It's not a new deal as such, all 3 have had 1 year extensions triggered in their contracts for next year.
Hooker is a mess this year, Houghton is once again being flogged to death, Smith gets 20mins if he's lucky and the 2 young lads can't get a look in, it's baffling.

I tend to agree about Laidlaw. Never really stood out for me.

I just find it odd that no decision seems to have been made on Denive's future nor has there been any media talk about him moving elsewhere. I guess we'll see how he goes with his latest loan move. I wonder if Swinton will play him at hooker as I don't think Newcastle did.

Well maybe both will stay, Hodgson third choice after Borouh and Smith with Balmforth more of a utility cover.

The club has now been open about Balmforth - he’s great a lot of the time but he switches off. And when you switch off you lose points. You can’t get clearer. The issue seems to me that fans want to criticise Houghton- now- there may be a case in some areas of his game - and Balmforth plays in his position. But that misses out detail that us fans don’t know. It’s a fans 2+2 and makes 5. On the other hand the coaches, close to the issues make the decisions about what is really known. It’s about trusting the coaches who live and breathe the game. Yes they make mistakes but clearly Balmforth has a bit to go. That said in a season where there is nothing to lose I’d give him a run. I just don’t like this ‘ I know better from miles away’ mentality

The whole team switches off regularly,week after week. I'm not sure balmforthnis any different to the rest

Coming from a lad who was in the Hull academy recently, Laidlaw was the highest respected and toughest forward outside the first team. The story goes in his first first team training session he ran straight at Sao and flattened him! Obviously doesn’t mean a lot, just know he’s well thought of.

Can’t shake the thought that we’re getting it all wrong with Balmforth. Heard attitude issues etc, but we just need him to play consistent minutes. Wigan and Saints etc have countless ‘arrogant’ players coming through, but they seem to harness it in a productive manner. Seems to have all the attributes.

Latest rumour on the socials is Bateman as signed.

Cas is the club I got told.

Fans only see the attacking stuff. It’s the effort based all round things that appeal to coaches.
It’s a team sport , you’ve got to muck in with the tough stuff.

Im not sure why people dont think Balmforth has being given a chance. Hes being around the first team since 2022, played games and also had a season out on loan, which not every youngster has had that luxury.

Thats not to say he wont make a player but hes had chances and not done anything to make me stand up and think we have an actual player.

He’s played the odd game here and there on the first team, in a position we consistently flog a player in. He could have had more games on the bounce. Playing 20 minutes one game then not playing for another 5-10 isn’t going to do anything.

Really don't get the love in with Balmforth. What has he done to make people think he's the real deal? He cane to us with great raps and I think we fought off a lot of other clubs to capture him but he's done nothing since arriving. Yet certain posters are obsessed with him getting a starting spot, granted if you don't try something new we'll never find out if he can step up but all the signs are that he can't......at this time

['hasn't he played 3 times off the bench? Maybe had an hour of first team rugby in the last couple of years. We're crying out for something different at dummy half so I would say give him a few games off the bench and see how he goes. It can't be any worse than we have now

Doesn't make sense with persisting with Houghton anymore so nothing to lose. Give him sufficient game time to prove himself capable if he doesn't look at other options for next season. Having said that I reckon he's on his way irrespective how he does. Surely use a quota place for first choice hooker with Bourouh as back up and develop Hodgson. Moy can fill in there as well.

That was the same with Stavely until he was given a run of games
Balmforth has never been given a run of games

Regarding the Balmforth situation, we obviously don't know what is going on behind the scenes. We're not seeing the day to day stuff such as training, attitude and the like. To be fair to what Cummins recently said about Balmforth, it's not an unreasonable comment to say that he's still developing and part of that is learning not to switch off (although the focus was on Balmforth, he did say it's the same with the other youngsters). The problem from our point of view is that we only see what happens out on the field. We're seeing several other youngsters get chances and see senior players switch off which contradicts that comment. Throw in the questions about whether Houghton should be getting flogged the way he does and that we're a struggling team in need of something different that might spark us into life and you can understand that there's confusion and perhaps frustration over Balmforth suggesting there's more at play than we know.

It's a similar question with Walker. Dropped for a bad game against London even though others also had a bad game (and a worse game at that) yet retained their place. Now he's being sent to play for the reserves suggesting that there's possibly more to it. And that's no disrespect to Moy who I think has given a good account of himself every time he plays and is a real prospect. But these things definitely raise questions, perhaps more to do with the situation we find ourselves in than anything else.