squad by squad number, coaching team and stats table below.

1 Jake Mullaney 1 year Overseas andNonFed =#8000BF[urlhttps://twitter.com/jake_mullaney[/url
2 Etu Uaisele 2 years Kolpak and NonFed =#8000BF[urlhttps://twitter.com/freshie_topai[/url
3 Adrian Purtell 1 year Overseas and Nonfed =#8000BF[urlhttps://twitter.com/bruiser3101[/url
4 Matty Blythe 2 years =#8000BF[urlhttps://twitter.com/mattyblythe88[/url
5 Danny William 2 years =#8000BF[urlhttps://twitter.com/danny_w86[/url
6 Harry Siejka 2 years Koipak and NonFed =#8000BF[urlhttps://twitter.com/h_siejka[/url
7 Lee Gaskell 2 years
8 Paul Clough 2 years =#8000BF[urlhttps://twitter.com/Paul_klaus[/url
9 O'Brien 2 years =#8000BF[urlhttps://twitter.com/adamob93[/url
10 Adam Sidlow 1 year
11 Tom Olbison 2 years =#8000BF[urlhttps://twitter.com/Tom_Olby[/url
12 Dale Ferguson 2 years =#8000BF[urlhttps://twitter.com/fergiefergz12[/url
13 Danny Addy 2 years (back row/utility) =#8000BF[urlhttps://twitter.com/dannyaddy32[/url
14 Jay Pitts 2 years =#8000BF[urlhttps://twitter.com/jpitts22[/url
15 Dan Flemming 2 years =#8000BF[urlhttps://twitter.com/DanFlem123[/url
16 Karl Davies 2 years Overseas and NonFed =#8000BF[urlhttps://twitter.com/KarlDavies08[/url
17 Jean-Philippe Baille

19 Chris Ulugia 2 years Kolpak and Nonfed =#8000BF[urlhttps://twitter.com/chrisulugia[/url
20 Adam Henry 1 year overseas and NOT NonFed trained =#8000BF[urlhttps://twitter.com/Addy_Henry[/url
21 Dave Petersen 1 year =#8000BF[urlhttps://twitter.com/petersen92[/url
22 Chev Walker 1 year (utility) =#8000BF[urlhttps://twitter.com/chevwalker[/url
23 Alex Mellor 1 year Junior =#8000BF[urlhttps://twitter.com/melloralex[/url
24 Lucas Walshaw 2 years
25 Nathan Conroy 1 year
26 Vila Halafihi 1 year =#8000BF[urlhttps://twitter.com/Vila_Halafihi[/url

27 Ryan Shaw 1 year =#8000BF[urlhttps://twitter.com/blazinshaw[/url
28 Samir Tahraoui 2 years =#8000BF[urlhttps://twitter.com/samirtahraoui[/url
29 Adam Brook 2 years =#8000BF[urlhttps://twitter.com/Adam_Brook[/url
30 Sam Bates 2 years
31 Epalahame Lauaki 2 years Kolpak and non-fed trained???
32 Steve Crossley (nearly) 2 years
?? James Mendeika aprox 2.5 years

[uCoaching Team[/u
James Lowes: Head Coach
Karl Harrison Assistant Coach
Matthew Diskin: U 19's Coach
John Bastian (ex Warrington head of youth and ex boss of Featherstone): Academy and Scholarship
Gary Dempsey: (England S and C) Strength and Conditioning Coach

Gaskell is the one that triggered the topic, saying he wanted to stay. with an average gain of 9 metres per carry thats the best in the squad, plus 11 try assists. Danny Williams has the same average carry, so if he keeps that up then theres two backs that will get us up the pitch. O'Brien has scored 4 tries and three assists and is third in the tackles count. I would like to think that all three of these will be kept.

Yeah some positive news coming through last couple of weeks regarding players wanting to stay. Just hope we can get them signed up. If O'brien and Gaskell signs up that would be really positive news. Sammut was at odsal on Sunday, with Wakey not wanting him and Fev announcing they won't be signing any marquee players, hopefully we can get him snapped up. That would give us a very good 6,7,9

I'd also expect Sidlow, Olbison and maybe Addy or Donaldson to stay on board.

Others we def want to try and keep would be Manoukafoa, Fakir, Henry, Purtell, George, Blythe and Kear IMO Pitts would be useful too.

Would love to see Kearney stay on, maybe captain the side if Diskin retires.

I think you have signed Steve Crossley from Fev.

Thought he was going to Cas? Would be happy with this. Also a HG player.

I'd be happy with that if true. I've mentioned his name on here a few times after I heard he was leaving Fev, but one of your fellow Cas fans seems to think he's heading your way.
Ben Hellewell would be another one I'd be after. Also confirmed to be leaving Fev.

Some optimism here, but here's a 17 I'd be happy with in SL2

Gaskell
Williams
George
Henry/Arundel/Hellewell/A N Other
Kear/Wood/Ainscough
Sammut/Addy/A N Other
Brook
Sidlow
AoB
Crossley
Olbison
Roberts
Donno

Conroy
Mellor/Pitts
Bates
Fakir/A N Other

This is an odd thread for me.

There are current players who I think have Championship quality written all over them; Olbison, Walker, Henry. And there are players who'd I genuinely be gutted to see drop down a division and stay with us; Donaldson, Blythe, Kear, Gaskell, maybe Purtell (I think he'd go to Hull KR for some reason).

I obviously think a lot of the high earning overseas lads will leave.

