And when I was talking to rodwells agent he said we were definitely looking for another overseas back row

George King is leaving HKR https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-leagu ... 70x9jzlxqo

George King is leaving HKR https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-leagu ... 70x9jzlxqo

On what basis is he Federation trained?

I appreciate he was probably born in the UK but he probably left when his dad retired when he would have been 7 or 8. Thought the rules were more robust than that.

Maybe. I liked King when with us last time and he can play all over the pack but I'm not sure he's starting.
He does the basics really well so maybe we need one of those.

I wonder if alegend included him in the average signings?

Is the question your asking is on what basis is Lachlan lam fed trained - he played as an under 9 and under 11 over here , vagana played his initial rugby at Queensbury (I think ) lam received approval to be off quota and vagana is in an identical as he was born in 2000 whilst his dad was playing at Bradford so was an under 9 - I know it sounds ludicrous but it’s true

On a related topic think we are 5-6 players short of the size of squad we need to compete in the middle regions of super league. Hull who you’d like to think we could be competing with have a signed squad of 31 and there starting squad is packed with players proven at highest level - admittedly some are a bit long in the tooth and as a club they flatter to deceive - but it gives you an idea of the strength in depth you need

Exactly, I believe we have 25 now officially announced. Certainly should be looking at 30 players if your spending cap and marquee.

I’m expecting 2-3 new signings still with one of very high quality/ marquee and 3-4 re-signings.

Announced is the key word here. It's not like the old days when we are signing someone a week before the season starts.
There are just some players yet to be announced as far as I know.

I'm told that the 3 remaining new players yet to be announced are Josh Rourke, Matty Russell and Seth Nikotemo

So if we're aiming for a 30-man squad, that would leave us with something like:

Jowitt
Johnstone
Hall
Pratt
Walmsley
Trueman
Russell
Atoni
?
Rodwell
McMeeken
Storton
Pitts

Doyle
Uele
Vagana
Scott

Rourke
Delaney
Law
Booth
Russell
Lino
Lawford
Lingard
Smith
?
Niketemo
Boothroyd
Bain

So it's very clear where we need troops. We could easily fill those spots with Hood, Cozza and Shaw - I'd be perfectly happy with that for next season at least.

I’m fine with it to be honest, I just thought it would be close with Vagana as after a bit of digging you have to be registered with a member club for 3 years to be classed as Fed trained. I don’t think you register till you are under 7’s and assuming he left when he was 8 or 9 it will be very close for Vagana to meet that criteria.

I knew Lam left when he was 11/12 so more understandable that he meets the criteria.

Still not sure who our quota players are for 2025.

Everyone keeps saying our quota space is full….but is that actually the case?

If it is I’d be comfortable trying to come to an agreement with Lino and/or Walmsely if we could bring a quality 9 and secondrow from overseas.