The operational loss won't stop us spending the spare money we have on the cap. And we have spare money available to bring another player in. 2 seperate things.

We "fans" do tend to be a bit miserable & cynical. I can't remember any signing that got everyone jumping in the air with glee. Too old, journeyman, chasing money, not played at any level, dropped a ball once, missed a tackle in a game 8 years ago.
We'll see.
I think we have much more ability below our 1-13 than we have had for some time.
Unfortunately ... I'd back Wigan ... but we'll be there or thereabouts.

That's where I am. I'd be very, very disappointed if we weren't in top 4 at the end of the season and fairly disappointed if we weren't top 2. In those cases, it just comes down to winning a couple of games (at most) and then it's 5th time lucky for the big one.

And before I forget, we also need Musgrove to consistently play to his weight for decent minutes. If he can do that I think our pack is ok.

Regarding Musgrove Burgess was quick enough to ship Bullock out so how is it that Musgrove has got away with many lack lustre performances.

Musgrove is better than Bullock. Mind you he ought to be able to do more minutes.

I don’t disagree with that but aside from needing to do more minutes he does not do enough after contact. He is bigger than Philbin but Philbin makes more impact.

Just watched the PNG game and i hope to god Dan Russell is just well behind his fitness at the minute.
His Tackling is very amateurish, and the fact he had his hands on his knees getting his breath after just 15 mins after making a whopping 5 tackles and 1 attacking run is very concerning.
But he seems more of a project with potential signing rather than an established signing.
If the team numbers are actually followed it's Currie back to 2nd row with Fitz and Yates at 13, I know shirt numbers don't actually mean that much but wouldn't complain with that, with Holroyd and Crowther as back up.

You may well be right, but a project signing would be one hell of a waste of a quota spot.

It looks like we we odds on to sign George Hirst from Oldham and were stunned when he opted for Wigan instead.

We then signed Ben Russell as an afterthought to cover the 2nd row position after we missed-out on Hirst.

I watched the game on Sunday and Russell was very average, and doesn`t have age on his side to develop.

Hopefully we will be surprised how well he plays for Wire in 2025 for us.

I hope you are right, like I said earlier I’m hoping coaches see something we don’t. My only real concern is he has taken the last quota spot and we are stuck with that and it would be hard to replace him with someone from here.

Imagine writing that without checking out the facts.

Your players will get praise once they start winning trophies.

Strange watching Russell. I kept wanting him to get his hands on the ball but he kept being the dummy runner (and usually a bit too early & flat). They actually scored from two moves where he was missed out. He is big and on the very few times he took the ball up he made a bit more ground than I thought he would. No crunching tackles but did make several tackles ... usually low. He actually popped up on the wing to score a try which was disallowed for being forward ... perhaps he was a bit flat again. Nothing to get everyone wild with excitement but I have been wrong before. Sam will need to shove a rocket up his rear end.

Yeah, i suppose we'll have to wait to see what he's like after a full pre-season with the coaches working with him, and some games under his belt. He's indeed a big dude so hopefully will develop under Burgess