Quote jonh="jonh"Its not really that simple though, hopefully we will have a new coach with new ideas and new methods, we will hopefully have a complete new backroom staff who can bring the best out of our players so there should be improvement there.
I would anticipate Coley and Bailey if resigned would be on reduced terms from there original deals add to this the loss of Hocks wage and Smiths we should be able to upgrade our juniors and still have the cash to bring in a new Prop.
If we do not and go with what we have minus Hock and Smith we have shown we can live without both of them and indeed at times florish without them, players like Prescott, Ainscough, Mossop, both Tomkins, Gleeson, O'Carroll, Mossop, Riddell and Roberts should all improve next year, or at least a good percentage of them should, you would also hope Feka and Fielden are put in some kind of shape by a new conditioner.
Add the likes of Farrell, and more time for TL and Tomkins to play together to the squad and although not ideal i think we could significantly improve on this year assuming we do bring new coaches to the club, regardless I would certainly hope for some kind of improvement.
We do not have many ageing players, Fielden looks old but lets face it he can't get any worse.
Now i am not saying we could suddenly become World beaters but I think we could put a team out capable of beating most sides and push for a top 3 or 4 place which is a step in the right direction and then have us looking to crack the top in 2011 when we lose Fielden and his massive sallary.'"
There are a lot of "if's" in all that. If we get a new coach, if we get new back room staff, if Feka, Fielden and several other players improve and so on.
At the moment the only certainty (if we re-sign Bailey as well as the rest) is we will be going into next season with the same squad as this minus two players and it has not been good enough.
The need for that class prop has not gone away and by signing everyone who was off contract up and using Hocks wages to improve younger players wages it seems from what IL has said there is no room to manoeuvre to sign such a player yet again.
We can do without Bailey IMO despite Hock going as well provided we use his wage to bring in the prop we so badly need. I have my doubts he is on as much as people think but supposing he is, then it seems obvious what needs to be done. When people have praised the re-signing of Phelps, Coley and TL as each one was signed up again I kept saying it reduced the pot available to sign the players we need and it seems that is what has happened. This is also what I meant when I said people should have been prepared to sacrifice one or more of their favourites who were out of contract if the team as a whole would have been improved by them leaving and their wages getting us that prop.
Dave
