Cleaning Brough's boots.

They need a SO for next year, so I'm thinking one of them will have to fill that gap.

No he has not!!

They have signed Grix to play 6 though by all accounts.

Brough is under contract for next year and is in discussions about extending further, but he will be at wakey next year....and playing behind a monster pack!

moving to hooker if/when Moore goes back to saints.

They've signed Drew and already have a fine young hooker in Lunt and an international hooker/backrower in Faiumi(sp).

I think the signing of Drew may have been because they've missed out on Brough.

Fa'longo won't be arriving, no point even trying for a work permit after he was sacked for knocking out his coach, they have cctv evidence of the attack.

But no charges have been filed!!!

Doubt anything coming of that considering it was meant to be Jason Taylor that was going round like a drunken teenager slapping his players in the face.

It was meant to be the second time he'd done it to Fa'alongo(sp) when he snapped and decked him.

Self defence maybe? well maybe not but fair do's for him knocking out one of those annoying drunks that tries to wind people up

Blimey, Wakey/Hudds & Bradford aren't half doing some player trading. It shows there are deals to be done out there for clubs....if only our chairman...

Look at some of the players that have signed or re-signed. Quite a lot of chaff in the wheat.

To be fair the deal/s we need are for 1 or 2 real high quality players and not the run of the mill lads that have moved between those clubs.

The teams recruitment we should be looking at is Warringtons. They are signing guys who are already good players but with potential to improve or guys like Solomona and possibly Moi Moi who are explosive players who will turn games for you.

You have to be prepared to shell out some decent money for them though but i'd have thought that wouldn't be a problem for us considering Hock and Tim Smith have left.

I don't quite get this statement from Lenagan that we have no room to move unde the cap without others leaving

Some players on bigger contracts than we thought?

Hock and Smiths money though would still surely make a decent amount available? I know Smith wasn't rumoured to have been on a top top wage but he must have been on something reasonable.

Wire lost a couple of fringe players last year and managed to sign 2 internationals in Carvell and Higham and have done amazing business again for next season with rumours of even more coming in whilst we always release more then what comes in yet the pressure never seems to ease.

I wouldn't be suprised if we're not spending upto the cap limit anymore.

Both Carvell and Higham left their previous clubs through the back door, so to speak so I'd imagine they aren't paid top dollar.

It's all speculation of course as we aren't privy to the players' contracts.

We've brought Mossop back who was out on loan for most of last season, so his wage wouldn't have been on the cap at all until Hock went.

Similar to Goulding, he was farmed out when gleeson arrived because we couldn't afford him under the cap, now he's back as well.

Mossop = full wage
Gouding = full wage
Sam, Ainscough = much bigger wages i'd imagine.

That'd add up to a fair bit, but if and when Bailey leaves i'd still expect there too be some money available.

Pretty sure he'll be here next year.

cap money used up on a player shown to be not good enough...joy

How has bailey "shown not to be good enough"?

bailey thoroughly deserves his contract extension. its a pity he got injured when he did, he has been in great form this year, one of the clubs players who deserve more credit than he's got from this years performances.

Couldn't have said it better..

I don't see how we can be. IL wants us to be able to run as a profitable business, one way to ensure we hit that target is reduce costs, including payroll, until we are turning a resonable profit I wouldnt expect us to be close to the cap again.

Correct.

But add him to the Roberts & Riddell list of Aussies we hate. The guys in front of me at the DW border on racism in their abuse of them.

When a player is out of contract a club has to evaluate whether or not giving them a new contract fits into the grand scheme of things the club is working toward.

In Australia players who have had excellent seasons for their clubs who you could say deserved a new contract will be moving on because the clubs have decided they need to use the cap space on a younger player(s) or on a different player from outside the club to further their ambitions. It's been like this for years.

You can't sack players so when a players contract is up this is when you need to look at the big picture and in this case if Bailey's wages would be better used on a prop then that is what needs to be done. And that is before we consider the risk of tying up cap money on a player with his injury.

A player must both deserve a new contract and actually fit in with the clubs plans.

Giving players a contract just because they deserve it is sentimental nonsense and just not a hard nosed enough approach. If you do that you end up re-signing everyone because they tried hard/are nice blokes and you don't make any progress, which looks exactly what we seem to be doing.

Looking at players on a individual basis when they are off contract it's easy to make a case for them to deserve a new deal but that is the wrong way to approach it.

Dave

I agree with this Dave. I really like Bails, both as a club man and for what he brings to the team. His performances this year have been very good indeed. However, he doesn't fit in with what the club needs most urgently as we have an abundance of very capable 2nd rowers. Let's not forget that we didn't flinch at letting the likes of Ellery Hanley go when the time was deemed to be right for the best interests of the club.