I think we missed Sam Barlow badly in the play-offs, his superb offloads to Ryan Brierley in support were some of the best highlights of the season for me. Martin Ridyard has not got the pace required now in the halves, and seemed to lose form at the end of the season. Like other fans I believe he should now move to loose forward, and use his ball distribution skills there.

Good call reffy.

I was initially very excited at the signing of FFMM but I have since become increasingly frustrated at his level of play.
Let me explain. Fui doesn't actually break the line very often, o.k he attracts 2, 3 & occasionally 4 into the tackle *by name & reputation alone* but how many tackles does he actually burst ? It's not as if he doesn't have the beef to break tackles either.
Fui also doesn't possess the sparkling offloading game that Barlow & Hock (in his pomp) have.

Hock. Can be very good, but equally very bad, especially when he turns up uninterested. Sometimes looks like he would be happier taking a dump & reading Razzle on the side lines than playing. Great player in his day *his day has gone*.

Time to unearth some raw, new young talented lads for the future of the Club I think. It's not like we haven't got two great, successful amateur Clubs in Miners & East + an abundance of other quite local amateur Clubs to steal from is it.

Which young lads would you pick then? I agree fui as been a let down! But hock as been carrying the pack at times this year!!!

Out of those 6, I would like Spencer & Dixon & probably Acton ** to stay.

Dixon has been a solid performer for my money, while Spencer is a big, powerful & mobile forward & has lot's to offer.

** Acton.

I see him as a possible raw talent, maybe he has 12 months to get his act together & prove himself to PR & some fans, or maybe the patience has run out ?

Leaving *maybe*

Haggerty has been hit & miss, the petulant knee was diabolical. Pitmann & Aspinwall don't really feature, Pitmann hasn't been able to break into the team for any extended period.

Tommy G has been solid & has always been one of the hardest grafters in the team, he has a contract extension I believe for the 2016 season, so he could find himself on loan in the Championship *though he is good at this level*.

Sarsfield might get more chances *if not loaned out*, let's not forget we need cover for all these new signings.

Beswick should stay, he is a specialist hooker & if anything should happen to Higham during the season, we then lack experience at 9.

Backs

We desperately need a supersonic winger, not just fast but big & strong too. Trouble with this is, where do you find one who is SL quality as they are all in SL/NRL already, do we have a scout ?

Ryan is to be loaned back to us from Leeds, but Rangi is on his way here also, so do we play Rangi at 6 with Riddy as cover ?

Is it time to really push Ben Reynolds towards being our next 6 or 7, he has raw talent & I see good things for his future.

Are Riddy's days numbered ?
He has done great at the Leigh at Championship level but could he cut it at SL ?

These questions & more will be answered next season.

Dixon isn't big enough for me! Does the basics well but isn't the class we now have available. Keep Tommy for me he's defence is 2nd to none! Spencer doesn't play anywhere near enough minutes and can go for me! Acton maybe on last chance saloon (I'd prefer him to Bailey) as for riddy I really believe we should be looking to switch him to 13 we looked lost when he wasn't on the field the last few games! Rangi and Ryan are of the cuff players which is fine but we need too be playing too a set game plan next year and let these 2 run riot off the back of it

I really don't know Oggy, I posed the question elsewhere, do we have a scout ?
Maybe I should also ask, do we have any in the system & what is our system.

To achieve the goal of SL & to achieve longevity at that level, surely we must invest in youth & a proper system & pathway in which to grow a constantly evolving pool of talent, much like Leeds & Wigan do.

Wigan after all only pick from the same sources that Leigh could & should, albeit they have the SL & financial/success cache to entice the best young players to commit to them.

I don't profess to have all the answers, just ideas & aspirations like most fans.

lets not drop into the whole "super league standard" players like years gone by. We have just finished bottom of the qualifiers below two part time teams.

Yes if the signing are confirmed they are encouraging but all but Hansen have caused trouble at their previous club. Are we becoming some kind of rehab for former international players. (Hock, Chase, Paterson).

This years mistakes have been because of a lack of rotation within the squad throughout the season, we need to ensure the players are fresh for the qualifiers next year even if that means not running away with the division.

