Whichever way you cut it the most important member of staff at any RL Club is the coach.

With due respect to Neil Jukes we should have spent top dollar and recruited the best and let the coach decide who he wants on his playing roster - even if his own salary means there is less budget to spend on players.

For whatever reason we have lost Ridyard, McNally, Burr, Hopkins, Vea, Higson, Tickle and last but by no means least Mickey Higham. None of these guys in my view looked out of place in SL. What would they now be doing in the Championship for us?
Based on what we have seen so far and in my humble opinion - all of these players, without exception, would literally walk into our current First Team.

Has KC recruited our 19 new players based upon some limited video footage of their career highlights?
With the possible exception of Matautia, Mortimer and possibly Baptiste (we haven't yet seen enough of the latter to make a decision) the quality is quite simply not there.

I have great respect for Neil Jukes - no-one can take away what he has achieved for this great club. He has also done the honourable thing by resigning, but you can only play the hand you have been dealt. Some folk may wish to observe and argue that he could have played this poor hand much better.

Having said all the above I shall be there on Sunday - as usual cheering the guys in a Leigh shirt on.

I tend to agree with all that PTB. You remove the 'spine' of your team at your peril.

However, I would add, given the top level experience that our new squad has accumulated, they are no mugs, and must be capable of much more than we have seen.

19 new players says it all.

HKR kept hold of a large chunk of their SL squad, most of whom felt guilty in bringing them down in the first place.

Last seasons squad would have been P4 W4 so far this season, and comfortable with it.

we made a mistake not keeping hold of most of the players mentioned and throwing a 'wad' at Jerrod sammutt whilst we had the chance. That London side which we pasted in the middle 8's play good rugby around sammut, and if we fail to improve under new leadership, would no doubt paste us !!

Was or is there anyone at Leigh who even considered Gerrad Sammut ?
During a game Sammut is on the ball all of the time, dictating play and probing for openings, he's relentless just what we need really !
We have to make good with what we have now and, I still think that is possible
Evans, Hall and Baptiste will improve us I'm sure

The Watcher as the majority of Leigh speccies feels very confused at the moment, the pre season signings looked good & The Watcher was excited about the upcoming season. Then the games start & it all looked very familiar, pretty good for 20-25 mins & then a catalogue of mistakes, penalties & what looks like a complete lack of confidence desends upon the team.The Watcher believes that fitness must play a role in this pattern. Why do our players appear not to be as fit as other teams & in particularly part time players? Is it the training regime? Is it the players themselves? Is it a lack of respect for the coaching staff? What ever it is the new head coach must address this apparent lack of fitness that has blighted the team recently. Perhaps a strict disciplinarian is what this lot of seemingly talented players needs right now, someone who will tell them exactly as it is & someone they will actually respect & listen to. Good luck to the new appointment, you'll need it to turn this particular oil tanker around.

Please summarise your point

Great title for a Song.

Sung by Lots of Artists inc
Stacy Lattiswaw
Filter
Alicia Keys
Bobby Womack

See you soon Charles

You most certainly will Mick, can't wait.

Thanks for your logical contribution Alan.
You are a good judge and I sincerely hope you are right about this season's recruits, with reference to their experience and your expectation that they surely have more to offer than what has been delivered to date.

In addition Mickey Higham, Craig Hall and Rhys Evans will undoubtedly provide a major quality improvement upon what we have seen so far.

However I need some convincing that this year's squad is anywhere near the quality of last year's, despite the fact that Glenn Stewart and Willie Tonga jointly proved, with hindsight, to provide a very poor return on the investment.

Only time will tell in regard to the claims made by KC about this year's squad.

Cheers PTB - not sure about being a good judge, but hope I am in this case! As for the squad, well, on paper..................If only the game were played on paper, eh?!