Nice rumour

What other options are realistically available?

depends what Bradford think Lynch is worth, if they start talking silly money then we may as well look at buying someone better than Lynch out of their contract.

Who?

Anyone....that's the point. Lynch is probably one of the top ten props in the comp but if money's no object why not offer a million for James Graham.

I'm sure Saints would bite our hands off

Or we end up in a bidding war with another club for Lynch which takes his fee beyond what is reasonable.

a) James Graham won't be contracted to Saint Helens next year
b) Why would a player for a truley top club risk coming to us?

I'm not saying he would, (bad example I suppose) but the poster I was responding to had suggested we throw money at Bradford, regardless to secure Lynch rather than McRae advising Pearson on his value and worth.

He then asked who was available and I was just saying that if we are throwing money around, then everyone is available. Westwood, LMS, Peacock, etc.

and to answer point b) Money

I see Agar's been doing his new job already and signing people for Wakey...

He's signed for Canterbury, Coley's retired, Morley and Peacock, Crabtree are going nowhere, Griffin is off to Leeds supposedly. It's a very small pool of experienced props who, crucially would improve Hull.

But their club's would sell them in a heartbeat if the price was right.....that's what I was getting at.

Pearson and McRae would've sat down and looked at what positions need strengthening. They would have made a list of all players available or not, and worked out what they would be willing to pay against the value that player would add to the club.

I'm sure McRar would have advised Pearson exactly how much Andy Lynch is worth with a year on his contract left and at the age of 32. To think he shouldn't get involved is naive.

Why haven't you made a bid for one of those then as all 3 are better than Lynch?

Probably numerous reasons.
1, They are playing for reasonably successful clubs so would be reluctant to leave.
2, Age, Morley 34, Peacock 33.
3, Crabtree is contracted till 2015 and would cost a lot more to release.

In addition Peacock has a bad injury record recently and Lynch is better than Crabtree IMO.

eh? You're missing my point. I'm not saying we have or would, I'm just presenting the case that every player is available if the price is right.

If we are in for Lynch and it costs £50K to buy him, then that possibly represents good value, but if it is going to cost £200K to buy him, then I would expect both Pearson and McRae to start looking at other options for that sort of money. The key thing is that Pearson would be advised by his DoR as to the value of each and every target