While your comment regarding the successes of Williams and Tommy at 6 and 7 were true, I feel it's a very black and white view which when you dig a little deeper realise there's a wealth of factors to why we were winning during that period, factors which don't dictate that we don't need a new 7.

For example, for me Tomkins at FB offered different elements to our attack, elements which will be missing as Hardaker operates differently from FB. As I stated, and you pointed out via your listening 2 full teams, depth isn't a problem, what is missing is a quality 7 who will offer creativity and can run a game, I feel we're still lacking quality in that area. Is Sammut the answer? I've not seen anything from him in his entire career to suggest he will be. Doesn't mean he can't surprise us, but would have anyone realistically pushed to sign Sammut? I doubt it.

If money is an issue for signings we honestly need to examine how we run our business. Apart from Hardaker and Greenwood our last few signings have been from the championship while others recruit from the NRL.

Meanwhile, Drinkwater is about to sign for Hull KR for a lot less than £150k.

As much as I was against the Sammut signing, I prefer him to Drinkwater who is a slightly better version of Josh Woods.

Drinkwater is one of the most over rated players in SL - his entire reputation hangs on an 8 game purple patch.

Absolutely mate. It was a whole heap of "past it", "is this the best we can do" and "we should be looking at players X, Y and Z". I think you're remembering the positive feeling around him after he'd proved himself. At the time of the signing it was overwhelmingly negative.

Hindsight very much colours people's memories I'm afraid. It's like the number of people who were at significant events. It's always way more than were actually there!

He certainly has his supporters in here though. At one point I thought that he had joined the board and started posting about himself.

Surely that tag should go to Hastings who has become a legend in even less games

It wasn't universally loved, but the vast majority of people were positive about it. To avoid hindsight bias, rlhere's what was saidrl at the time. I see we both (correctly) said it was a good move

Hastings transformed that Salford team when he was on the pitch. Got to admit i'm enjoying the whole thing surrounding him and Salford at the moment. Since the end of the season when the fans were signing and putting him on their shoulders he has really bought into the club. Great to see, but he is a far better player than not just Drinkwater but most halves in SL

Still unsure why we have actually signed Sammut other than he was available and is comparatively inexpensive.

If he is merely cover for HB where does that leave Shorrocks & Woods?
Also if he only cover who will be our regular goal kicker?
If he is cover for HB & FB then surely Escare is surplus to requirements? I believe that Marshall has been covering the FB role in pre season training due to the current absence of Hardaker & Escare and is performing quite well which again for me, questions Escare's future particularly when his salary I assume is much higher than Marshall and Sammut.

In summary totally bemused and underwhelmed at the moment.

You've summed it up Itchy.

I forgot to add that Sammut would give us a more "off the cuff" option from HB and a far superior kicking game than Escare.
In summary for me the conclusion I could come to is that Sammut is effectively a replacement for Escare which im not overly sure is a good move all things considered excluding cost.
If we were to offload Escare and replace him with an experienced forward then I just might be able to get my head around it.
Odd signing to say the least.

We must have funds considering the players who've left and offering Hastings a deal. I like the idea of having Escare on the bench, his versatility is great to cover a number of positions. If Sammut is part of the 17 who misses out?

Perhaps Williams and Sammut at 6 and 7 with Tommy and Powell interchanging 9, Escare to miss out.

Baffling.