I thought Mitch was handy player but I could be biased as he said hello after I saw him getting patched up at Leigh infirmary

Maybe Bongser is tarring him with a collective brush - there were too many rebellious mercenaries in the 2017 team. No probs with recent imports - Leigh has a whole different ethos now.

Then again, if he was value for money, why did it take everyone so long to cotton on to the Brown referred to?

I did mention Kev Brown who i think cost us around 10k for about 3 games. Personally i thought Mitch did ok for us tbh.

Mitch Brown was a good player for us, played like it meant something to him whilst playing out of position.

In Contract
1.Davey Armstrong – 24 - 2027
2. Darnell McIntosh – 26 - 2025
3. Umyla Hanley – 22 - 2026
4. Tesi Niu – 23 - 2027
5. Josh Charnley – 32 - 2025
6. Matt Moylan, - 32 - 2025
7. Lachlan Lam – 26 - 2025
8. Aaron Pene – 28 - 2026
9. Edwin Ipape – 25 - 2025
10. Robbie Mulhern – 29 - 2026
11. Frankie Halton – 27 - 2025
12. Ben Condon – 24 - 2026
13. Issac Liu – 33 -2026
14. Brad Dwyer – 32- 2025
15. Ben McNamara – 22 - 2025
16. Dan Norman – 26 -2025
17. Gareth O'Brien – 32 - 2025
18. Bailey Hodgson – 22 - 2026
19. Louis Brogan – 23 - 2027
20. Owen Trout – 24 - 2026
21. Matt Davis - 28 - 2026
22. Ryan Brown - 19 - 2026
23. Andrew Badrock - 24 - 2026
24. AJ Towse - 21 - 2027

New Kit manufacturer - Reebok

Only one surprise so far - Ryan Brown. Totally underwhelmed by the reserve team signings. Is anybody joining who might actually get a game?

Whilst I understand that he club needs to sign some younger players are any of these guys doing to get into the first team? We are desperate for a replacement for Amone as Pene was the replacement for Nakabuwai and needs a good pre season, we had Norman, Baxter, Wilde (injured) Gannon, Brand, Derbyshire, Davis, Brogan and Rothwell who weren’t really playing last year so have we really upgraded the squad?I think we need a bit more quality and competition for starting 13 as our weekly 17 for me pretty much picks itself.

how much do we have to spend - cash
best 10 out of listed probably £1.5 million what does that leave us

For me we’re looking at it completly wrong, we dropped on so lucky with amone, we have 2 big minute eating props in trout and mulhern, we need someone like Bryne from Wigan or sangare from Leeds, and use the quota spot for another strike centre, move Hanley out to wing and Macintosh is good cover, but there is 0 strike down that edge, backs win the matches, and English props are better than Australian and kiwis for me as a whole and lot better value for money

If the plan is to improve year on year then clearly we have not yet replaced Tom Amone who has been the best prop in Super League during 2024. AAron Pene is a capable bench prop who is deserving of a place in the seventeen. He is the replacement for Ben Nakubuwai and is nowhere near the quality of Tom Amone.

Overseas players - Lammy and Chezzy have opted not to swap like for like and the biggest change will be one less forward, but gain a specialist Fullback. Asiata, Amone and O'Donnell are a big gap to fill, but they played more than half the season without Asiata.

Instead we have Second-row/Prop in Ben Condon and an all-round forward in Issac Liu. Lammy has shown in the 3 years at the club that he does not require 4 props in the squad, and now we have some kind of flexible in the personnel. Personally I would love the Iceman to be a ball-playing Loose, but I fully expect him to appear in the front-row if needed.

Jack Hughes and Matt Davis have shown utility, especially Jack who has played Prop/Second-row/Loose forward/Centre and Stand-Off. Owen Trout is ready to step-up, but the question is have we got any oven ready forwards capable of being thrown into the match day squad. Dan Norman has been reliable without being dynamic, Brogan has been bloodied in a few games. The problem is that looking at the new signings only Brad Martin is ready to join the match-day squad.

If Mat Moylan does retire then I think it would be advisable to use the cap space created to sign an adequate replacement for Tom Amone.
We have played great rugby when either Gas O’Brien or Ben McNamara have been in the halves. Both are skilful, brave and defensively strong.

Aaron Pene was brought in to replace Amone. We shifted Nakubuwai on to bring him in early because it was simpler to get a visa for him this year, or so I read in some reports. We need players like Brogan to step up and show that they are an improvement on Nakubuwai to give us a stronger 17 than we had at the start of this year. Anyone thinking that we can bring in a prop that is at th elevel that Amone reached is living in a dreamworld.

As for the backs, I would expect Towse to challenge McIntosh for his place, and Hodgson will also provide stronger competition across the backline than we've had for the last couple of years. Lack of a good goal kicker is my biggest concern.

I hope we are not still considering signing Milford. He was rubbish in the first test for Samoa and was dropped to eighteenth man for second test. Enough said.

Agree with that.

If I were Ben McNamara, I'd be putting some serious work into my goalkicking and place kicking to show that the last overseas spot doesn't necessarily need to be on a new stand off.

I believe Towse is a predominantly left sided winger and will be bright in as backup and ultimate replacement for Charnley.