Quote: Knocker_White "I would hope to hear some positive news on retention before the end of the regular season. I guess its difficult for the club to get players to re-commit at this time of year, particularly the overseas contingent and whilst I'm not sure anyone would be spirited away by a SL club, there will surely be interest from the other established Championship clubs. You would also assume whichever club falls out of SL would be able to offer a full time environment, which is a consideration.
Would very much like to see us keep a hold of Whare and Norman and the fact they don't appear to have deals lined up for Elite 1 yet makes me hopeful on that front. Natoli, Parata, Bassett and Ulberg have become big parts of our squad and I'd like to see them retained.
I don't think we have seen the best of Waine on a consistent basis, however I would be happy to have him go around again with the benefit of a proper pre-season and some experience at this level.
Raiwalui and Albert look to be a bit on the outer currently, however I guess we'll see how the end of season plays out and what they are able to bring.
It certainly feels as though the uptick in performances and results has made the club a more attractive proposition. We will always face the challenge of geography and cost of living in terms of recruiting from the 'heartland', however I feel we've had a decent look at how the academy player x overseas talent could work moving forward.'"
I agree with all that and your player assessment. Who knows who will want to move on of the Uk based players. I doubt many of us would have envisaged Batley being a bigger draw than London so we shouldn’t rule it out but it seems to me not worth the effort for, say Beinik, to move to a team like Bradford who appear marginally better than us but if a SL club weighed in that might be different. Trinity are the X factor here. They will be in the market for players and may take a punt. I wonder if Horsman might move on/ be moved on. As for the Academy prospects some haven’t figured at all eg Howarth so it will be interesting to see what we do. One assumes we should give them time to mature but game time is needed and whilst we have flirted with the bottom of the table that has been too big a risk at times.
I think we have a fair chance of retaining the Antipodeans we want although, as before, I assume we are a ‘summer job’ for Whare and Norman. The one I’m not sure about is Parata. I think his other job is property renovation/ development. I suspect it is North based where prices to buy fixer uppers are more manageable. If so an offer from Bradford, Widnes might be of interest to him.