Now I remember it was you who said this a while back. Are we still looking for players do you know.

Thewlis has some good bits to his game ,he can tackle & he has a good swerve, but he needs to be quicker deciding when to just run for the line to take advantage of the overlap instead of coming inside. He has obviously been saddled with goal kicking & if that isn't going well it could affect the rest of his game.

But wouldn’t Dufty take Batemans marquee spot, therefore leaving Dufty’s previous 2024 salary free?

2025 marquee players being Williams, Dufty & King?

Must be a wingers nightmare to play outside Tai.

Would have thought that Vaughan would be on a higher wage than King?

King is a "Home Grown" Marquee Player and hence only costs £50K on the Salary Cap.

Tai has just 2 try assists in 18 games. That's nowhere near good enough for a centre for a team that wants to win a GF.
Wrench has 4 in 9 games.

In fact we only have 9 assists across both centres.

I am glad you mentioned Wrench i was thinking he seems to have been forgotten in the comments. I'm not convinced by Wrench he seems to be a bit panicky with ball in hand it just seems all frantic but i would like to see him have an injury free season he's had a terrible time these last three or more years i think it would do him the world of good

He has the attributes to be a very good centre, as you say just needs to iron a few things out - especially defensively in my view - but I'm hopefully he can still come good.

Yes so picking some numbers out of the air, if Vaughan was on £200k he would count as £150k on our cap, so a saving of £50k. If King was on £150k he would count as £50k on our cap, so a saving of £100k.

Thewlis i'm happy with,he has great hands, good engine, lots of speed etc. He hasn't shined because Tai is more of a defensive centre than a strike centre. If he was playing outside of jake Wardle, Tim Lafai, Hiku etc He'd be well further up the try charts, I'm happy with him.
Musgrove has played bog standard low minutes this year, I know Burgess rates him higher than his actual displays though, so this will keep Max Wood from playing more games than him. Wood has a much better engine, better skills and a slightly better impact than him......but Musgrove gets the nod every week over him, bit of unjust favouritism there i think.

The rule that was introduced in 2024 with the allowance for a 3rd Marquee Player specified that the player had to be Federation trained, so Vaughan wouldn`t have qualified to be used in that role.

You would wonder why Tai has had so any games if you looked at his attacking/skills & stats but to balance things up we ought to mention that he does flatten a few & at times it provides a great lift for the side. Not many run through Tai & most come of worse. Big Sam obviously puts defence high up on his priorities when picking a team.
We also seem very obsessed with using our backs to carry the ball up, presumably to rest our forwards for defensive work, and he's pretty good at this too when it is very very tough.
Lindop, obviously, will be a better all round centre in time.

I thought as we had Williams on Marquee as Fed trained we could have 2x overseas marquees if we wanted?

Yes we could have 2 Overseas Marquees, but they count more on the Salary Cap.

A home grown Marquee only counts for £50K on the Cap.

https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/ru ... s-30180365

https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/ru ... s-30180365

We have no alternative. Ratchford, Wrench injured and Lindop is being eased in as he is developing.

You are right Tai offers a lot in defence and in exit carries but not a lot with the ball.

The fact that we have used all of our Quota Spots gives us a problem with signing another player that would improve our 17 man squad.

Most British/French players that are any good are already retained for the 2025 season.

True, but wouldn’t surprise me to see us paying a transfer fee for someone, we have a fee for Nicholson that needs using!

Yeah we could either look at picking up 1 or 2 English players if any are available.
I still think Lewis Bienek would be a good pick up and wouldn't cost shed loads to bolster our forward options, IF we do move Bullock on that is. And we'd still have money to play with on top of any money we already have spare if any.

I thought Bienek was good when I’ve seen him play. He’s signed a new deal with London and is part time as he has a good IT job I think. Probably do well full time on a good set up but appears keen to stay there.

Is there any provision for part time players in SL? I would think an IT job in or near London would pay an excellent wage.

I wouldn’t be surprised if part time player and proper employment paid more than a full time SL contract for a fringe player.

Bateman signing for 2025 isn’t dead in the water.
Wire haven’t been thrifty for nothing with the last 3/4 signings.