Whats the point then?

Again I confused if we got Obst off we would have,

Mckinnon
Seymour
Heremaia
Moa
O Meley
Manu
Obst

So we couldn't sign Fitz or Lauaki then?

That would be my view. If we can't find a British player for what we need then move obst on to create the space. There would be plenty of takers.

We're trying to circumnavigate the quota rules for a player who probably won't even be in the 17 if everyone is fit.

About time we started developing our own players more effectively

If we got obst we could keep fitz over Mia or sign another 'full' quota player.

IMO we won't get better than Moa.

Only reason I can think is that we're not intending to re-sign moa or lauaki and sign a new quota player.

The quotes from agar are a bit odd IMO, seems to intimate someone may be moving on who the fans would want to keep. Moa maybe?

But isn't that just the point - IF this scenario were to happen we would be playing by the rules. The fact that the rules may be over-complex, practically indecipherable and open to ridicule and manipulation by all concerned doesn't mean that we wouldn't be playing by them. To my mind it is the rules that need to be clearer and simpler, so you can't blame any club for not taking advantage. Much as I'd love to see home grown talent, I guess most fans would also rather see us utilise the rules to the maximum in order to have a successful squad.

I see, could be another big mistake by Agar if he lets Moa go (unless it's Moa's choice).

This move would not go down well with the fans.

There aren't many props in SL I would swap for Moa and like you said we are unlikely to sign a better NRL prop IMO

Dave he could go to a very good NRL side, no club in sl has 4 props better than him.

If we were re-signing moa we wouldn't need to get obst off the quota

Hopefully yes.

As I understand it Ogre, Moa (if he signs), Heremaia, Seymour, McKinnon and Obst will take the 5 spots (even though there are 6 of them due to the new rules).

If Obst comes off then we could sign another player.

Maybe it's Obst who is trying to get off then, would give him more options for the future.

The stumbling block may be that he and his agent may want too much money, Hull want to keep him but as props are in demand other clubs may be willing to chuck silly money about.

obst is already non fed isn't he? As it stands, next year we have heremaia, seymour, mckinnon and o'meley already signed and non fed, leaving 1 spot available. We could re-sign lauaki or moa with the players we have or a quota/non fed player if obst comes off the quota. I don't think that obst getting a British passport means we could sign moa and another quota/non fed player

is O'meley definitely here next year, isn't his third year optional?

i thought obst was exempt just like manu is with him been here before the 2008 season?

I know we're all confused by the quota/non-fed situation however my understanding was that FC current had;

Quota: Obst, Fitz, O'Meley and Phelps
Non-fed: Fitz, O'Meley, Phelps, Moa and Hame

You can have no more than a total of 5 on each list, next year we'd have

Quota: O'Meley, Heremeia, Seymour, McKinnon, Obst (unless exempt)
Non-fed: O'Meley, Heremeia, Seymour, Mckinnon and (hopefully) Moa.

Thus if we got Obst from the quota, we would only be able to sign a federation trained quota player. I'm not sure how many of them they are about and would be unhappy if we signed one tbh - It'd be cheating the quota system IMO. The only other way taking Obst from the quota is useful is if we don't sign Moa, we could then sign a quota non federation trained player as opposed to a non quota non federation trained player.