Props - Ifahihiko, Rapira, Smith, Mason, Clough
Back row - Taai Symonds, Bruno, Ferguson, Roberts
Hookers - Hinchciffe and Leeming
Halves - Brough, Brierley, Haskell
Backs - Leroy, Jerry, Murphy, Ormsby, Wardle

Looks a decent base to me, another prop and a hooker would be ideal in the forwards and a first choice fullback. There must be a good bit of cap available now.

If the squad looks the same in February then it is too thin, but lets see who Rick Stone brings in first.

https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&ver ... o&src=typd Newcastle papers seem convinced the Mamo - Wardle swap will happen over the next couple of weeks. Again we are losing an Experienced english player and we are filling up another quota spot. 1 quota spot left - it's hard to see where these English players are going to come from as there is none available - most squads have been announced.

https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&ver ... o&src=typd Newcastle papers seem convinced the Mamo - Wardle swap will happen over the next couple of weeks. Again we are losing an Experienced english player and we are filling up another quota spot. 1 quota spot left - it's hard to see where these English players are going to come from as there is none available - most squads have been announced.

Hope we are not losing an experienced international for an expensive 22 year old who can't TRAIN OR PLAY till at least APRIL!
By the time he's match fit we could be way down the table! Bonkers to start the season without one single established fullback.
Regardless of how well (or not) we do next season The start to this has been very badly managed IMO. We came bottom- some people are insisting that was due to lack of match fitness (I was blasted for suggesting this early on in the season) and confidence- well if players aren't involved in preseason they aren't going to be match fit- and I don't see how players being announced they are going after they've been involved in preseason is going to instil confidence in the rest.
A skinny squad - with little British top flight experience in reserve. Ryan Bailey being bandied about! We are going to have to pray we don't have any bad luck with injuries. If brough, Leroy and Jerry get injured.......

think mamo will only come if north queensland release ponga early for him to go to newcastle early, north queensland say ponga is going nowhere so as it stands mamo wont be coming which is a shame as stone has tried his best to get the lad in, might be too late to find a full back now for 2017

missed out on hardaker too, maybe pre season plans on the recruitment front arent going to plan at all for us!

Surely we will see some more signings soon? Giants renowned for playing their cards close to their chest and not announcing until 100% confirmed.
Whilst we defo need to add to the squad and late arrivals are far from ideal could this band us as underdogs and maybe work in our favour in terms of team bonding and desire? Last season expectations were high and for all the reasons we know and some we don't things fell apart right from the get go.
Perhaps Brough, Brierley and Fergie may bring some of the Scottish Braveheart mentality to our psych along with what appears from many comments and determination from last year's squad to avoid any repeat of the Middle 8?
Not all doom and gloom yet despite our skinny squad but will feel much better should a prop and full back be announced soon.
Plus of course we will hopefully see the influence of our new coach and conditioner and again the players seem to have bought into the new regime.
Most important will be a good start to the season to build confidence for all. My biggest fear is that we do not ever seem to truly understand this - last season away at Salford in the 8's being a classic example. Next season first away game at Widnes will be huge for us.

Yeah that's a massive game

or you could get off to a good start and fall away like widnes did last season..

widnes away is one of the hardest places to get a result in super league too.

then we have bogey team salford after that!! opening fixtures look good for us but then again not!

Widnes away with them losing Brown just got easier imo

And we'd have creamed them their last year if not for our 2016 trademark collapse lol

I can only hope Stone has seen our lack of starting ability and last seasons fade and fixed it

Also Andersons game plan of kick deep and hope we can keep our discipline will likely change too thankfully

I'd much rather play the harder teams (on paper) first to be honest.
No easy games, but we need to get off to a good start after such a shaky last season. Can't be dragging ourselves into big pressure at the start otherwise we'll be trying to play ourselves out of a hole we aren't in.

widnes not lost brown yet think they want a fee for him and wire not paid up

kicking deep game plan was the way our team was set out and worked..look at the league leaders shield season, went wrong when they stopped working hard for each other, believing in that game style and giving pens away!

be good to see stones new way of playing in 2017

RE mamo, l said it was a done deal weeks ago, and why are posters saying he won,t play till March, now April, he broke his ankle about 7 weeks ago, the pot should be off by now and he,ll be in re hab, l would expect him to be back in full training by the new year, he,s 22 ffs not 42.