How is Abdul going to approach the games from a London point of view vs Rovers? He is a professional but wouldn't London be tempted not to play him if there's a risk his head isn't in the right place..?

Not like a MPG scenario at this point of the season - don’t think it should be an issue.

Our home game against London on 8 September might be if we’re both still close to the bottom and each other.

Happy might be a stretch.

McGuire and Lunt have both been fine players, but age and injuries have caught up with them now.

Vaivai’s loss of form has been unfortunate, but there is a player in there. Waiting to see if that player re-emerges would be a sizable risk because he is non-fed. However, in-form he offers a bit of strike, which we have pitifully little of. Minikin would be a steady enough replacement, but with Keinhorst, Crooks and possibly Minns, it’d feel a bit like more of the same. I’ve not seen much of Ethan Ryan.

Greenwood could be a good signing for another SL team, and i’ll be slightly sorry to see him go. Had a strangely disappointing year in the Championship, and obviously missed nearly all of this season with injury. So I can understand it. But again, Hadley feels like a hard working, steady replacement - not one to set fans pulses racing, or make opponents nervous.

Atkin only divides opinion, imo, because he was a convenient stick to beat Sheens with. He is what he is, and he could go well with a run of games at Salford, but he’s no saviour. I slightly prefer Abdull, more so with a year as a regular at London under his belt.

Parcell seems like a decent option at 9. Overall though it looks like recruitment for a team targeting top 8, rather than chasing a play-off spot. We’d still need another experienced prop imo, and after that I think you’re looking for Tony Smith to create a bit of ‘magic’ with culture and attitude, and some better fortune with injuries.

Let’s see if we stay up first! I was pathetically happy to see the result while I was away on holiday but we’re still in a tight spot for now.

Abdul is an upgrade on Atkin, plus younger with more potential, Parcell better than the 2019 Lunt, so two upgrades.

The rest like for like , hard market to recruit from again, particularly with no non fed spots.

I'm guessing Drinkwater will stay?

I see we’ve signed a young prop on loan from Warrington for a month.

It set me thinking about the loan signings we’ve made since our first promotion to SL. It is quite a list.

In all that time, have we ever loaned out a player to a SL club? Maybe i’m having a brain fade and there are one or more obvious examples i’m forgetting - but I can’t think of any. Actually, scratch that - I think we sent Jordan Cox to Huddersfield at one point. Any others?

Really annoyed that Sheens has effectively forced Atkin out by not playing him. Still youngish and improving.

Wonder whole will partner Abdul (and I'll be disappointed again if it's Drinkwater).

Paper talk but they say we after is partner at Salford that if it comes of could be a good move both know each other

Even with non-fed spots, you’re looking at fringe NRL players nowadays.

If we ended up with Masoe, Garbutt, Parcell, Quinlan, Drinkwater, Linnett and Hauraki that’d be a decent enough set of seven. Vaivai is contracted for 2020 though.

We haven’t offered Shaw a new contract either, but I assume that we’ll be looking for at least one of Dagger, Oakes or Wallis to get more game time. Plus there’s the rumour about Ethan Ryan.

It’s a challenge, but it’s the same for most clubs. The additional problems we have are consistently failing to produce anywhere near enough SL-standard players (hopefully that’ll change, but we’ve been hoping for the best part of a decade) and we’ve not finished higher than 8th in SL since 2011 and not higher than 10th since 2014. I doubt we’ll snap those streaks this year. That must harm our image with potential recruits.

We’ve loaned out a player to a SL team again!

Lannon to Salford with Daniel Murray coming the other way.

I think this suits both teams we’ve brought in 2 SRs and a prop and loaned a SR out

Harvey Livett now