is it?

Not wishful thinking. That’s as far as I should go.

Piece in the Sydney Daily Telegraph this morning included the news that the Sydney Roosters have released Atoni from the remainder of his contract so that he can join Super League club Wakefield Trinity…

Many on line comments (from Aussie readers) expressed surprise that he’s going to SL as he’s far too good!

That makes a big difference to our pack.

Yep it does but I am sure some of our supporters will still be able to turn it into a negative. This is just what we want some punch up front.

If Napa or AN other get signed then that total changes the power of the team.

What it gives us is five genuinely big units in Atoni, Whitbread, Proctor, Butler and Eseh and maybe one more to come.

Combined with grafters like Pitts, Ashurst, Batty, Borden and Crowther that’s a decent pack.

Nine is covered by Hood, Bowes, Kay and Smith.

6-7 by Lino, Smith and Gaskell and Kay in a huge emergency.

Tbh the only position I see without an obvious back up is FB. Though you get the feeling Hall could probably do a bang up job if needed.

I also believe that decent backs are fairly available at present, either on loan or permanently, unlike forwards.

Nobody is pretending we have the strongest squad in SL, we clearly don’t, it it’s ok. The trick is do Applegarth and Ford have the nouse to mould them into something more.

There's Kelepi to go in there as well. If we could pull off Napa then the pack would be a improvement on last season.

I still think we need a Hampshire/Ratchford type player who can cover 1 and 6. I'm not suggesting either of those, just that mould of player. I can also see Shaul becoming available again at some point, even if it's on loan.

Centre looks light as well to me, but if we can tie Croft down then that'd solve that issue with Hall, Lyne, Gaskell and Croft as the options.

Good signing. Only slight surprise is that it’s a 1 year deal.

A couple more signings if good quality and we should be ready.

Yep, meant to add the line, dynamic wide running Kelepi to compliment Proctor.

Shaul on loan looks a possibility and that would sort that.

We've actually got two players moving up this year I believe. a young SH, name escapes me and Butterworth who very much fits the Ratchford mould. If nothing else we know Mash understands players like Butterworth more than anyone. At the end of the day, no point having a youth team if you don't back it.

A lot also depends on whether the likes of Shaw, Windrow and Croft have been retained.

One question how many players have we currently got contracted beyond the end of next season. I know some will say we could sort many out during the season however compare our expiring list for the last season and how many we retained.

And when we gave longer contracts out people complained too. I think you were one of them.

Can't have it both ways.

One year makes sure both player and club are happy.
We definitely do have most of the squad contracted to next season but that just means we can negotiate with those we want to keep and let the others go.

I saw a post on twitter that had posted Atoni`s stats for 21 in comparison to Paul Vaughans, who has been a high profile signing for Warrington, RA stats look favourable.

A lot of disappointment from Roosters fans and a lot of shock that he isn`t staying in the NRL, looks like a good signing.

If his stats looks favourable in the NRL it certainly bodes well for us in super league, can’t wait to see him down at the club

Welcome to the lad, hope he gives the front row the ‘punch’ it needs. He’s at the stage of his career where it’s probably now or never for him which bodes well for us.

Given the slight element of unknown with this one and coming off the back of an injury hit season i think a one year deal is right for both him and us. If he is the next Fifita we can offer him a new improved deal prior to the may deadline, if he turns out more Charlie Leaeno then we can get rid for nowt!

He probably want to put himself in the shop window after a year in reserve grade in Australia.

I like the idea of a year as it removes any security for him to get too comfortable in and gives us a good look at him to hopefully extend before others can get to him should he be a success.

Either way he is playing for a contract beyond 23 which is a short term positive.