[quote="alegend":2861pfac]Agree ,takes a big step up from playing in the championship to playing international rugby .Even the great D Topliss who was playing in the Wakefield first team at 18 played international rugby about twice .And N Wright also playing at 18 in the first team never got near international rugby and he was a match winner[/quote:2861pfac] Nigel played for England U21s and has a full England Cap against France. But agree with your point.

If Booth is a future international does that make Pratt a future golden boot winner? It’s just paper talk. If he’d have signed for Cas/Hudds etc barely an eyelid would have been batted.

[youtube][/youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R4OLCNqw8o Link to the Universities Game that Evans played in at the weekend

Tyson Smoothy, hooker from Brisbane on his way to the mighty Trin for 2026. Anyone know anything of him?

[quote="homme vaste":tu6i5nbv]Tyson Smoothy, hooker from Brisbane on his way to the mighty Trin for 2026. Anyone know anything of him?[/quote:tu6i5nbv] Hostplus cup hooker of year 2022 season. Looks to have a good amount of NRL appearances last 2 seasons. Looks like he can field kick and is a pretty good passer of the ball. That’s from a quick search.

[quote="Trojan Horse":3o12x01m]Hostplus cup hooker of year 2022 season. Looks to have a good amount of NRL appearances last 2 seasons. Looks like he can field kick and is a pretty good passer of the ball. That’s from a quick search.[/quote:3o12x01m] If this turns out to be true it would be a real sign of intent signing a player in a position we need to improve. Whilst he played last year for Brisbane the reality is he’s well down the pecking order there under Maguire as it’s a position they have identified they need to improve and with Ben Hunt, Walters and a young prodigy coming through in Blake Mozer he will be lucky to get game time so not shocked he’s on the outer. Having said all of the above he’d be a very good pick up for us and his style probably better suited to SL than the NRL, he’s very much in the Matt Parcell mould. Interesting to see who he would replace on the quota though. Again if it turns out to be correct it’s great we are getting our business done early for 2026, I think the lack of stability has left us in the past behind most other clubs in this respect.

A three year deal apparently.

I’m sure God will Nay or yay it. Be a brilliant signing if true, remember him coming through at the Storm

Guess time will tell but great replacement for hood. We have a three quota players on one year deals so guess we can create space

[quote="Kirmudgeonlyisback":1dfply4p]Guess time will tell but great replacement for hood. We have a three quota players on one year deals so guess we can create space[/quote:1dfply4p] Who are the 3? Walmsley Faatili and Atoni? Could be any of those 3 to be fair.

Walmsley is possibly one most at risk I feel. Seem strange Faatili who Warrington were after signed of one year so possibly he's just here for the year. A quality hooker for any of them is fair enough. Like I have said the strongest squad will be next year and year after once Mills and Powell get the squad they are after.

[quote="jonh":32yz2ecp]Who are the 3? Walmsley Faatili and Atoni? Could be any of those 3 to be fair.[/quote:32yz2ecp] Exactly. None of those contract lengths are an accident are they. They're the three that aren't guaranteed to fire in Super League. British props are a bit harder to come by at the moment though.

[quote="jonh":33blvkx0]Who are the 3? Walmsley Faatili and Atoni? Could be any of those 3 to be fair.[/quote:33blvkx0] Walmsley the most vulnerable for me but we'll find out how they all perform in SL soon enough.

I don’t know, I think Atoni could be just as vulnerable. One things clear if true, there’s 2 spots for 3 and it could be based on form early season. No excuse not to put best feet forward which as professionals in positive they will do.

[quote="Trojan Horse":3qxo1oxp]I don’t know, I think Atoni could be just as vulnerable. One things clear if true, there’s 2 spots for 3 and it could be based on form early season. No excuse not to put best feet forward which as professionals in positive they will do.[/quote:3qxo1oxp] Agree vs Atoni, he needs to prove it against the big boys, ok romping against part timers. He hardly pulled up flags in SL a couple of year back, albeit our team was awful.

[quote="Trojan Horse":3pu9s5vf]I don’t know, I think Atoni could be just as vulnerable. One things clear if true, there’s 2 spots for 3 and it could be based on form early season. No excuse not to put best feet forward which as professionals in positive they will do.[/quote:3pu9s5vf] Although I like Atoni, picking Walmesley is more about the ease to replace him. A lot more English wingers available than props.

[quote="jonh":1vswikyc]Who are the 3? Walmsley Faatili and Atoni? Could be any of those 3 to be fair.[/quote:1vswikyc] I thought Lino’s contract ends this season. I recall that Atoni improved greatly when the work was shared with DF and good props are hard to come by.

[quote="Dannyboywt1":28155rst]Walmsley is possibly one most at risk I feel. Seem strange Faatili who Warrington were after signed of one year so possibly he's just here for the year. A quality hooker for any of them is fair enough. Like I have said the strongest squad will be next year and year after once Mills and Powell get the squad they are after.[/quote:28155rst] Were Wire really after him though? I’m not saying they weren’t but it seems unlikely given they have full quota for 2025. I see Faatili as a shot to nothing really a big like Boothroyd and Bain. Totally unproven and will see how he settles in into a full time environment. If it doesn’t work out nothing lost. If we are doing business now we must be making decisions on quota players though so I’m guessing it’s most likely Atoni or Walmsley, most likely the latter, would be strange to make a decision on Faatili with him being with the club less than a week.

They don't have to make any decision now though. In fact better not to. Those three are effectively playing for a contract in 2026

[quote="Scarlet Pimpernell":m6wc1ugg]I thought Lino’s contract ends this season. I recall that Atoni improved greatly when the work was shared with DF and good props are hard to come by.[/quote:m6wc1ugg] Lino signed 3 years around the time the take over happened till the end of 2026.

[quote="Scarlet Pimpernell":3nluy924]I thought Lino’s contract ends this season. I recall that Atoni improved greatly when the work was shared with DF and good props are hard to come by.[/quote:3nluy924] Actually I'd forgotten about him. That's 4 overseas players on their last year of contract this year.

[quote="PopTart":3oijx2iy]Actually I'd forgotten about him. That's 4 overseas players on their last year of contract this year.[/quote:3oijx2iy] Lino is not ooc this season

I stand corrected my memory playing tricks on me.

Yep, just means we have players playing for something and a point to prove, will only help us further. Makes a change we are doing business early rather than waiting for the scraps when everyone has already done their business

[quote="Scarlet Pimpernell":m9nwfqng]I thought Lino’s contract ends this season. I recall that Atoni improved greatly when the work was shared with DF and good props are hard to come by.[/quote:m9nwfqng] Correct - Atoni improved massively when DF joined him. He has all the ability and I'm confident he will do tbe business now there are quality props in depth.