I'm not enthused by our signings either. I was pleased with Powell's appointment and liked the way he reshaped the Leeds squad and built a Cas team from bottom to top in 4 years without big money by picking up unheralded players, but it does feel like he's reassembling a Cas squad that was plateauing over here.

George Williams is a signing that could take us a step forward, the other guys are much of a muchness with what we already have and I have a nagging suspicion that by the time all the ins and outs are finished we'll go in to 2022 with a squad that is slightly weaker than in 2021. Of course rubber duckie will tell us its the greatest squad in history and will win the lot.

Unfortunately that's the limitations of a salary capped sport. We have given Toby a big hike to keep him. Money has got to come from somehwere to pay for it. Possibly Minikin on less than Lineham? I'm quite happy with the signings however I am worried about the front row. You win nothing behind a bad pack, what's the point in having Widdop and Williams with no props putting us on the front foot?

If you look back to years gone by, at some of the Saints top teams they had Danny Arnold and Joey Hayes (average players) on the wings as the money was spent on the rest of the team. Whether the game has changed too much i dont know. They were both decent finishers but not top quality by any means.

Are you sam beckett by any chance?

I don't even know who that is, so i don't know if that's a compliment or derogatory. It is true though, there is no point having star studded half backs and a powder puff pack.

It was a quantum leap reference since you went all the way back to 1996 for your point.

Which im not entirely sure I understand. If you wouldn't mind clarifying/expanding

Even if the squad is ever so slightly weaker on paper next year, I’d back Powell to get more out of his squad fillers than Price. It’s true that we do need to retain some power up front. Maybe the cheaper wing options are a result of wanting to keep Hill. He and Cooper backed up by Philbin and Mulhern is good enough to provide a platform for Widdop and Williams to win us a grand final.

I’m happy that our half-backs for next year are both big game players with a full skill set. The wings may not be NRL standard but outside of two fairly decent centres with Williams and Widdop pulling the strings, it shouldn’t matter too much. Our spine is excellent and we have some very good juniors coming through in key positions. I’d be far more worried if we had Austin and Fages at half back with NRL retirees in the centres and a couple of star wingers not even gettig the ball.

Let’s relax and see how we shape up next season.

Minikin, Mata'utia, Holmes, Harrison and possibly Bullock.

I bet Saints, Wigan and Leeds are bricking it.

Our sport could do with a decent share of the multi £millions thrown at our Olympic team by sport England. Not bad for a so called amateur sport.

I agree, Williams could potentially be the best signing we have made since Morley. The rest I don't think there is that much in it, but I do like Lineham.

In terms of how I would assess it, I think Williams is an upgrade on Austin. Tough one regarding Mata’utia and Mamo as Mamo has probably had his best season ever with us this year. So I suppose it’s a slight downgrade on Mata’utia however, he brings a different skill set and can cover the halves and full back. J Clark has been pretty non-existent in the last 12 months for me and I think Davis should be selected ahead of him in the side anyway, so Holmes will be an improvement on him.

Shame for Harrison with that 8-12 months injury as I was looking forward to seeing him next year given he comes with a good reputation from the Championship. I think our time with Sita has drawn to close which will be a relief to many. Minikin and Lineham is fairly scratch, although I do like Lineham his discipline is to much of a flaw and he’s missed far to many games through suspension.

Lineham is a liability with his disciplinary record.

Wire didn`t offer him a new contract and none of the Super League top teams showed any interest in signing him.

That says it all.

Leeds were