I expect Armstrong, Aspinwall, Maden, Goulden, Sarsfield, Beswick, Wilkes, Platt, Walker, Pitman and Barlow will leave permanently. And Reynolds out on loan.

Lets have a season under the radar, no big talk from fans or members of staff, no need for a challenge cup run as it proved a huge burden in the end.

Problem is with young lads they get poached by saints wire Wigan Widnes and then we get them back when they are 20 and not good enough!

Dixon's defence is excellent, in the last 3 outings the opta stats have Tommy missing 14 tackles whilst Dixon missed 3.

Tommy is also a penalty machine and struggled immensely with the Pace of the qualifiers.

Rowley should have been giving some of our up and coming reserves game time in the last few weeks of the championship and resting first team players for the play offs.

Wigan , St Helens, Warrington , Salford etc will always pic the cream of the talent because of their current standings in the league system , Leigh have at least 3 ex Saints academy products and I think 2 from Salford, now for me the problem lies with the reserve grade in the championship only 5 teams entered this year and has probably hindered every reserve team players chances of progressing, a few of last year's reserves have gone out on loan Hankinson, Ward ,Tracey ,and Peet . Bate Briscoe and Duffy have left completely as well as Rowe and Pendelbury, these players are too good to be playing in a poor none event league beating teams 86-4, achieves nothing , I fear that the players above plus possibly Foster, Lee, Swift , Harper will end up dropping out of the game unless they are given a chance , a lot of people on here have quoted " how tired " the team is , well I have named enough players that could of played in games this season to keep the 1st team regulars fresh and go into the 8's ready for battle and not carrying knocks

I think Spencer is a good player but for some reason hasn't played enough this season, I do think we should have played him more.
Fui does what Fui does, he makes meters by charging up the middle, he doesn't make many breaks but who do we have that makes bigger drives? Plus I think we've not used him as we should, need to be passing him the ball as he's running 5/10m from the try line.
Beswick has been outstanding this year when having to step up after loosing Penky, don't know where the rumour about him going has come from but I hope it's not true.
Tommy is a good player & always gives his all and I think can sometimes takes opponents by surprise not being a big name. He's still more than good enough for The Championship but probably not for The Qualifiers. If we intend to do more squad rotation next year I'd keep Tommy involved playing most of The Championship games.

I had forgotten about Maden, Platt & Barlow.

Seems like Barlow wants a return to Fax & if true should be allowed to go, we don't need any player who doesn't really 100% want to be a Leigh player.

Platt just doesn't have it anymore, so thanks but bye bye, same goes for Aspinwall.

Steve Maden has been a loyal Leigh player & so a great servant of the Club, without ever being a great player. Sure he has now retired.

Wilkes has already signed for Barrow for 2016 & what a great message he left for the fans on his departure. Good Luck Ollie.

Tommy G will probably go out on loan, does this free up some cap money ?

Pittman as I have mentioned previously can't break into the team so can't be good enough or PR doesn't rate him, so I reckon he's gone.

Armstrong is a good centre but I wonder if he is considering other career options now that he has his qualifications.

I have to disagree with Beswick, he has been very good for Leigh & done some long hard minutes 'on his own' in a 2 hooker modern game. Bob should be retained by Leigh IMHO even if it is as cover/options as an experienced specialist 9.

Reynolds IMO should not be allowed to go anywhere, in fact I would improve his contract again to keep the vultures at bay. I see something in him & predict a very bright future for Ben, he could be the future for Leigh.

I would also like to see Foster get brought in to first team RL for the Club, start to build on his game, again a future asset.


So a quick ready reckon & I can see 9 or 10 departures with more to come & only 5 inbound if the Chase deal is done. That leaves a bit of room for 1) a big fast winger & 2) a quality centre, then it starts to look like a very strong squad.

My worry is,were will the players come from to rotate? As you said possibly 10/15 players leaving, to pay for the wages of the inbound 5.

We can't do the same as this season and have 7/8 players all requiring operations at a crucial point.Should it happen.