Whilst that looks bad on paper you're completely overlooking the number of youth players that have come through in that time. You'd have to add the likes of Davies, Marshall and Willians, for example, who have all been first team regulars. If you always replace every leaving player with a signing then there is no room for the youth to come through.

Not 1 mention in any of those ins/outs of Davies/Marshall/Ganson/Wells/Paisley/Mullen/Gildart/Budgie/Williams (Ok last 2 was year before but they were just establishing themselves) etc.
Dom Manfredi/Ryan Sutton/Lewis Tierney/James Greenwood/Jake Shorrocks/Sam Powell/Gregson/Bretherton/Partington

Players coming through the youth

So although your NET count is -11 players it totally ignores the players that have played for the club that have come through the ranks and into the team that I would suggest Equal that amount? (Some still play for the club, some don't) but they still came through and played some part.

If we sign 2/3 more big names per season it SERIOUSLY affects our ability to make this system work.
And that system is One of the reasons we won SL in2016 despite an horrendous injury crisis
That system is one of the reasons we didn't end up in the Middle 8's in 17 when an even worse injury crisis happened yet we went to Wembley & were 1 game away from a Semi Final in SL.

I don't want to get back to the days of siging 2/3 Big name players and ignoring the Youth
Moran/Fletcher/Davico/Paleasina/Vaeliki/Scott Logan etc. signings all had Big effects on how we could run the youth system and retain certain players.
We didn't handle that very well

You have quoted a load of youth players that have either left, would have been on peanuts or both with the exception of Williams, Powell, Sutton (Who I mentioned), Burgess (Who I mentioned) too and Gildart. I’d say at present we are 3 internationals down from where we should be, with one of those being a marquee player. I’d say we need a second rower, a prop and a hooker at the very least.

To quote the mass signings of players, I’m against that as it takes time for them to gel like 2006 all over again, that’s why you gradually add to the squad but we have been a player shy each season for the past 3.

It’s not just players, we’ve replaced Mark Bitcon with Paul Johnson, surely a cheaper option?

You were talking about Ins & Outs whilst ignoring the 2/3/4 ins to the squad each year the youth system is providing.
That was my point

If you want to replace leaving players with like for like quality/money etc. wise then you may as well forget the youth as there will be no money left for them to progress on to.

Everyone fit and without the Hamlin issue I'm happy with our squad
(Bar Tony Club but that's a personal issue - And I am a big Sutton fan who a lot of the Loud Experts on here have done nothing but call for the last 3 years).

We have IMO one of if not the best 1-6 in the league and with a better platform laid by our 8-13 that have largely been missing the last 2/3 weeks and at other parts of the season I am convinced we'll be fine.

The trouble is that people who have been wanting things to go wrong get very vocal (Not accusing you personally BTW) when things do not go to Plan A and then want to Throw the baby out with the bath water and see it as some kind of justification of their irrational stance over the last 5 years.

In a previous thread similar to this I alluded to the marketing malaise and what's happened since Simon Collinson left as my biggest concern (Wish I could find that post).
And yes, I do believe there are major issues in that department.

But lets not forget that the same people calling Wane are not happy Now he's left.

The same people who slander and slag Ian Leneghan off, come up with malicious rumours and call him not fit to burn and Yet still want him to pump millions into the club (A lot of whom seem to me can't be arrised putting £20 into the club never mind £20million).

The same people slagging George Williams off as rubbish are slagging him off for going, if you don't like him why worry that he's going?

The same people who slag Budgie off for having the audacity to say in 1 interview (That's right, 1 interview, not over and over again as I have seen other posters describe it) that he would at some point like to give it another go, maligning the injury to Dom Manfredi and how terrible it is and how his career is threatened whilst not acknowledging that Budgie has just gone through the same thing and the same thing could happen to him tomorrow and his career could be over!!!!

Same people who slag Sutton off despite playing 150 games at prop for us by the age of 22 winning 2 GF's and a WCC - Now surprised that he's holding his own in NRL!!!

