Here we go again

Buggy, it's clear the guys toned down a bit - maybe time to give a little slack and see how it goes

It's fine Cold. If he doesn't like what I say he can chose to ignore. I've never met him yet he says he knows me. I do recall his involvement a few years ago which I applaud for doing that.
I did once go on the coach to Warrington in the cup with my young nephew and he got scared of the trouble so away games I car share with a couple of my neighbors when I choose to go.
I've just checked and there is still skin on my gonzo nose so I'll just let it be.

A couple of things, just 'my' opinions really.

Recruitment hasn't been as good as it could have been, I feel we leaned to far towards the older age for the obvious experience but maybe then lost out on pace & possibly a bit of flair.

However, having said that I imagine it is much more difficult to recruit at the highest level for Leigh being the newly promoted Club than it is for an established top 6 Club like Pies, Cas, Wire & Leeds for example. Much more of a gamble for a Hardaker etc to take on joining Leigh than Cas.

I don't think that Green & Vea are of the requisite quality, though I have to say that 'Vera' as I now call him had his best game in a Leigh shirt last night, I thought he was unusually good.
For me our 'Vera' is a squad filler who can fill in if necessary but he plays every game, maybe in time he will prove me wrong, hope he does.

Don't know what the problem with Riddy is, not getting selected & not getting the kicking gig either when he is. I know he was carrying a bit of timber early season & looks to not have 100% fitness.

Injuries & suspensions are killing us at the moment.

Let's hope we can attract a SL/NRL standard 6/7 to add competition in the halves or even as a 1st choice half, then all we need is to add a SL centre & get James Clare back fit to add out & out speed on the wing.

Mitch Brown is every bit a quality FB, no problem with that, so a good signing.
Drinkwater has shown what he can do when on form (I think he is carrying an injury) so again, good signing.
Stewart will show his quality as the season progresses, good signing.
James Clare, fast wing, showed pre season he could be good. Decent signing.

Last point .....

Toronto & Toulouse will [i'Never - Ever'[/i beat an NRL side *neither will we*.

Overall I think 2 to 3 excellent quality additions where we are light will see us cement our place in SL 2018, then we can look to future recruitment.

Fans could always join LISA & the Tommy Sale Foundation, I got my form today & will be doing just that, then we might have a reserve grade to draw from.

I'll get the beers in when you come over in the 8s owd cocker

You maybe had backloaded contracts so couldn't recruit better than you did

The problem was always going to be "depth of squad" and how you deal with it,when the injuries pop along. Smart start,bad middle,smart end..Thats all you can hope for with no resources.

Its not down to bad recruitment,it's down to the recruited/established players being unavailable to play without adequate cover that's costing us.

We have a world class centre in tonga... 1 try 10 games in 2 seasons .. he should have neen replaced

Our forwards have done exceptionally well collectively albeit i will claim immunity in including Vea in that statement, the games we won was down to efforts of the forwards, the trouble is they have no direction from those on the field who should be providing it, there is no easy meters for them, our kicking game is at best abysmal, in a nut shell we have not got a SL quality half in the club, Reynolds is out of his depth, Ridyard has not got to anywhere near the pace of the game, and Drinkwater is very very reluctant to roll his sleeves up and show us his worth if indeed he has what it takes instead of just going through the motions, he has yet to display it.

It is hard to say, but Mitch Brown aside playing Full Back, and a fit Willie Tonga, I doubt that we have another threequater who could hold down a spot at any other SL club.

It is news to me that their are some new recruits in the pipeline as mooted on these pages, they can't come soon enough in my opinion, Mr Beaumont has been nothing but wonderful in his benevolence to the club, it would be a shame to see all his efforts going to waste for the wanting of replacing those who can't with better quality, it is an harsh world, decisions have to made and acted upon, sooner other than to late.

Think Drinkwater has what it takes, but he has very little to play with at the moment.

Higson and crooks(if he counts) would get a gig IMO

Be interesting to see where the new players come from, can only imagine they are other teams cast offs at this stage of the season

Not that easy when they are contracted though is it, and it's not the tries he scores - very little gets past him defensively, and Dawson is a different player outside him

Plenty of decent aussies like mitch out there

Not asking for much then ? , not forgetting quotas ?

This is a problem with Aussies. We will have to remove some of our quota players to accommodate them - easier said than done!

For my money, we need at least one new player out wide - 2nd row and, or centre, possibly a full back, and (disappointingly) a half back. I say 'disappointingly' because I don't think we are seeing the best of Martyn Ridyard, for whatever reason. We have seen him perform well against SL opposition, in the past two seasons but, whenever he has played lately, he doesn't seem to be getting very involved - even to the extent of not taking touch kicks, and kick-offs. Our kick-offs, and we are getting quite a lot of practice at them, are mainly identical, and not causing any problems for the opposition. In past seasons, Ridyard has varied his kick-offs, and caused problems. Is it a set in stone tactic, that the kick off has to be taken by the full back, and the ball has to be kicked to the same opposing player, throughout the game?