He's still coming. I just forget to mention that aspect of the new additions.

Vaughan seems like the kind of player to lead by example on the pitch. The BBQ incident back in Australia may have tainted his ability to speak with authority when it comes to being a leader, but he always plays like one. As much as a don't actually like Maguire as a player (for anyone wondering why I say that, I think he is actually useless, pardon my negativity) he doesn't add much, and seems to give away a lot of penalties, I'll take that for now as long as he has a no nonsense attitude and gets the team focused on the task at all times. If he's solid defensively then I'm fine with just that.

Thewlis comes across as a passionate leader to me as well. Not many people would have heard this but during a home game last season, we had a goal line drop out, Thewlis shouted "fight for the badge on the shirt, wire" which was unexpected from such a young lad, but not so unexpected if you consider that he's also a wire fan too.

The more I think about the depth in the forwards, and the potential for improvement from the backs/spine, the more I get excited about the season.

Is the “Powell-out brigade” those wanting the coach to do what he was brought in to do? He was brought in to make an underperforming team perform. Been backed to the hilt to do that, with a hand picked squad, so why should it be accepted to do worse than before his appointment?

If we’re to believe that the squad was littered with lager swilling T-shirt salesmen then was Price the messiah? If he could get a 3rd place finish and a cup run out of them, but without the bad apples we can now only hope for mid table, how can that be good enough?

I’m not “Powell out”, I want a strong club and a strong team that competes and connects with the fans. But we can’t accept another year like last year of petty squabbles and fire sales compounding pathetic performances. It’s time to see the results of that painful turnover, so crack on and get the job done.

Dufty and McGuire were at that BBQ too. It was a Covid breach and a draconian reaction by the Australian police and club (although Vaughan was on his 3rd warning).
Not like they were ed up in a strip club at 3am on the day of a game. They can do that when they arrive here

Yeah the powell out thing is boring as F now, he's come in, shook things up and changed the squad for 2023 for the better. 2022 was a bad off season that's now gone. 2023 will be a good season. We now have a big affective forward pack who are proven and good players, so the negativity towards them is bizzarre. Like Kinetic said the spine we have is quality so negativity towards them is also bizzarre. We have some pure speed and skill in Dufty, Thewlis, Ashton, Williams and Daz Clark can shift, and wrench is rapid. Willams behind a good pack is superb and we have a good pack next year, Drinkwater is a controlling half and will take pressure off Williams. Our centres are NOT bad players and compliment our attack and defense. and we've gone from no real leader this year to having 4 in and around the pitch. All i see is positivity for 2023 and nothing else.

I think a reasonable about of cynicism is inevitable. We’ve had so many false dawns, excitement over signings that have turned out to be utter bobbins, and there are so many unknowns/reliance on lots of new personnel hitting the ground running.

All that said, I’m really looking forward to next season and (hopefully) seeing us be competitive again.

I’m very content with Ashton having Ratchford as his centre.
Ashton will be my top try scorer bet for 2023.

KFP confirming in the guardian that a new 7 is expected soon. Cap space remains for a centre but expect to start the year Ratchford at 4, good at least to have the cap space available.

Wardle deal didn’t work due to the players Hudds wanted in return, apparently.

Only centre who’s British that may be available that springs to mind is Griffin @ Hull FC, and wouldn’t really want to go there.

Wardle would have been a good signing, but the deal had to mutually beneficial.

No point in for example allowing them to sign Wrench, or Thewlis for us to sign Wardle.

You can never be 100% certain that all our new signings actually turn up.
We might sign a UK Centre now but regret it later (as choice looks limited) if we suddenly got a spare overseas space available.

My glass is half full at present, the World Cup especially Women’s and wheelchair have reignited my enthusiasm for the game.
“We’re going to win the League, we’re going to win the League and are you going to believe us…”
(Ok perhaps I am getting carried away as off on a big adventure on Sunday)

Now loaned out to Salford for the season.

The timing of Longstaff's loan may be coincidental or it could be a prerequisite of signing a half-back under the salary cap.

I must admit, I don’t get it. We aren’t blessed with genuine second rowers. Yes, we have Harrison, McGuire and Philbin that COULD play there, but they are (especially the first two) cornerstones of plan A.

We have Currie and Nicholson running almost uncontested, with only, to my knowledge, Whitehead and Holroyd for competition. Nicholson was dropped last year and Holmes moved in for him, I think only once, but he was only here for 10 games. The only competition have a combined exposure of 5 games (max), and Nicholson is still developing and will need nurturing so if we are to “take him out of the firing line” akin to Thewlis at the back end of last season, we are a bit stuck.

I would have preferred to displace a prop and keep Longstaff, try and motivate him and rev him up to challenge Currie/Nicholson or be made available at the end of the season if he doesn’t progress. I just think without depth in the centre and second row positions we could be vulnerable should we get an injury or two.

Squad balance is definitely a concern for 2023. We have obviously overloaded on props, and left ourselves light in other areas. Our first choice 1-17 should be competitive, especially when Wrench returns, but a few injuries in positions other than prop will leave us either playing youngsters (which might not be a bad thing) or trying to fit square pegs into round holes.