People slagging Gildart off last season because of some Social Media rumours that he was signing for Saints, before signing a 4yr deal, then criticising him because he has a couple of poor games despite him being one of THE BEST centres in SL and international at 22/23!!!
Also criticising him as though he doesn't deserve Good wages same as an overseas signing.

As for Mark Bitcon - I'm not sure how we could have kept him away from City - But then again some posters were questioning him at times over the last 3/4 years every time we got an injury crisis!!!!
Get Rid!!!!

If IL wants to cut his cloth he's quite entitled to (And given some of the stuff he's been labelled I wouldn't blame him) and until another guy comes along with 10/15 million and is prepared to put £2million a year in to get the same abuse then we'll just have to put up with it.
But be careful what you wish for, Short term Fixes don't always work.

And sometimes it's best to stay patient and Work through problem times not Knee Jerk and look for easy answers.

Jukesays - I’m glad Wanes gone, wouldn’t want him back no mater how bad things get. Despite being the most successful coach we’ve probably ever had the rugby on show was awful, don’t let the stats of winning big games distract you from the fact there were some very dull and low scoring games, he’s the rugby league equivalent of Tony Pullis. Though we are struggling and I’ll use the Castleford game as an example, that was the most I’ve been entertained in a long while even though we lost.

On another note, I’ve not slagged Lenagan off, but he needs to sort out who’s running the club because it isnt being run as good as it cold be. Instead of having jobs for the boys and moving everyone up and around within the club, bring in experts. If Williams, Lockers and Leuluai leave at seasons end there must be a lot of cap space available for your Cooper Cronk, I think only he could take Leulauis 7 spot and lead us around the pitch like Lockers does all in 1 package.

I agree with your thoughts on Wane. I'm grateful for the success he brought, but I'm also happy to see the back of him for a number of reasons too.

That's also not to say that I'm happy with the current coaching setup either. In a league that has a tiny salary cap, the gains / advantage Vs other teams need to be made off the field. There's no cap for coaching staff and, for me, we're missing a trick. I'd love to see someone like Flanagan incharge and have a few assistants around him too - much like under Madge when we had a proper number 2 in Wane and then Deacon or Harris. Let's stack the coaching dept with some real talent and then see what happens on the pitch.

In regards to Cronk - do we really need someone at that level? Don't get me wrong he's the best 7 out there and he'd easily be the best player in the league, but he's probably 'too good'. In a league where guys like Coote and Austin are ripping it up, but neither have played Origin, do we need to fight for a Cronk level player?

Have you had your eyes shut for the past 20 years? We have had a very clear case study of what happens when you continually pay over the odds for aging antipodeans, versus what happens when you invest in youth. Clue - one method won us 1 major trophy in 12 years, the other won us 7 major trophies in 8 years.

Aging antipodeans like Pat Richards, George Carmont, Brett Finch, Jeff Lima, Ryan Hoffman, Matt Bowen, Mark Riddell?

Which of those was 36 years old, and taking up anything like the cap space Cronk would command?

Richards and Carmont - from back before the NRL dwarfed ours
Finch, Lima and Hoffman - Came with Maguire at bargain prices following the Melbourne cap issues
Bowen - Was probably on a decent wage, fair enough, nothing like what Cronk would command though. We're talking about a guy who played 1 game for Aus v a guy who has been an automatic selection for them in the halves for a decade.
Riddell - Seriously?

That's the balancing act isn't it.

All the great SL era teams have had a good balance. I always look to the Leeds side from 10 years or so back as a perfect example. That was a great side that had a real mix of quality club produced lads, quality British players like Senior and Peacock that they brought in and then good/realistic overseas talent like Leuluai or Webb.

Maybe the NRL cap has changed that. The quality British lads go abroad more often than not these days.

Cronk won a grand final without touching a ball, kicking a ball or making a tackle, he could play Superleague until he was 83.

If you think Cooper Cronk is a realistic acquisition you are living on another planet. He left Melbourne to go to Sydney to be with his wife. If he wishes to carry on playing (which I highly doubt) there will be plenty of NRL clubs who could spend more than us.

The NRL cap now means our marquee money is a run of the mill contract for one of their youngsters. The days of superstar signings are long gone, unless they have a drug ban or the like (ala Barba)