Sutty will go next year and Bateman may very well follow him to Australia, Tommy and Joel will probably retire and Lockers will play in 2019 if his body is up to it, FPN will leave at the end of the season. Add all those together and we could be looking for a new pack in 2019! IFL and Rads need to be recruiting.

Has he been there long enough so that only half his wages count on the cap?, assuming that dispensation for long serving players is still in place.

Didn’t the shareholders get told at a recent meeting to expect big changes on the playing front in 2019? There is apparently plenty of players off contract and the club I presume is looking around for potential targets.

We’ve gone back in to that type of club where players coming off contract up their games to earn new deals and then put their cue on the rack when they’ve signed. We saw it last year with a couple of players and unless we’ve managed to revert to a better culture we’ll probably see that again this year.

It’s always a pretty big sign for me that the group isn’t as focussed and driven towards winning trophies as it should be.

Quote: old frightful "Has he been there long enough so that only half his wages count on the cap?, assuming that dispensation for long serving players is still in place.'" Long service allowance was for a maximum of 50k across all players at a club who had been at the club for longer than 10 years. That would have been eaten up by SOL alone I imagine. All that being said, I am 99% certain it got replaced with the club trained allowance and the (first) marquee signing rule back in 2016. The 2017 cap rules can be found: www.rugby-league.com/operational ... html#p=276 (I cant find the 2018 ones yet, but given the link, I assume thats because no one at the RFL has gotten around to writing them yet).

Quote: old frightful "Has he been there long enough so that only half his wages count on the cap?, assuming that dispensation for long serving players is still in place.'" Long service allowance was for a maximum of 50k across all players at a club who had been at the club for longer than 10 years. That would have been eaten up by SOL alone I imagine. All that being said, I am 99% certain it got replaced with the club trained allowance and the (first) marquee signing rule back in 2016. The 2017 cap rules can be found: www.rugby-league.com/operational ... html#p=276 (I cant find the 2018 ones yet, but given the link, I assume thats because no one at the RFL has gotten around to writing them yet).

Who's our best hooker then? Powell > McLlorum, not for me. Leuluai who has barely played a game at hooker for the last 2-3 years or Ganson a young lad who has maybe 5 first team appearances.

McLlorum may not be the most flashy or talented player but that's not the main attribute he brings to a team. Our pack only stands up when McLlorum is firing, now our powder puff pack is even more soft.

Regardless of whether he has been used there, Leuluai is/was still the best hooker at the club. Leuluai hits harder in defense, has more skill in attack, better fitness levels and has a kicking game.

I agree McIlorum is aggressive, but that's it. Surely we can expect more from a starting hooker at a top SL team, when our competitors have the likes of Roby, Parcell, Houghton and Clark. I just hope we see:

1 Escare
6 Williams
7 S.Tomkins
9 Leuluai
14 Powell/Ganson

rather than what I expect:

1 S.Tomkins
6 Williams
7 Leuluai
9 Powell
14 Escare

Technically probably Ganson but he has a lot of maturing to do.

Your guess is as good as mine, can't remember them ever being this late.

I think, well hope, a lot of opinions will change after this season plays out.

I honestly believe Sam Tomkins will prove to be the best half at the club, and Tommy will prove to be the best 9 at the club.

However, I'm merely speculating that Sam will play in the halves and Tommy will move to 9. Wane may elect to play Escare at 6/7 or even Powell at 7 to partner Williams.

Even with Micky departing there's options and experiments to be had to find out our best line-up.

I think Micky has been a very good servant to our club, he is not the most natural hooker but I could never question his commitment and desire.

I also think the club has made the right decision to let him go. By his own admission he cannot play big minutes anymore and he is coming to the end of his career. We all agree that we need a change of playing style and some fresh impotence in the halves.

I hope this is the trigger to move Sam to half back to partner Williams and TL to hooker. Tommy has shown for NZ that even though he has pretty much always played at #7 for his club #9 is his best position. He’s a strong defender and a better ball player and runner than Micky.

In the halves Sam & Williams appears to be a more exciting option than Williams & TL and hopefully Escare can pick up where he left off prior to injury and also improve defensively. I still have a few reservations about Escare and ideally would like to sign another half and keep Sam at FB but I doubt that is an option a month before the season starts.

1 Escare
6 Williams
7 Tomkins
9 TL
13 SOL

That looks like a pretty good spine to me, hopefully Wane will give his props licence to run the ball a bit more.

Apparently it'll be Escare at 1, Sam at 6, Williams at 7 and Tommy at 9, injuries permitting.

That will seriously annoy some posters if true...

A few people who seem on the money have said Tomkins is running at 6 in training and I hope that’s the case but I found it interesting that’s he’s come out and stated he’d prefer to stay at fullback given the option.

Either way it looks a reshuffle is going to happen.