King has been a big presence in our left side attack.
And Tai fixed up what was defensively the weakest right side in SL imo.

Where was the insult? Or is anything below "you are great" an insult in your logic?

I don't think you get the idea of a forum. I'll help you.

Noun: a meeting or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged.

Presumably Tomkins doesn't know this when passing comment on technique? Perhaps Sam was mistaken too when he called try #2 soft? Or was that slating? Your argument is all over the place.

Careful what you say, the parents of these grown men may be reading.

Be interesting to see the King contract renewal. Maybe he will go back to Wigan.

There is nothing wrong with calling out bad performances, lack of effort or players skill levels on these forums as that is what they are for. I'm one of the ones you're targeting with your rhetoric that if we do so we're bad people. These men play professional sport which is aired internationally on tv. They know comments will be made on their performances by professionals and fans. No one is making threats to their life here or insulting them personally.

When Drinkwater first made contact with Bachelor he was around 7.5 metres from the line at my estimate. As you have pointed out, Bachelor is a bigger player so DW should have gone low but he didn't. He tried to tackle up top and batchelor used his left hand fend to keep DW from getting a proper grip of him. He goes round the waist or below and that likely doesn't happen. Depending on the defensive system they were operating, it could have actually been kings fault as it may have been his job to tackle JB until he moves the ball on, at which point, he slides and covers Hiku.

I coach kids football and coached kids rugby for a short stint. When they're young it's true that it's much better to encourage but we're talking about grown men here. I also played the game for over 20 years. You can Google my name and I'm sure some old match reports will come up to validate this, as I don't hide behind an alias. I wasn't great, I have the stature of a garden gnome and the physique of a toothpick but with 7.5 metres until the line I'd have fancied myself to have a good chance of making that tackle from the side where there's hardly any impact from the running player to bump me off. I'd have gone for the hips/thighs and looked to slip down and squeeze his legs together. As much as I am no fan of Tai you should watch him. He does this regularly and shows how easy it can be. Goes low when tackling from the side and usually ends up slipping down to the knees or ankles and the player soon loses momentum, falls over or just stops.

We are off thread here lads and lasses....

Please stop it or start another thread as this one is for "Recruitment and Rumours" and currently enjoys Sticky privileges

So where are we for next year.

Ins

1. Attempt to make a top overseas halfback signing (Cleary) does that signal we are still looking?
2. Oli Leyland (Halfback project?)
3. Dan Russel (2nd row) - if he comes off that's our overseas quota used.
4.
5.

Extensions

1. Max Wood - 1 year
2. Tom Whitehead 2 years


Outs

1. Dudson
2. Matty Russell
3. Wesley Bruines - option taken?
4. Josh Lynch - option taken?
5. Jake Thewlis - option taken?

Would like a 7 but they seem to be a bit scarce. Nothing against Hayes and Leyland but feel we need an experienced half and preferably one with a decent kicking game. So not much then lol.

Think that's where we are at the moment unless we manage to bring in George Hirst from Oldham to bolster the back row. Must admit I'm a little surprised we'd use a quota spot on a guy with 8 NRL appearances and almost 29 but will wait to see how he performs (if signed). He could be a perfect fit for SL.

Max Wood already signed a 3 year deal in September, plus it has a further year in the clubs favour.

Talent is pretty thin on the ground throughout RL & the mark of a good coach is forging excalibur
from the few bits of cast off metal available to him.

There's no chance on earth we'll sign another halfback with Leyland already signed.

Looking like:-

1. Dufty
2. Ashton
3. Tai/Lindop
4. King/Wrench/Ratchford
5. Thewlis
6. Leyland/Hayes
7. Williams
8. Vaughan
9. Walker
10. Harrison
11. Russell
12. Fitzgibbon
13. Currie

14. Powell
15. Musgrove
16. Philbin
17. Yates
18. Crowther
19. Wood
20. Holroyd
21. Thomas
22. Whitehead

Sorry I don’t see that improving on what we done this year. At the end we were found out up front. Don’t know enough about Russell but I don’t see him as an improvement on Nicholson we have no idea how long Fitzgibbon will last and I’m not convinced Hayes or Leyland are the answer.

Russell did play left wing for PNG and has been selected in the current squad.

Anyone know what's happening with the forgotten man, Joe Bullock? Signed a 2 year extension then shipped out - all a bit weird.

No i cannot see that projected side making the improvement required either.

That’s an Enigma. Could not get in the side gets an extension then shipped out. Tbh he didn’t light it up with his stint at Salford either. Going to have to be some preseason.

If you cannot take criticism, then your not going to make it in any walk of life.

Dan Russell named to play against Australia this weekend.

Bullock couldn't get a spot ahead of Gil Dudson, that tells me everthing i need to know. I still just don't understand his re-signing, on form he's a great addition but that is VERY few and far between, plus his injury record isn't great.
Lewis Bienek would be a better option than Bullock and wouldn't cost alot, not saying he's the bulldozing answer we need, but he's a big powerful prop and puts effort in to every game i've seen. I think as a bench prop he'd be a really good option. But i think our forwards are set with Bullock for next year.
Dan russell could be a great signing for us and would give us 2 big powerful 2nd rowers. I know he's not played many NRL games but he's played consistantly for years in the queensland cup, and 10 caps for PNG he has plenty of experience.
Jai field has a total of 17 NRL appearances, Luke Yates a total of 25, Chris satae another example has a total of 15, So not having many NRL appearances doesn't mean you won't be any good here.
I hope it's just a case of finding the right fit for the right player


But yeah i don't really see a big improvement on what we have this year (which isn't bad by any means) But if we could have found a big powerful prop i think that would make a difference.

Bienek would be a good signing.
Philbin looks like he is getting back to near his best.
Need Musgrove to start having real game changing impact.
Paul Vaughan - carry on as he is but let's start him. That experiment failed.
Yates - great signing.
Wood - Hoping he can push on as I like the look of him.

Bullock has had so many chances. He came on at Wembley and stunk the place out, not seen him since.

Player ratings for Wire players at Wembley were not great but can't remember Bullock being worse than others. "Stunk the place out" seems harsh. Not seen since Yates arrived & relatively few injuries in the forwards. Difficult to imagine him returning to Wire after his time with Salford but he's got a contract.

Rumours of a falling out between Burgess and Vaughan. Madame Boyd has tweeted it.

I’ve made no secret who I blame for losing the the GF this season.

I’m perfectly fine for Vaughan to leave. He’s made poor choices all season and at the last 2 months of last season too.

I’ve took flak all season for ousting him, I’m ok with taking a bucket load of it now too.



Vaughan.

It does add up that something like this happened. Gaining Yates & Bateman meant that we were well off for numbers. Holroyd & Wood didn't get much game time later on in the season but a bit strange that he was moved on so quickly after getting a new contract.