systems well before the 2025 season kicks off plus give us good cover while Philbin is recovering.

1. I am not sure that buying in players was curtailed by Burgess. I suspect that the Board 1) doesn't have the cash to spend as much as they did in the past , and 2) They recognise that bringing through our own Academy talent is a far better route to success anyway.

2. I agree with Rico, we do seem to have engendered a fair bit of team ethic / playing for the badge with the current squad and that needs to be carefully nurtured when we bring in new players. Signing journeymen and players that are being shipped out for various misdemeanours should surely be a last resort ?

3. I don't think we have a surprising number of injuries within the squad over and above what we have seen over the last few years. And yet we are struggling to cope, with a lot of forced positional changes. That's good news for the kids coming through, but makes it difficult to compete at the top table. I personally think Burgess needs to strengthen the squad over the next few months and bring in more experience. At the moment I think the squad is un-balanced with too many 'hopeful' players like Wood, Bruin, Thomas, Okoru etc ( plus the Academy starlets). Some of these will doubtless turn out to be really good signings, but not necessarily in the next 1-2 years.

Not really sure what you are referring to here. If it's the game where Currie and Nicholson ended up in the centres, that was because we were unlucky enough to lose both King and Wrench in the same match, so inevitably had to shuffle the team around. In general, I think we have been coping very well with injuries. This is the first year in a long time that we can have six or seven missing and I am still confident in the 17 we put out.

Whilst I agree with your post, sometimes gambles pay off. We are unlikely to progress deep in to the playoffs/win the GF with the current halfback pairing as the next few games will likely underline*.


[size*Having said that this season looks a lot better than I was expecting. [/size

We also had our two wingers in Ashton and Thewlis injured at the same time.
Sure we can fill the holes with players from the squad and Academy, but I would say our squad is 'thin' and lacks depth. If we are to challenge the dominance of Wigan and Saints next year I would say we need at least two more experienced players in the squad plus a replacement for Nicholson. Just IMO of course.

1. The board members are multi-multi millionaires so it cannot be that.
2. Drinkwater is the very definition of journeyman. We are his 8th club. So what is discussed here is swapping like for like.
3. I agree with need some short-mid terms signings if we want a serious tilt at the title.

Yes, Drinkwater is the classic journeyman, and I am no fan. As well as a string of clubs they seem to produce the occasional quality play in a game which just about does enough to justify their existence. I wouldn't class Yates as a journeyman though as his work rate is very high. So there are players around that have experience and could mesh with the work ethic that we currently have within the squad. In the longer term its the Academy that should be providing the bulk of our new players with the gaps from carefully chosen external recruitment ( for me, anyway).

https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/ru ... e-29544267 Yates Immediate Transfer. Good news.

https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/ru ... e-29544267 Yates Immediate Transfer. Good news.

That'll see a slight change in how we play at 13 would imagine.

Might indicate that Fitzy's shoulder injury isn't a short recovery period.

Was a post on Sarl about Yates deal done with immediate effect but got took down straight away.