The original poster was comparing Crowther and westerman at the same age , aged 18 joe was national league one player of the season , age 21 he was hulls marquee signing, at Crowther S age he’d just been signed for a 150 k by Warrington, aged 32 with all his injury and personal issues he’s still a far superior player to both batchelor and Crowther .

Ahh my mistake, yup I'd agree with that, though there was a point where Batchelor looked the real deal.

Tbh think batchelor will come again, since his injury doesn’t seem to have kicked on but a decent close season and regular foot ball let’s hope he does come through and fulfill his early potential.

Is Batch ooc at the season end?

If any of you have seen moneyball with Brad Pitt, I think we are in the same position in trying to replace Joe Westerman, like for like so to speak due to the money a player of that quality would command and also who is available. I’d be more than happy to go into next season with Crowther, Arona & Brad Walker all competing for the 13 shirt and direct any left over funds to another position.

Yes he is, I know this is quite controversial but I and it is only my opinion believe him to be a better player than Crowther.

Moneyball is one of my favourite films but I don't draw the same conclusion.
Replacing Westerman per the Moneyball logic means you have to find someone with his stats.
The important thing is you don't have to replace like for like in the position.
We are losing and big metres middle with good hands and a lot of experience.
Improving those stats in the front row can mean you go for different stats at 13.

The point being, you need to identify what their stats are and what you need in your team.

I was just trying to say that we are going to have to go in a different direction rather than looking for another Westerman, but yeah great film!

Sorry I didn't quite get that.
Ignore my long wordy post and I'll replace it with "I agree"

100%. I think Bachelor has been excellent lately and we need to sign him up if possible

That’s not controversial and I tend to agree. However for me Batch is a pure SR where as Crowther is far more versatile. It’s horses for courses, two very different players imho.

Hope we keep both tbh.

Think i'd agree with that - We know there's little likelihood of forking out for a direct replacement with all the other areas we need to sort out. We just need to accept that the team is not gonna revolve around one particular player next year and we move on. Plenty of other things to be reasonably happy with right now. Who knows he might get a bad injury in his first game and be out for the season.

Has anyone mentioned we need props.....?

Westerman reminds me a little of Lee Crooks. At 17 he looked like being a world beater but some where along the line he started to think he could get away with being unprofessional in the way he treated his body. Some one must have talked some sense into him and now he's showing what he really can do.

Fantastic movie is that.