The only thing that matters is if he his better than what we’ve got, if he is then fine, we need to win some games and fast

Josh will probably get a total of 40 mins playing time during his 2 week stay. I think that's what people find baffling.
Woods in the squad for Fridays game so it's fair to assume that Josh will be on the bench.

What's baffling about it, as Mopsey says so long as they are quality minutes who cares.

Also, do you think this is the time to bring a 19-year old into the team, I don't.

I've seen too many 19-year-olds who come in and struggle only to be most heavily abused by those who demanded they get picked and their careers ruined.

We need a win, no time for dogma.

He’s hardly a youngster either. Just the same as taking a 29 year old on. We need a good hooker. If he does the job for us then I’m more than happy

Firstly good luck to Josh, welcome on board, 3 pages in and that's not been said. It reminds me of when Ryan Atkins signed from Bradford and was first rolled out in front of pretty much an angry mob by Steve Ferres! (I think it was)

I think if we had some points on the board then we might have seen Bowes getting the gig but as stated we are desperate for a win.

First of all i said its good croft getting some game time i personally would play him on wing ahead of any winger bar in johnstone but that the round hole square pegs thing again.

Youngsters yes cos 23 year olds are that esp as they have limited first team experience as these have.now if jowitt is out i get the bolt one as we have no orher full back but why do we have 2 players who cant get no way near the hudds team .what i dont get is a hooker on a 2 week loan of which we only have 1 game anyway.why not give our home bread bowes a shot he did well last year if a 17/18 year old prop is worth a place in squad im sure that bowes is.and regards the academy licence if i was one of the people deciding who where getting these im sure seeing us loan youngsters with very limited first team experience for 2 weeks i would be asking why not there own academy

Nether the less the lads are here and while there in a trinity shirt they get my ful support

If we don't introduce our own youngsters how can we evaluate them. We are talking about 40 mins max to give our own guys a fun out.
Josh bee on loan at Whitehaven and more recently Leigh
Hookers a difficult position to cover so let's hope he can show up in the 40 mins he will be allocated.
For me give our own a 40 spell.

As I say let's wait and see.

If we accept that the coaching staff has a better idea of when a player is ready and what players we need at the moment than we do then they must know what they are doing.

We pay them to do this, they will have their reasons and if they are wrong we will soon find out.

Might not have any option soon. The whole Academy system is under RFL/SL review. Some SL teams will lose their Academy license in favour of some Championship teams keeping theirs.

Thats my take on it. If we’d never seen Bowes and didn’t know at all what he could do it would make sense but we have and in the games he got last year he didn’t look out of place. A full pre-season under his belt i struggle to see why he wouldn’t be able to cope with half an hour spelling Woody. The experience would be invaluable.

Same goes with Brad Walker, unless he’s injured then i don’t get why he isn’t getting a go at stand off, he looked pretty good there last year. Even recall Conner Bailey from his loan for a while, he can always go back later down the line. Max is obviously available as he’s in the squad so he’d stay at fullback rather than moving him to squeeze in somebody else’s young player. I find it incredibly frustrating but they are here now so good luck to them.

Brad Walker I get, he's 22 baffles me too. But Bowes is still a kid in playing in the most physically demanding position on the field. It really is not the time, not in that position.

Bowes got a shot last year like a few others because there was no relegation, there is now. It was a risk we could take then.

I hope we can bring more Saints players on loan, put it this way if you selected our 1 to 13 to play against Saints 14 to 26 then the bookies would give us a start. As others have intermated we can have absolutely no room at all for emotion and sentimentality. We are staring down the barrel of relegation, we are in a battle for the very survival of the club. Those posters suggesting that there is nothing to worry about as Leigh are nailed on to finish bottom are kidding themselves, Leigh will be up for it when they play us and they could beat us twice, they could be playing one of the Cup semi final or final teams the week before a final and get an unexpected win. This season the difference in quality between Leigh and us compared to the rest is massive. Just look at the quality in the Hudds squad if you really want to worry yourself. We are desperate for a Hooker, I have not seen Josh play but if he is 23 and still on Saints books then he will be a decent player. He will be a better player than Bowes is now and that is the only thing that matters. Now is the time to get serious and simply do whatever it takes, not one single ounce of energy should be wasted worrying about how a junior player feels. We need to win some matches nothing else matters.

Agree with others who take a positive view on this . Bowes may well be one for the future , but this lad should be way more mature and experienced,
Imagine if Bowes was shoved straight in and proved not able to quite cope the very same ones who say play the young uns would be on his back and shatter his confidence,

This

Well said.