It’s a bit of a chicken and egg situation i suppose, regardless of which sport instant success is craved for. It’s been said many times we have 2 massive clubs on our doorstep but the reality is they don’t produce many who go on to super league. In no way am I knocking the work they do and it’s not really their job to form the production line for Leigh or any other club but it’s been a steady decline for a number of years.
I don’t get a free paper anymore so not even sure if there still is a Leigh Journal but i never hear of local schools getting to all England cup finals and I’m not sure even if there is a Town Team structure anymore.
It’s not as though SL is swarming with Leigh lads and our argument is why are we missing out. Something has to be done, what that is I don’t know , but it will take quite a while for us to see the benefits

Just need a prop or two now and we look the business

I'd imagine Warrington would have our entire front row but signing any of them would cost them a lot of £££'s currently

Would it though? Most players are out of contract at the end of the year so I can't see the fee being big. Really hope we don't let anyone go. I think some Leigh fans would be very upset with us only having a small squad as it is. 2 props needed soon.

thats exactly why i cant see us selling anyone who we want to keep.. we are working around the clock to add players not release top level ones

Yes it wouldn't make any sense letting anyone go unless they demanded it and downed tools which I can't see any of this squad doing. We look to have a tight knit group here and I really hope they get us over the line. I asked Derek about Asiata the other month as me and my dad were arguing, as I said he was on 2 years but my dad said 1. Turns out he's on 1 but if we get promoted it gets upgraded for another year. I wonder how many more are on that deal.

I would not be surprised if we had a number of players on contacts that are two years, but either party can walk away from if we are not in Super League next season.

Of course, in Super League we would be limited to 7 overseas players, so that restricts us somewhat in which players we can keep if we do get promoted.

How many overseas players have we got on the books? Some of them seem to have links to the UK.

Pass. I really don't know.

Of the En-Zed contingent (5):

Aekins is supposedly of Welsh descent though how many generations.....?
Iaone is Non-Fed.
Hingano ditto.
Inu ditto.
Bell is a Scots international but not on our books.

Aussies (5):

Hitchcox is Non-Fed.
Stone is a Maltese international - not sure how that works.
Amone is Non-Fed.
Asiata ditto.
O'Donnell ditto.

PNG's (2):

MacDonald, errm, sure Bongser read of some Scots blood on the spear side, though can't find it now.
Ipape is Non-Fed.

All this could be eyewash, Bongser needs sleep.

Brisbane born O’Donnell, 23, is a British passport holder with family links on his mother’s side from Ashington in the North-East.
Aekins mother is Welsh
So that is 2 less on the Non-Fed list
Meaning a possible 8

Why ask the question if you work for The Home Office? Any news on MacDonald?

Could someone explain the Kolpak rule & is it PNG or more countries that qualify under that rule to be exempt please ?

Hi Ste. Following Brexit, pretty sure Kolpak doesn't apply to the UK.

I think since 2019 it’s a straight up 7 non British, no caveats. But only in super league for some reason.