He's not alone in this ....some players are here for paychecks based upon past reputations and are not all in effort wise to win ... the club themselves aren't really of the necessary mindset either ....for example charging stupid money for a meet and greet with the new coach ...money for nothing as dire straits once sang is the root of the indifference by club and players towards the bigger supposed goal

Currently it seems the CEO!

£55 to £80 to meet Sam Burgess!

It’s obviously not targeted at the fans, who are the club trying to connect with!

Fgs, someone really doesn’t have a clue.

If currie needs a dominant pack to get the best out of him then the club have failed him massively by failing to provide it. This season has been better and I hope it will be better again next year. Currie is still one of our best players IMO, yes id like to see a bit more from him but it's been hard for anyone to look effective in our recent attack which has been clunky at best. I'd like to see philbin as an impact 2nd row, he'd maybe need to improve his passing skills though.

Let's see what gleeson can bring to the team with a solid pre season and a coach that hopefully demands more from the squad.

Don’t they always do some form of pre season meet the coach / player / function? Given the reduction in central funding over the past few years I wouldn’t be too critical of them looking to exploit every angle.

A chance to meet an actual legend of the game before he devotes himself entirely to coaching. An opportunity for the club to get some money in the coffers. I really don’t see the problem.
(Trying to compare meeting Peets when he was appointed to Burgess shows how desperate some are to criticise our club.)

I think the front row is the general weakness. A lot of this can be remedied quickly, with a bit more preparedness and attention to detail, players like Philbin and Bullock ‘can’ be really effective, but we need to balance out the impact with with resilience and consistency that Vaughan provides.

Harrison will be better for a full season in the Super League under his belt. Musgrove adds another big body. I just think that we need to get a grind/dirty job man in that 13 shirt. Crowther makes sense. He’s not a great ball carrier but is a grafter off the ball, works hard in defence and puts pressure on kickers. But, the temptation would be to just throw all the big guys on at once to try and blow teams away in attack, but that needs the balance in my opinion. Harrison did this really well to support Morley and Carvell. I’m sure it won’t be lost on Burgess, having Clark playing that role in his South’s pack.

Centres need work, but that is taking shape now.

In all honesty a lot of damage was done to our attack when the club signed two forwards who could only do 15 minute stints. Add to that the McGuire saga & Mikaele going home early & injuries to other forwards & Vaughan was left with too much to do in most games. How could we hope to get on the front foot ?

There are a number of positions where we could be better and some where we're pretty good.

My big concern is that I don't see in our squad a leader, the one geeing them up or giving out bollockings behind the sticks, the one pushing the rules to breaking point and beyond, the one ruthlessly doing absolutely whatever it takes to get the win and take his team with him. If I'm missing the obvious candidate please point it out to me but I just don't think we have one.

We have not had one since Briers. I know Morley was the captain but Briers was the voice.

Indeed, and I haven't seen one this year and can't see one in next years squad unless Burgess is going to get back on the field.

Best candidate from what I've seen seems to be Walker...

Completely agree. Morley was a superb leader of men. Physically he was intimidating, the kind of guy that when he arrives at training, the rest of the squad try to impress.

Briers knows rugby inside and out and steered the team. When we were good, he was behind it. One thing is for certain, if he was playing a few weeks ago in the Saints play off game, we wouldn’t be kicking for goal 30 yards out when they are down to 12 men, missing one of their best forwards. We had a chance to put the ball in the corner and take some energy out of their tanks, and a huge opportunity to post points, and came away with 2 and gave them a breather.

Williams and Dufty are gifted athletes, and Williams in particular is a great competitor, but compare smarts with Briers and Hodgson and you can see how much we have regressed.

I can understand your comments about Williams and agree to an extent, but as he's got the England shirt perhaps it represents where our league is currently compared to past years.

I think rugby league is obsessed with the athleticism, it’s not just Williams. The creativity is left out, as a rule, in the selection of juniors. Players can pass off both hands, can run, fend and step. Fine. But the genuine creativity is just phased out.

The whole aim of the game is to manipulate numbers and use that space. That’s why the block plays became the standard feature of every single team from under 9’s and over. Teams play to bend the line, catch a defender on the wrong side of the ruck and play a mini game of 4 v 3, or shift the ball with block plays hoping for a defender to switch off and get a 3 vs 2 on the edge. Rinse and repeat for 80 minutes. Yet we have that number advantage, we have the field position, have the momentum, and kick for two. Madness.

When i was a kid, the first game of RL i ever got to see was a Widnes one (as my grandad used to play for them).

It was Bradford northern at naughton park, in horrible mud... tony myler chipped the ball over a scrum as soon as the ball had come out, ran around.. caught it... flicked an inside pass to Alan Tait, who then flicked it to Offiah, who ran a long arc around the poor fullback, who knew less than me as to what was going on infront of him.

i had never seen anything like it and i was hooked.

i wonder what the youngsters of today have to watch and get excited about.