I wouldn't mind seeing Jean Philippe Baile join us...



Karl Pryce, Jarrod Sammut and Shaun Ainscough would be three guys I'd welcome back, two of which have been mentioned earlier.

From what I hear the club are in negotiations with lots of players. Many of this year’s 1st teamers are considering or have decided on deals. I guess we’ll hear more as the weeks go by.

If we can get Sammut and Crossley back then that would be a good start, but I’d be surprised if Sammut couldn’t get a SL team.

I’d be reluctant to take Karl Pryce. He’s not go the right attitude and I suspect he’d drive Lowes to distraction.

Quite a number of our existing squad is SL1 quality – particularly the likes of Addy, Olbison, Donaldson etc. I can’t see them getting that many offers from other SL clubs since they’re average. However they would be useful at SL1 level.

I expect to see more of Roberts, Bates, Mellor, Wood and Conroy next year.

Fairdoos, I'll admit I've seen nothing of them in the Championship and it was a case of suggesting a couple of former players I liked who I thought could do a job.

I completely forgot about Walker in my earlier post haha! Yes I imagine he will also stay with us, should be able to do a job in SL2.
I can see your point about some players being too good for the championship, but at the same time I would be gutted to lose the likes of Donno, someone who the club has stood by when he had two season-ending injuries. He seems to me to be quite loyal to the club, just the impression I get. I would hope that such loyalty wouldn't go unnoticed by the club.
Conversely, if Blythe keeps costing us matches with his brain fart offloads, other SL clubs are welcome to him.

Another name I just thought of, could Platt do a job for us next year? We can always use more utility backs!

If Ainscough could get back his fitness levels/standards he set when he was here last time, he'd be good enough for me. And you can't fault the guy's passion for the club, he clearly loved his time here.

It wasn't so much about being too good for the Championship, but the effort and level of performance put in by Donno it'd be a shame for him to be relegted.

Oh I know that. It was just the notion of Millard and Baile on one flank would make going to Keighley tolerable!

Think Kearney mentioned in article last week that he wouldn't rule out going down with us. If we could push out boat to retain him and purtell and get sammut back we'd have start of a decent set of backs.

Am I the only one who wouldn't miss Purtell?
He doesn't have pace, or agility, he's not the best defensively and he doesn't really provide much for his winger.
I thought he had his best games for us when he was playing in the 2nd row. I think that in itself tells you how effective he is (or isn't) as a centre.

For the amount of money he must be costing us, there must be a cheaper option out there somewhere (Platt/Hellewell/Baille?!)

Purtells struggled last couple of weeks. I could see him being on big money too. I'd keep Blythe ahead of him. OK, he's had some brain farts but he runs hard and keeps his legs pumping.

I think Purtell standing out as a better player is probably down to the drop in form of those around him.

As for next year, I'd also look at Danny Bridge, I liked him when he was on loan - meat and drink kind of player who could tackle.

It will all come down to money. If we have a quiet chat with player and agent about still paying a good wage next year - as long as it stays private - we may just hang onto some of them. I am not surprised at Gaskell. Stay here and be first choice or move to keep the bench warm. That may go for a few of this squad. Would Olbason, Donno and Addey get a starting place in any of the top 6 SL clubs. They would be bench players in that first year. We thought Kaufusi was very good but he sits in the stand. Why not offer them a similar contract to now with a release clause if we don't get back up say within two seasons. We need to spend the full cap (legally) next year and choose a hand full of players who we really want - such as Kearney, Manu, Fakir etc. and they get paid separately for opening supermarkets by one of our sponsors which isn't part of the cap. We will have the money. About £900k payment + parachute payment spread over say two years means we will have enough to keep the squad we have as long as that last few £K disappear off the accounts. The other clubs do it.

I would also take Sammut back. The top clubs have never been interested in him due to his inconsistent nature and not really running the team like a conventional half. He will always interest the bottom clubs who need a spark.

Still waiting for the assistant to be named. I will be bitterly disappointed if we don't get one as Jimmy does need good support. Either a tough ex forward or a back who will sort out our poor defence is required asap.

Don't know where people are getting these figures from. Central distribution next year is 500-600k. Then there's a one off 250k parachute payment. Everyone seems to think the combined total is the parachute payment and we then get central money on top. Central funding plus parachute payment will cover bulk off the 900k salary cap, assuming green makes parachute payment available to fund squad and doesn't have other uses for it in mind.

One advantage we will have next year is club trained rule coming in which means only first 40k of any of our academy products wages will count towards salary cap. Provided money's there to fund it, means we've some scope to exceed the 900k cap legally, and we've probably got a much higher number of ex academy lads floating around than majority of clubs.

Burgii...?

updated for TnA article today, Olbison, would like to stay as spent 6 years here, "playing it by ear for now"

Olbison reminds me of Worrincy. Runs outstanding attacking lines. But is lacking in a lot of other areas. His defence his very poor for a second rower (he missed 9 tackles on Sunday!!) has no off-load game and rarely breaks a tackle and can give soft penalties away.

Does make me laugh declaring he would like to stay. Realistically, would any SL club want him? I think he will do well in the championship.

We'll apparently Leeds are sniffing round olbison and Roberts. Maybe they see something your missing.

Scruton has signed a 2 year extension at Wakey. Good bit of business for them, I think a lot of people assumed he would be off at the end of the season.
Also rules out any possibility of us re-signing him, obviously.