I think Southern gets a bit of a bad rap from some on here. When he did play he showed what quality he had, even playing out of position.
For various reasons things haven't quite worked out for him but he is still a quality player and I think if we didn't need the quota place to bolster the front row, I'd be more than happy for us to retain him and give him a shot in his natural position, where I think he would prove how good a player he is.

All just my opinion but at least it is based on actually having seen him play and not on second hand information. Yes, the players being talked about as coming in sound good, but until they step out in the Red, White and Blue and prove it on the pitch then it's all just speculation as far as I'm concerned.

I'm fairly happy with a backrow of Kirmond, Lauitiiti and Mariano with Walshaw and Trout as cover. No room for Southern regardless of who he may or may not be ditched for.

Not going to be Manuokafoa www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyl ... ds-newsxml

Not going to be Manuokafoa www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyl ... ds-newsxml

Ewan Dowes gone to Workington.

Having just depressed myself completely reading the 'Agents and Parents' thread - and once again been awakened to our position in the food chain - as well as the lack of loyalty by some of the 'biggest' fans of this club - have I now just stumbled on the answer????

I can appreciate that we need to find some new players, but do they all have to come from overseas? I was really taking heart from the fact that we were so succesful with a 'mostly' GB side.

Whoever we bring in had better be good if we're letting the future of the club slip through our fingers because we're throwing big salaries at journeymen!

Not happy about any of this tbh!

i didn't realise we've been chucking money at journeymen, the only overseas player I can remember we've been linked to is Poore and I wouldn't put him in that category.

It's not as if we're letting some of the younger players leave to sign up journeymen either, it's down to the changes that the RFL have made. The fact is we can't run with a huge squad,so it's obvious some hard calls have been made and we've obviously picked what the team think are the better players out of the younger ones coming through.


TRB got to ask who's shown this 'lack of loyalty by some of the 'biggest' fans of this club'.

From what I can see we are running with pretty much man for man the same squad as last year and we're just after a prop or two. We've got no one coming through who can fulfill that position and there are slim picking around SL so why not look overseas if there's someone who can do the job.

I reckon we've done very well with our picks generally, but the attitude of 'jam today' has to stop at some point and if we are to compete with the biggest clubs then we must start with the juniors - there is some real and genuine talent from our area that we have missed out on - and continue to do so - and it appears (although I'm quite happy to be wrong) that we have the balance not quite right here. We have lost probably our best juniors to Leeds / Bradford / Hudds / Wigan and even Cas - now if we are to correct this issue then we need to accept it as a problem and value the potential results much higher!

I'm not going to name names, but you can glean some off this forum!

Well Im sorry to say I think most of us can see we need a barnstorming prop and we aint got one in our junior ranks and cant see one else where that we could bring in.So we have to look around the overseas players.We aint done bad with what has come through so far in Walshaw,Trout and Cowling who had a very good debut.The trouble we have now is that some have to go due to the changes.I too would like nothing better than have our own come through but we must keep that feel good factor going or the crowds will drop and we end up back at square one.If that means signing a young overseas player for 3 years then so be it but if it means we go for an old over the hill player then no thanks.

I know we need another prop - no doubt - and Wigan will have paid over the odds to secure the young lad from HKR - including a transfer fee. What concerns me is that we are being linked with a number of players from overseas (RA's been quoted on this) and this could reduce the game time / development of the young players we do have, as well as taking away funding from other potential junior signings.

It's a hard balancing act - I just hope we get it right!

Southern and John are rumoured to be the two overseas players who will depart to make room for the new signing(s). With that in mind perhaps its from their salary that the funding will come from and not necessarily from the budget for the younger players.

John has been linked with Salford hasn't he ?

We've been told that we can only sign players if others leave - so yeah - however that doesn't mean we couldn't use more of it on younger players - and the best ones don't come cheap / are the ones other clubs will pay for. We may have a firm policy on wages etc, and it's not easy, but if we're constantly losing out on the very best juniors how do we ever become one of them?

We have a long, long way to go!