I have been told by a good source that a certain chairman in the North West has been knocking on our door to see if we would consider letting Penky go, having just lost their hooker to SL

I have a 2 year contract and the fact Penky is enjoying his rugby at Halifax that says he won't be goung anywhere.

Ordinarily I would agree and I hope it is utter rubbish but apparently a player swap may be on the cards (if they have a player we want etc) as contracts these days are worth very little (and if both parties agree) - we are spoilt for choice in the hooker dept and it may be viewed as a good piece of business?

Lets just hope it is a silly rumour but I was told we are allegedly intersted in Zeb Luisi - Who also recently signed a new contract with Barrow



Probably all tosh but never say never.

well Luisi is a good player but there are things that need to be taken into consideration.

for example, how old Luisi is compared to Penky.
whether we actually need another loose forward at the club. i believe thats were luisi plays we have Beswick in that position.

Like i said Luisi is a good player at this level but i cant see The Barrow chairman wanting to loose Luisi and i cant see us wanting to give Penky to one of our main rivals.

Penky will be awsome next year with a stronger pack to play off the back off.

I've been thinking about this and my thoughts are that what we thought was our trump card at the start of the year may have infact been partly the reason for our end of season form. Our richness in hookers, towards the end of the season we looked like a team who's halfbacks and hookers did not know what was going on, partly I think this was due to having too many hookers and swapping and changing, players need time to get into a game, get the feel of it, control it, look at Ellis from Barrow, 80 minute man and it shows.

We have 3 hookers, bessy, penky and gleeson, all are 80 minute players, losing one in exchange for a new player who plays in another position would work I'd say. Gleeson penky and bessy are all too good to only be playing 40 minutes a game anyway, so we lose 1 ie penky if its true and I really think it could be a blessing in disguise in terms of continiouty on the pitch. The only players who should rotate are props/2nd rowers, not halfbacks.

We are left with Branaghan, Black, Beswick, Gleeson, more then enough I'd say to cover the critical halfback positions, if its a swap for a loose like Zeb or a centre like Harrison then I'd probably be in favour of it.

an excellent assessment, completely agree.but i still think
people are making this up rather than there be any substance.

Beswick's best position is hooker- Simple - I don't believe we have any cover for Loose Forward now Smith has gone other than Shad, maybe Gene but I think he'll rotate in second row. Luisi is also a decent centre.

Like I have said it could all be utter rubbish, my source is usually a good one and as he always says there is never any smoke without fire. The more I hear it and think about it, the more it seems a plausable possibility.

if we got a good centre ie harrison or loose forward luisi. it would be good business.

Not a hope in hell of getting Harrison. Not even if you threw Black in aswell.



Would have to be down to Zeb not settling in the area if he was to leave as he has been brilliant at loose forward (his preferred position, he didn't like it at centre).

Penky is a great player but from a Barrow perspective I wouldnt exchange Zeb for him as it merely exchanges the issue from hooker to loose for us.

Rumour is we are going overseas for a hooker???

Would love to see Zeb down here.

Not in place of penky though. I'm confident Penky won't leave. He'll have had plenty of clubs sniffing round him this season, including super league, and still stayed so why would he choose to go to Barra?

well it begins with M and ends in ONEY. which i hear Barrow have a lot of



i can't see him leaving either but i would love to see zeb luisi down at the shay. but then wher would Shad play to contiue getting 20/25 tries a season out of him.

He would get more money in super league but be didn't go. Kinda suggests he's more than happy where he is. We need not worry. In fax we trust

Bored of this now, why stir things up? Until anyone leaves, why speculate?

Because its off season and its a Forum ???????????????

Would it still be speculation if they have already left?



I also notice Nosey didnt say that he also got a couple wrong as well, most notably Andy Ellis going back to Hull KR.


I can still remember back in the day when one of the Halifax staff used to leak rumours to him on a regular basis.

I agree, Beswick's best position is Hooker, but that is also Gleeson's and Penky's. We need all three players settling in a position this year. It's a tough one.



And, Luisi?!?!? He has just re-signed with Barrow, so there isn't a cat in hells chance he'll be with us next year. Common sense everyone!