Now that we have signed Jake Wardle, for 2022, I too would prefer Matautia in the halves, since it allows both Wrench and Thewlis to play regular 1st team football, which they need.

Well on a thread somewhere it was said if Duffy does not come that we will bring Gale in, and that there had been talks, if I remember that correctly.

This worries me too. We needed a clear out if we were going to shake the club out of the comfort zone it had been in, living permanently just outside the teams who were really competing for Grand Finals. But we can't underestimate the scale of the challenge especially in an era where the elite Aussie players don't come so we can't just load up from the NRL like we did with Morley, King, Hodgson and the Monaghans.

I remember when Lineham left I said something on here like Lineham's one of those players who you feel like needs to be moved on but is not easy to replace and you could easily end up with an inferior player. That applies to a lot of our guys: certainly Hill, Cooper and Charnley.

I haven't seen Powell bring in a player yet where I've thought this guy has improved us. He's been bringing in squad fillers which is what TS was doing after around 2014.

One thing we did well during the Gatcliffe era, despite not having a great youth system ourselves, was targeted and brought in good upcoming talent that had emerged from other club's youth systems and signed them while young. I remember Cullen saying this was a deliberate strategy. As well as the more obvious signings who had already looked like stars at their clubs (Westwood, Atkins, Myler, Ratchford) we also made some under the radar pick ups in Bridge, Harrison, Grix and Hill. Although those guys hadn't come through our Academy it meant we were a bit like Leeds/Wigan/Saints in terms of having a core of good players who had been together since a young age in our squad and that gave us a good core. I'd like to see us rebuild with that kind of signing.

Anyway, we know the risks. We've gone all in now so we have to back Powell and accept that things might get worse before they get better. The worst outcome from this is, results are bad as Powell's new squad takes time to bed in, we jettison Powell and end up with an inferior coach who tries to do his own rebuild on a rebuild and that goes even worse and suddenly we've gone from being a decent team to perma-strugglers in the space of a couple of years and pining for the relative stability of the Price era.

To be honest i'm not a big fan of Gale anymore as he is past his best, but if we signed him on a 1 year it would allow Williams the freedom i think he needs. Gale would be the organiser and Kicker and would leave Williams free to roam and pick his moments to scoot through the line etc.
There are alot of Aussie journalists and pundits saying we have signed Dufty so i think we have. And i think he will come over to play in the halves but we will see

Quite, sally. Especially the bit I've bolded. This is my major worry.

When Moran really started spending his money (Morley, then King and Monaghan x2) we've gone from perennial underachievers, to CC and GF regulars, with a bit of tweaking. Powell's "my way or the highway", and it's subsequent overhaul, could well be too much too soon. We let Smith go stale, and Price, well he was stale from the begining. All we needed (as I said) was a tweak. A bluff Yarkie has sent us back to the mid days of Cullen. A few stars, but, miles away from where we want/need to be.

You don't think Mikaele and Harrison are an improvement on Doro and Robson?

An alternative perspective is, of the players being released, how many would you as a fan want to retain.

For me, it`s one.

Some interesting comments from Sally and Lefty and I get where you are both coming from to some degree because I thought this would have been a season of evolution rather than revolution once Powell had had a good look at us. Yet it's more of a surprise these days when we are not in the news for comings and goings.

However, on reflection I'm up for it and the consequences as the last year(s) of TS the Price era generally despite some success have been written off and viewed as an unhappy time to be a Wire (apart from the revisionists based on our recent run of defeats and abject performances).

I'm not sure what Powell's options are/were? The packs too light, some players are under performing compared to their perceived cap space or worse under performing to their perceived talent, some players apparently don't want to be here, some players don't want change and some players are naturally coming to the end of their time with us due to age/being OOC.

When you think about it he's had a lot to deal with it and sometimes the best way to take a plaster off is.....well you know the rest.

For those bemoaning the lack of quality, yes I'd love us to be in for today's Morley, King, Hodgson and the Monaghan's, but where are they? Oh and I'd be giving this new crop a chance before bracketing them with Wheeler Bailey, Pomeroy, Blythe, Asatosi......

Spot on.

Bizarre comparison. Mikaele and Harrison will be on at least double the wages of Doro and Robson.

"at least double", and you know this how? I do understand what you may have been driving at and BOD instead of "Bizarre comparison", it might have read "Simplistic comparison"?

Surely it's all about balance and on here we've generally recognised that we've lost quality up front from the days of say Morley, Carvell, Wood and Hill, with a noticeable drop off (recently) when Hill and Cooper were off the pitch not to mention the toll on the players due to heavy load that these two took on.

This season we still have Cooper doing his thing and Mikaele/Harrison should be better than Robson/Doro, at least it looks like they'll get picked which in turn keeps Philbin and Mulhern on their toes so overall I'd say an improvement

Same here.
To me, Powell comes across as an old fashioned "ranter and raver" in your Alex Murphy/Tony Barrow mould, rather than an "arm around the shoulder" Tony Smith kind of guy. Smith showed his determination with Gleeson, rather than Powell's "throwing baby and bath water" approach. That's (to me) what was needed.

That's been Price's approach and look where it's got us - nowhere. I don't know for sure, but Price comes across as Mr Nice, letting players go home early etc. when really these players have needed a rocket up their backsides.

Smith was a nice guy too and during the last 2 years of his spell, the players threw him under the bus.

If we get another Mr nice, arm around for encouragement types, the players might end up leaving training even earlier than under Price.

We could perhaps hire in a load of personal counsellors accompanied by 17 tons of josticks to persuade them to stay til the end of training. Then buy in 17 tonnes of scented candles with accompanying hypnotherapist chanting 'put some f##king effort in'.

Didn't Tony Smith crack down straight away with Mark Gleeson & kick him through the gates of the HJ. I have often wondered though , if it was player power that got rid of TS & once certain ones had the upper hand it carried on under Price.
Powell is probably working on the theory that attitude to the job in hand ,the club , your teammates & paying fans is more important than being the best that money can buy. Hopefully ,due diligence will be carried out on future overseas players gracing the HJ pitch & not just the watching of a highlights reel from a player's agent.

Ppl forget the other thing with gleeson was he wanted out. He'd said he wanted a move to the nrl, just a few weeks into the season, him getting moved on was down to him wanting to leave