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.

Having signed players at the 11th hour for a few seasons, we don't solve the problem by getting the player(s) that we really need, and then we have a bunch of contracted players that we have to wait to replace going forward. Then there's the question of do they really want to be here. Doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence and were really relying on Vaughn and McGuire to live up to expectations.

That loan move has effectively ended Longstaff`s Wire career, as his contract expires at the end of the 2023 season.

i was hoping he'd have a clean slate for this year, but he's been given the harvey livett treatment under price.

it does seem that if your face doesn't fit under this coaching staff, yer gone.

I think those 2 will. I’ve a feeling that things will be different this season. When your winning, the pressures are lifted and with it so are the spirits. A winning team is a happy team.

Powell seems to rate Holroyd very highly, so Longstaff's appearances were going to be limited, sensible decision for him to go get some gametime elsewhere.

Currie / Nicholson first choice with Holroyd, Harrison and Whitehead in that order able to fill in.

Yes, the squad has a bit of an unbalanced look and back row certainly looks light in terms of experience, but Powell obviously has a lot of faith in Nicholson and Holroyd and keeping Longstaff wasn't going to change that experience issue anyway.

Yes, I agree to a certain extent, but it was rumoured that Hull FC wanted to sign him on a permanent basis.

He is a Yorkshire based player, so the move would have suited him, and he could have had a season long loan there.

We seem to be messing the kid around, by insisting that he returned to us, only to loan him out elsewhere,

My issue isn’t that he’s being moved on, it’s the lack of forward planning. He hasn’t played (by choice, the Catalan away incident forced him to be selected) since Hull away, that was the Easter weekend. The coach made the decision then that he had lost his trust and he wasn’t part of his plans. Granted we go and sign Nicholson, but then lose Holmes, King/Wardle and Wrench for a significant part of the season and don’t backfill the positions.

We have one spare back, Minikin, with any experience until Wrench returns. The back row/centre cover has a combined total number of games in single figures and as it stands have no halfback despite training starting today.