lb was poss cover for hooker too , could have been on bench instead of donaldson but donaldson plays above his weight whereas walters seems to pay below his size , no such issues with gannon big, strong and clean ,
bentley and gannon could both be ahead of mellor and martin

We are rapidly approaching the point of having so many really talented youngsters that if you’re not outstanding then you need to move over to give them a chance. Perhaps Richard Agar is this groups Daryl Powell?

was it powell or hetherington that sacked the 4

GH sacked the 4 players that were blocking the path of the kids. I was thinking more from a coaching perspective, I’m not sure you’d get away with that these days. Sheridan, Hay, Pratt (?) I don’t remember the other?

Quote ="batleyrhino"GH sacked the 4 players that were blocking the path of the kids. I was thinking more from a coaching perspective, I’m not sure you’d get away with that these days. Sheridan, Hay, Pratt (?) I don’t remember the other?'" according to https://www.therhinos.co.uk/timeline/2000s/2003/ fleary the 4th with feather coming in though i would have said someone elsw also refers to mcdonalds tries and beating cas with a crude one pointer and this ' However, a statement of intent came with the promotion of the young stars from the clubs academy to senior position. At the top was new skipper Kevin Sinfield with Danny McGuire, Rob Burrow, Richard Mathers, Jamie Jones-Buchanan, Ryan Bailey, Danny Ward, Matt Diskin and Chev Walker all becoming mainstays of the first team.'

Quote ="batleyrhino"GH sacked the 4 players that were blocking the path of the kids. I was thinking more from a coaching perspective, I’m not sure you’d get away with that these days. Sheridan, Hay, Pratt (?) I don’t remember the other?'" according to https://www.therhinos.co.uk/timeline/2000s/2003/ fleary the 4th with feather coming in though i would have said someone elsw also refers to mcdonalds tries and beating cas with a crude one pointer and this ' However, a statement of intent came with the promotion of the young stars from the clubs academy to senior position. At the top was new skipper Kevin Sinfield with Danny McGuire, Rob Burrow, Richard Mathers, Jamie Jones-Buchanan, Ryan Bailey, Danny Ward, Matt Diskin and Chev Walker all becoming mainstays of the first team.'

Walker left too didn't he

Quote ="doc-rhino"according to https://www.therhinos.co.uk/timeline/2000s/2003/ fleary the 4th with feather coming in though i would have said someone elsw also refers to mcdonalds tries and beating cas with a crude one pointer and this ' However, a statement of intent came with the promotion of the young stars from the clubs academy to senior position. At the top was new skipper Kevin Sinfield with Danny McGuire, Rob Burrow, Richard Mathers, Jamie Jones-Buchanan, Ryan Bailey, Danny Ward, Matt Diskin and Chev Walker all becoming mainstays of the first team.''" We had s few shrewd signings to compliment those young guys too, none more so than Duneman, who was outstanding for us and helped rob and danny come through.

Quote ="doc-rhino"according to https://www.therhinos.co.uk/timeline/2000s/2003/ fleary the 4th with feather coming in though i would have said someone elsw also refers to mcdonalds tries and beating cas with a crude one pointer and this ' However, a statement of intent came with the promotion of the young stars from the clubs academy to senior position. At the top was new skipper Kevin Sinfield with Danny McGuire, Rob Burrow, Richard Mathers, Jamie Jones-Buchanan, Ryan Bailey, Danny Ward, Matt Diskin and Chev Walker all becoming mainstays of the first team.''" We had s few shrewd signings to compliment those young guys too, none more so than Duneman, who was outstanding for us and helped rob and danny come through.

Top player. Remember him destroying us when he played for the Cowboys IIRC

Quote ="doc-rhino"according to https://www.therhinos.co.uk/timeline/2000s/2003/ fleary the 4th with feather coming in though i would have said someone elsw also refers to mcdonalds tries and beating cas with a crude one pointer and this ' However, a statement of intent came with the promotion of the young stars from the clubs academy to senior position. At the top was new skipper Kevin Sinfield with Danny McGuire, Rob Burrow, Richard Mathers, Jamie Jones-Buchanan, Ryan Bailey, Danny Ward, Matt Diskin and Chev Walker all becoming mainstays of the first team.''" Jeez as a summary of the pivotal 2003 season that account is severely lacking! Apparently nothing happened apart from the cup run.

