Ray Nasso
Craig Gower

Via Peter Smith YEP

I can't see it, I think we've used up our non fed spots.

Thought Gower had retired?

I thought so too. Had a long standing injury he couldn't shake off which is why he missed the end of Newcastle's season and the world cup. At nearly 36 he said he going to call it a day according to a recent interview with wayne bennett.

Ray Nasso played well in the games I saw. Lots of running from dummy half

Nasso would be good interchanging with wildie. Not sure about gower his experience and class would be useful but at 36 and with recent injury problems would he be out more than he played. Plus he wouldn't be cheap.

Agree about gower, but he is class. Was London's best player by 20 country miles last year. I'd like us to take the young French halfback from Salford on loan. Agar can get in his ear about playing 1st team

I've spoken to Mark a few times over the last few weeks, he is wanting to play super league but no club has come forward, his agent is based in yorkshire and is looking for local clubs

I heard yesterday (from a good source) me and my two mates are our new forward line. (If I can get the time off work)

Just random thoughts but when we are looking round at players I think we should be looking for particular types to fit our team.
Much like our back 3 of Fox Mathers and Cockayne last year, who all had flaws but did particular things well together we should go for teams and partnerships of players

Assuming everyone that is left is staying, I'd look for a winger who is a robust runner who can get yards from the kick return and is strong in defense.
Having the fastest man in the league is nice but we are not going to get him the ball if we are stuck on our line

I'd also say a hooker with fast accurate hands to distribute is more important than a runner or a defender, though they clearly need to be able to do both of those things as well.
I like Wildie for this already, so lets get someone to compliment him rather than an 80 minutes tackling machine like Aiton was. Good organisation skills will help if we have a young half back in charge. We can afford someone older in this role as well if Wildie is taking a lead role....like Rinaldi did for us.

From a prop point of view, I'd lean towards tacklers rather than massive runners. I love the guys in the world cup who smash into the line but there are quite a few that are slightly reduce in this area but play long minutes and tackle everything - robustly. Maybe one runner but the rest need to be able to work hard as we are going to be weaker down the middle. Amor Aiton and Poore all gave us this. Though they looked good running, their biggest advantage was locking up the middle and stopping us getting dominated. We can't afford luxury players.

We have good wide runners in Kirmond Collis Ali and we need to get the ball to them quickly and stop them having to do the grunt work.
With that in mind Washbrook is going to be really important to us this year. We need him topping the tackle couint every game and not be thinking about being a ball player.

Exciting though it is I think we have to be more realistic about these WC "bargains".

I hope I have some credibility on this subject having been proved right as to how expensive last years squad actually was. Just to clarify I have a lot of contacts in the game, most non Trinity and that's where I get my info - can't name names sadly.

These players who are being mentioned may or may not be potential superstars - who knows as non of us have a crystal ball do we. However the days of cheap overseas signings picked up from WC minnow teams is now long gone IMHO. Most are actually NRL fringe players anyway and probably make a very good part time living out of the Aussie game already.

However for the real issue step forward "the player agent" - and trust me they will all have one. There won't be any Stanley Genes etc stepping off the boat in this WC.

Despite what I fear people are thinking those "fringe" players will not be cheap and as such will be a huge risk and possibly a monumental mistake. True you would hope our coaching staff could spot a lemon but WC RL is a completely different animal to SL.

For perspective take the much touted Mark Offerdahi. Good player no doubt but until this WC a nobody in the transfer market. Now had we spotted him pre WC we may have got him relatively cheap. However logic states that as he's had a great WC his value has gone up - that is certainly how his agent will view it and rightly so - who after all would want to sign a player who has had a bad WC!

I reckon he will want (maybe not get but want) 40-50k a season and it won't stop there either. He will want housing, a car, travel expenses etc which will bump it up to 50-60k for season one. This for a player unproven at club level. Not looking such a bargain now IMHO.

When you consider you could probably sign 2 maybe 3 young SL fringe players from top clubs for that, either as loans or transfers it looks even worse. I can also guarantee that at least one of those will end up as a new Paul Johnson (decent) or if we are really lucky a Kyle Amor (excellent) or mega lucky both.

These players arrive ready acclimatised probably living at home with a second hand Cleo all of there own. For me they offer us far better VFM than almost any WC speculator IMHO.

I think if we had a bit of spare they'd be worth a punt but I feel our resources are so tight shouldn't risk it. There are plenty of equally good young English players out there busting a gut for a chance in SL - it's not like Mark Offerdahi etc bring much more experience anyway - for me giving them a go is long term better for the club and the game.

I for one hope we don't sign any of these WC speculators - not at this moment in the clubs history anyway. Sorry to be a party pooper but we need to go down the Kear/Ferres rout when they were signing fringe players like Moore, Atkins and some young kid called Ferres who Steve apparently knew.

Sadly Don passed away a few years ago.I know it was a joke.Just saying in case you didn't know.

come on guys.... the need for signings is a desparate one, but bloody Craig Gower???

Not only would he demand astronomical wages...... He is also Craig Gower.

Good post Vasty. I would agree.
It's no good looking for gems in the place everybody is looking.