As much as I would like it to be a case of that we have to accept that mini & sika are not youngsters and time has inevitably caught up with them both. Both have been great players fir us and have been integral in the success but time doesn’t stand still for anyone. We should have not extended their deals as both not only take a chunk of cap space but also quota spots.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of Pritchard in terms of true value but didn’t think we utilised him properly. However when he was here we had genuine impact off the bench and teams couldn’t live with us. Now you look at our bench and we have nothing anywhere close to worrying teams in terms of impact. Paea looks finished whilst he was good for ya first tine round it’s clear time is up for Mickey at this level. When Green & Bowden return it will be half a dozen games before they settle into the rigours of SL again.

We needed to makes changes and adapt the way we play as we can’t play the power game and apart from Shaul & Litten we have no real pace in the team. We will struggle regardless until the Coaching team correct the issues that stare us all every week in the face.

The recruitment or lack of this close season has been very poor and certainly not improved us or addressed the issues all its done is fill the roster with average players.

That is what’s disappointing that we still see the same issues and seem to have learnt or accept the issues

Good post that Pritchard had a real presence in the team when teams saw him and Ellis come on after 30 minutes for say Watts or Bowden and Taylor the intensity actually went up and you could see they feared the worst. Really we haven't replaced either of them or Watts (nor Fonua really) and now our forwards just get marched down the field and we just can't seem to slow that roll down. Fans want to see exciting signings I know, but squads need breaking up a bit too with new and respected newcomers coming in to change the dynamic too. I can't help but think that it's all a bit cosy at present and that there has been a bit too much sentiment in our retentions this year.

I THink youve missed the point. We resign aging players who we could see last season not having the impact they once had yet other teams sign these massive south sea islanders who can make a real impact.

Lazy recruitment

Contracts were being negotiated when we were in a run of 8 wins from 10, hardy "not having the impact they once had".

Check back 9 months, there weren't refences to "Lazy recruitment" then, far from it.

No one could have anticipated the crippling injuries that wrecked the season in more ways than one.

I do wonder if a lot of the problems we have now are down to pearson replacing motu tony with ellis. It's easy to blame radford but I would guess his input into recruitment would be identifying positions he wants to recruit into and discussing those players other then identify as options.

I think james clark is now in charge of recruitment so I can't see it improving much

I know the club wouldn't come out And say it, but I reckon this season as already been written off, already looking towards 2020 , hence Pearson backing of radford

Even the most optimistic fans on here who could never accept any form of criticism of the club or coach are now beginning to realise the effects of poor preseason recruitment.
The result is undoubtably going to be a very poor season but what it also does is give the club a huge turnover and recruitment of players for 2020.
Radford has to accept total responsibility for this as its his call on recruitment and retention.
Most of us realise he has made a huge mistake not refreshing the squad with Super League standard players and has shown too much sentiment and loyalty to several overseas players in key positions who we can now see are way past their best.
The signing of four reserve players who to be honest none would be able to hold down a first team position in a super League team is hardly going to help reverse this negative run.
Pearson must also be in two minds now on what to do.The way we are rolled down the field is plain to see,and the effects the losses have on attendances will be concerning particularly looking at the gate on Thursday when we had the ticket offer for passholders running and a decent crowd from Cas.
Also who do we have that can attract some top overseas players for next season?
Certainly Radford will be relatively unknown in Australia and NZ and we all can see that overseas players coming into Super League tend to follow a coach they know or have worked with.
For me Pearson needs to be realistic and make make a change before Easter.
Give a new Australian coach time to make changes for next season as this one we may as well write off.

I think you will find that there were plenty bemoaning the contract offers to certain players. The timing of the negotiations is largely irrelevant. The very fact the club were not looking to bring in new faces and hope that those in the twilight of their careers had another years left in the tank is the very definition of lazy recruitment.

The injury crisis last season was as bad as I can recall. But I fail to see the connection between recruitment for 2019 and 2018's injury list.

And what a sad state of affairs it would be if, after just 2 games, this were true. Pearson needs to realise that the patience of the fans will not last that long. Its not necessarily about replacing the coach, its about shuffling the squad, releasing (paying off) a few and then paying a fee for a player that will improve us.

Why? Players have to be given 6 months notice if they are not going to get offered a new contract, so decisions have to be made very early.

A lot has been said about backloaded contracts, plus Westerman was signed up and given another contract at the end of last season. It may be that we had to resign Mini and Sika because no ones available for their money? Salary cap governs recruitment, FC must have been up to cap, hence picking up cheap players, Radford made a comment about players being signed up on appearance money. Whatever the reasons, I don’t think it was lazy recruitment but more a case of needs must. I’m not a club apologist more a club realist, I don’t think Radford’s job is under threat, Pearson is hands on, I just hope they’ve got a plan in place that will keep us in the mix and not just fade away as we did in the 80’s and after 2006.

Plus extensions for Kelly, Fash, Masi, Carlos, Bowden, Taylor, Connor, Lane, Talanoa, + Harris and a number of juniors.

Has anybody hada look at the out of contract players for the end of this season. Some interesting names among them, the main one that caught my eye was Fifita from Wakefield who is probably exactly what we need currently. Others were Parcell , Golden, Mulally from Leeds, Hastings from Salford

Probably a lot more available but they are just the ones I’ve seen so far

Rumoured Leeds looking to offload Parcel, Cuthbertson, Mullally & Golding too if they can. Surprised re Parcel & Cuthbertson to be honest but Leeds seem to be in a similar situation as us due to poor recruitment and not replacing players with same standard and quality.

It sounds like Leeds would offload them this season, if we could work some cap space would you take Cuthbertson for the rest of the season?