Quote ="doc-rhino"according to https://www.therhinos.co.uk/timeline/2000s/2003/ fleary the 4th with feather coming in though i would have said someone elsw also refers to mcdonalds tries and beating cas with a crude one pointer and this ' However, a statement of intent came with the promotion of the young stars from the clubs academy to senior position. At the top was new skipper Kevin Sinfield with Danny McGuire, Rob Burrow, Richard Mathers, Jamie Jones-Buchanan, Ryan Bailey, Danny Ward, Matt Diskin and Chev Walker all becoming mainstays of the first team.''" Jeez as a summary of the pivotal 2003 season that account is severely lacking! Apparently nothing happened apart from the cup run.

throws a bit of a look on the 'golden' generation .. technically sinfield and jjb a few years before , jjb hardly made a break after another injury (smith hall ablett came later ) most of the others left or regressed fortunately we only had a 1yr of transition in 2006

Officially announced now

Martin stays for another year though

Sad to see him go all in all. But the timing feels right. He’s loved playing for the club so to turn the deal down he must have had a much much better offer at Saints.

Onward and upwards

Same here If have liked him to stay but if hes been offered a longer better deal at Saints then good luck to him, I do think the Saints fans won’t be as receptive to him though and im not really sure where he fits in to their squad, they seem to think he’s a Second Rower but IMO he hasn’t got the fitness or durability to play there, he’ll probably prove me wrong though

It'll be a shame to see him go, but more for what he contributes as an entertainer and to team morale.

On his day, he's unstoppable, but he does have a tendency to come out of the line too soon and his ball handling is something I doubt will be improved at this stage of his career. He's done a good job for us and gives his all in every game, but from the start, this season always seemed to be his swan song.

The truth is, with the readiness of the emerging talent at the club, he's a bit surplus for next season.

Good luck to the fella though...

Get the feeling we waited too long to offer a contract. Used properly he is a game changer. Yes he has errors in his game but he's certainly exciting which is why I go watch. Hopefully we have a good player lined up to replace him

The player replacing him will be sutcliffe/broadbent. I hope the money is being invested into a quality prop as we're definitely light there now.

We need at least one prop.

Yep Newman has that right centre spot sewn up and I imagine Sutcliffe will play left. Hurrell is more damaging than either but as we know has some weaknesses too.

Overall if you look at squad balance this seems a sensible decision.

If it were me I’d go for one good prop and let L Briscoe go this year. I know he’s had a very good year this season but for me it’s time to clear the way for Broadbent or Tindall as cover for T Briscoe and Handley.

I think Hurrells defence weakness far out weighs his go forward ability. Teams have learnt to put him on toast easily

Yeh, good luck to him.
Be interesting to see how he’s used at Saints.
He’s not a back row in a million years.
He goes one one decent run and then stands with his hands on his knees.
Nowhere near fit enough for the pack.
He’s an edge of the seat player at time, but his best years are well behind him.
Good decision for me.
L Sutcliffe should get the number 4. I think he looks a natural centre now.

And as I’ve said on another thread we MUST get another prop.
Should have cap space for quality as well.
Tommy gets injuries and Tet gets suspensions.
We will end up flogging Mik and Prior again and wonder why Mik gets injured and Prior is out on his feet.

I actually quite like Luke Briscoe.
He’s done well lately.
But yes, if Tindall can step up as cover and releasing him helps us to bolster the pack, then I’m all for it.
I think he’d get another SL gig.

Very much agree. I think we have better left centres in the system than Sutcliffe, but it is his best position and it’s up to him to defend his shirt there.

Tommy has some work to do in pre-season on his fitness, but you would expect that at his age.

I’d like to be able to rotate loose forward between Smith and maybe Prior; push Tet up front because I’ve not seen a ton of high quality passing from him.

I’d probably attempt to sign a starting prop at least as good as Ava. That gives us much more resilience but it needs to be a high impact, out and out prop. We have back rowers and 13s coming out of our ears. With a fully fit pack we have good go-forward - if we can give Sezer some space he could cause havoc.

Finally he's leaving!

A disaster of a signing.

He’s definitely been a rocks and diamonds signing but I reckon your on your own saying he’s been a disaster!
He was immense in his first season, he’s not hit those highs since but not a chance has he been a disaster, give your head a wobble!

Can’t say he was a disaster.
Just served his purpose.

Newman and Broadbent have now come through, so no need to keep him.
Must admit, I saw Broadbent a couple of times at Fev and didn’t think he’d make it at SL level tbh.
I was wrong.
He’s a future star.
A bit of time on the wing will help his development as well.