A win on monday and things wont look as bad ..
the whole mason /dobson/cockayne thing hasnt helped .no excuses fc were the better side yesterday and deserved there victory .
we need to get the whole situation sorted with willie and ben then we can focus on what we have left and go form there

The challenge with moving, say, 5 or 6 players on, especially if they are first teamers like Vella, Galea, Briscoe, Cockayne, Colbon, Fisher, is that there are not loads of players available in the market, particularly as I think that you only have Galea's overseas spot to use so the rest must be replaced with non quota. FC were in the market for a prop last season, pursued LMS and Fielden for ages and came up with neither, hence re-signing Radford and Dowes. Whilst fans of all teams not performing that well demand wholesale changes, the reality is that there are few players on the open market, and the real gems amongst younger British players are signed up long term and their current clubs will do everything they can to retain them. It's a tough market IMO.

Yep quite possibly Ur right there we could end up at the bottom am sure the ground improvements will happen

Looking at the hudgell interview in HDM then things will get sorted at least he has held his hands up and admitted that it was a big gamble that hasn't paid off, I dont care Wat anyone says but it was a big distraction a the negative news this week, so onwards and up from here, let's get behind the team on Monday.

id love to see us go out and bring some good young English talent in ( preferably our own ) but like Mrs B says there all tied down on long contracts,
we have some good young players just waiting for there chance, so lets try them out. lets try Sheriff against Quinns if Charlie is in trouble, if Green misses out then Murrel to 6 and give Petersen a go at 13, ( Netherton will play thou unfortunatly) Beaumont needs to be given a try too, Wakefield had to throw the kids in and there not doing to bad are they? Cas as well are throwing the kids in this year too.

Why has Netherton all of a sudden becomne a scapegoat, in all the time he has played for us he has never let us down and given 100% to the cause. Some on here seem to think we can have world class from 1 to 17, well unfortunately this is the real world not the land of make believe. I would have Netherton in the 17 every week, you know he will give is all when he is on.

hes always been my scapegoat, because he offers nothing, doesnt make yards, people go on about his tackling, but does he do 35/40 a game, i doubt it very much. i wont knock the kid for his effort, he does as you say give it everything, but his everything just isnt good enough IMO.

Yes, I'd agree with that. We need to be replacing (fed-trained/exempt) retiring players with roughly the same number of our own players coming through the ranks each year to be pulling our weight. We should now be getting to the point where that is realistic expectation.

Where we are 'swapping' players with other SL clubs, improving the squad is going to be difficult in a highly competitive market. There might still be value in refreshing it though.

Welham is a good lad and will get even better imo..He will be a seasoned International by the time his career is over. I liked the look of that Latus, defended very well. I thought your team defended well overall tbh.

When you see the likes of Frankie Mariano performing brilliantly for Wakefield, it makes you wonder what the hell were we thinking when letting him go. Did Mariano have to leave in order to leave cap for Mason. Everyone can see the build that Mariano has and raw talent meant that he could have made it with more experience, maybe even the next Phil Lowe. At a crucial age for getting to the 'next step', why didn't Rovers allow him to leave, but only on a loan basis to Wakey, he is looking a fine player. Isn't he a homegrown player too? Invaluable in the modern day.
The way Morgan has shunned the lad means that there is little chance he would ever return to Rovers if Wakey's franchise bid goes belly up.

In that case when Galea leaves lets go and get Iain Morrison back shall we?
Infact no we had better not as Iain Morrison is a better defender but he actually looks like he is going to break a tackle now and then.
In 2007,2008,2009,2010,2011 he made a total of 40 (Yes 40) tackle breaks now for a foward to make 0.48 tackle breaks per game is bloody awful.
Joel Clinton made an average of 0.59 BTW as an example in the past year and a half.
In 2007,2008,2009,2010,2011 he made a total of 11 (Yes 11) off loads now that is 0.13 per game.
Joel Clinton made an average of 0.56 BTW as an example in the past year and a half.
Im sorry that is not SL standard.

agree with you there

i've never rated him as a sl player, should have gone after the first year in sl. cheap on the cap and helping with the homegrown rules etc is one thing but there are better players who seem to be lower in the pecking order imo.

back up player maybe, regular 17 no

Personally think this thread is a lot of melodrama. We are 11 games into a 27 game season and haven't had a single round of the cup. I fully expect us to go on to make the play-offs and there is no reason we shouldn't progress to the latter stages of the cup.
We have our best players returning and the hardest run of games in the season over with.
In terms of a clear out, it's time Netherton was on his way and we need a quality winger and prop but we still have the spine of a very good team.
Give over with your knee jerk reactions.

Fair post - but to reach 8th we'd need ~13 wins. That'd mean winning 10 of the last 16 - to me that looks a distant prospect at the moment. However, if we could put a run of form together, [istarting now[/i, then I agree the season SL isn't a write-off yet. And hopefully the cup will offer some thrills.

Personally think we need a world class hooker. Fisher and Hodgson as good hookers (hodgson will get better with age) but i personally think most sides have a better starting hooker than us too

ATM we are making opposition hookers look better than they are by losing the ruck. We our pack get on top, Fisher and Hodgson look very good.

id love to see both our hookers running the ball more, when they do go from dummy half they seem to dither whilst looking for a gap, a top hooker has already seen that gap before the ball has been played. Hodgson IMO is now the better of the 2.

i'd let fish go and bring in a new hooker in. i agree hodgson is the better hooker but feel we aren't great in this area which is a main pivot of any side

really?

Did anyone watch Andy Ellis today and wonder if that letting him go was a mistake?

I know one person who does, but that same person thinks all our ex players should still be here palying for 10p a week to keep us under the cap

Said at the time it was very disappointing to lose him but I believe he left to persue further education. Could be wrong, mind.
He was a promising young player who looks to be fulfilling that promise. Do all we can to bring him back, I say.

No, Not once