Pundits already giving their views on next season. We are going to be in the bottom four apparently- that's regardless of any signings we may/may not make it seems.

mason has been injured and that has set him back from the last article i read about him

Sat with Nathan at the dinner last week as we sponsor him. It was blindingly obvious he is suffering from a lack of game time, the dual reg with a club like Oldham does not work and a compulsory reserve grade for all Super League clubs is needed if overall standards are going to improve

can look at how you want... blame stone for mason not progressing

or praise stone for macintosh, leeming, dickinson, obrien progressing and also giving simpson another chance to prove himself with a year deal...

Can do both surely???
Has obrien progressed or was he already a decent player?
How much did Chris Thorman have into the impact of the backs? Or indeed those through the academy. What works for one doesn't work for all.
Folk wanting Tony smith back- he almost caused a young Eorl to leave the sport altogether....

Without wanting to misquote, I think Brearley was also alluding to the fact that there have been plenty opportunities for young players to progress. There comes a point where the player also has to take responsibility.

If he ain't good enough, he ain't good enough.

They don't just base it on signings though jools, I think they will try to calculate whether our players are going to be any fitter ( or luckier ) than last season, whether the club is showing more or less ambition, and of course the strength of the squad and how they performed last year will have some influence, none of which mean they will necessarily get it right. How many of them had Wakey in the top five for this season.

Overall though you would have to say bottom four sounds about right going on the last two seasons, which in a way you could say is progress, whether it's enough to improve gates is very doubtful, and until numbers get up to at least what they were under N Brown the club won't go forward. I would say the general level of most signings is an indicator of the clubs aspirations.
I think they are going to see what the coaching staff can do with what they have, and rightly so, on paper they are far from being a poor side, but on the field they have at times looked woeful, not because they haven't won games but because, they have looked like they didn't care either way.
I set off this season hoping for survival and we did that , (despite some bad luck) , next season has to be one of improvement.

I don't think it has been a great season for us or the sport generally. Fartown did well to recover from a terrible start and credit must go to Stone for that. I think the Ridyard signing worked well because he complemented Brough and took some pressure off his kicking game. However we are fragile in terms of team spirit as shown by the way we finished. We have no leader, still, and we make some weird signings off the pitch and decisions both off and on it.
Why did we sign Ormsby for example? Why? He is not good enough and it was crystal clear when he was at Warrington. I can't fathom what prompted that. There is no justification. We could have a squad of 13 and I'd not sign Ormsby. I'm not sure why we have signed Rankin for the next 3 years to be honest. Where will he play next year if Mamo is fit? In the halves? He doesn't complement Brough's game IMO. We need to utilise our quota spots on stars. Rankin is solid, for sure. Is he a star? A standout? Essential to the team?
Why is Smith rumoured to be leaving? When he has played he has done well IMO and I'm struggling to see why he hasn't had more of a chance when you look at some of the others that have gotten in and then not played well. We are only ever linked with Championship players at best and last season the bulk of our incomings came from there. As a club the ambition is gone. I can't really blame Ken for that but I feel that the stars we are/were aiming for are just out of reach full stop and not just for us but for all clubs apart from 3 or 4. No club is going to average 10k+ aside from the big cities like Leeds & Hull and then clubs like Wigan. Not the way the game is being run from the top at the moment

Then we have RL generally. The game is being run into the ground by the people at the top. Not enough refs so we throw in young kids who are easily swayed. No decent sponsorship. No publicity. Wood literally stealing his exorbitant wage - a wage which is completely unjustifiable and doubtless much more than the sponsorship he is meant to be part of bringing in. Who decided that wage? Where is the performance management on these people? They're not performing!
The play is generally dull across the board now and gamesmanship is at an all time high. It's just not as entertaining as it used to be. Cas & Hull are probably the two faves for the GF but in my opinion are the two of the teams that indulge in gamesmanship the most. Screaming at the ref with arms out looking for penalties etc.
The TV coverage is so negative. Cummins regularly gives a different video ref decision to the video ref. How many times have you heard "He's got that wrong..." on the commentary?

The ticket deal for next season is a great one. Again. But I'm hesitating. I know that next season we will, like this, more often than not get sent a ref that is out of his depth (not his fault) because Wood wants to keep himself jowls deep in pies rather than actually do his job and promote or improve the games standing. Will we be playing Friday? Sunday? Thursday? Who knows. Who cares. I'll probably buy the ticket, as last year, out of loyalty to Ken. My losses are a drop in the ocean compared to his. But I don't wait for a season to start any more. I wait for it to end!

The game needs some changes at the top. It need some proper leadership and some new life injecting into it.

A clearly very heartfelt post Danril. I also agree with much of what you have said about how the game is going.
Eorl did confirm to someone on social media this week that fridays will be game day.

Good post, have to agree with all of that, also the game is becoming too sanitized now, you only have to touch a player and he gets a penalty, if he thinks he,s not going to get one, they go down and milk it, l don,t know wat the Canadians or Yanks will think of SL if it ever arrives there, they like their sport to be on the tough side, l used to laugh at gridiron, for being soft(padding helmets etc), but now the shoes on the other foot.
Bought my 2018 ST last Friday morning, by 2015hrs Friday night l was regretting it, ok i,m over it now. Will be at the GF next week, hoping for a Tigers v Cods final, but would not be at all surprised to see Rhino,s v Saints. Like Danril l have been looking forward to the end of season over the beginning, but then again l am optimistic re 2018.
Going to the WC, l think there is one other on here, goes to Lindley Lib, knows Kenny Ball, l will be there on Sunday, make yourself known.

at the time we signed ormsby im sure we were struggling for wingers... we even had foster on loan, remember him? ormbsy actually did ok too at the start, think he got a hat trick at warrington for us.. paul anderson made the signing permanent not stone.

we signed rankin to play in the halves with brough, unfortunately mamo then got injured, so he had to go to full back and did well to say he had just jetted in from across the other side of the globe and not played with team mates before... a good pre season and playing him in the halves could see him in an even better light.

how is ken davy lacking ambition? we are spending upto the cap not under it.

go to 5 games next season and you have got your money back on season ticket, cant complain at that!

Spot on post

We signed Ormsby to appease those moaning we 'let' Broughton go after he'd started well for Catalan.

This doesn't mean much. If it's like this season only half will actually be on a Friday.