The list above is 24 players

Assuming Pryce is still coming, then that makes 25 - leaving only about 3 or 4 yet to announce

Those 3-4 names are going to have to be stellar to make that squad look strong enough for a serious challenge for next season

List above is 25 including Keyes.

Heard from a few sources purtell off to Toronto and lovegrove retiring plus Clark going. So that drops to 22. Factor in strongly rumoured 2 from London and pryce and we've 3 spots left from 28 mentioned. Still looks light in forwards mainly.

As we saw on Sunday you can have all the speed you want in the backs but if the forwards are getting stuffed then it doesn't matter.

We need a couple of decent, preferably experienced props. I'd love to keep Clark but I suspect he'll be off. If clubs are in for the others then he's bound to have people interested.

Liam Kirk is a big strong lad but I don't think he's the new Stuart Fielden. Very few props are ready to do step up at 19, even if the championship is a lower level than SL. He'll get plenty of gametime but we need a pack leader and some experience.

Halafihi will be allowed to leave if another club want him I would think.

Pitts isn't on the list for next year but also hasn't been heavily rumoured to leave either. I would like to keep him.

Otherwise we need experienced props. Minimum 2, preferably 3.

I agree. We seem to be ok for hookers.

Don't forget Danny Addy is rumoured to be leaving....

suspect campbell might be encouraged to move on too. agree about trying to retain pitts.

Next year we should become Shudds dual registered club, that way Gaskell, Ferguson and Clough can be loaned to us while Shudds pay their wages, after all they`ve hardly lit the championship alight if and when they played, so why do Shudds think they are worth signing?

Mendeika

Gone to Oldham

Do you think we could get John Lee Hooker?

On loan.

Do you reckon we'll see Blythe again next year? I've a sneaking feeling that we might as Smith appears to rate him. I've got to admit that I don't mind him in the 2nd row as he's got a good engine on him and makes quite a bit of ground. I'd rather him leave if they he's to play in the centres though.

If true, I'd snap their hand off. Clearly at the back end of his career and has looked poor for a season or two now. Someone from that background should do better in the Championship.

I'd forgotten about Mendeika. Took him off my list when Oldham signed him, but then found out after from Oldham website that it's actually a loan until end of season. He'll be one of those players like Campbell and Halafihi that I'm sure we'd let leave if they had somewhere else to go and were willing. Can't just release them without their consent though.

The one thing I'll give to Blythe is effort. When a lot of the players didn't look bothered, Blythe was one who would run it in as hard as he could every time. The downside is, he totally lacks ability. He may run it in as hard as he can, but he still makes no metres once he hits the line, never breaks that line, and never passes the ball. He can also be a total liability in defence.

It's a funny one. In a team full of people who look like they can't be @rsed, do you want to keep one of them that can, even if he clearly isn't very good? Is his heart enough to make up for his lack of ability?

More likely to retire I've heard struggling with shoulder.

With the greatest respect to him, I'd take that too. Wish him all the best for his future and thank him for his efforts (I wouldn't ever question his effort to be honest), but I don't think he's up to playing even at our level any more.

Agree with HamsterChops about Blythe. On Sunday he was showing the kind of energy that we need to see from the rest of the team. He can be a headless chicken but sometimes enthusiasm is infectious and he can be a positive influence in that way. If he's cheap I'd keep him.

Purtell is a steady experienced pro but I do wonder if he's still got the fitness and durability to keep going. If we do lose him we really could do with some sort of reliable old head to take his place.

Reliable old heads are something we've been lacking for the past two years, our last proper one was probably Diskin. I don't think Pryce is a particularly good leader, but he has been there and done it and we could do with at least one other person in the squad with that experience especially as with how young the squad looks.

I wouldn't object to Blythe staying as a second row, but as a centre he's both ineffective himself and also cuts his winger out of the game by not giving him any decent ball. His enthusiasm is first class but his game has gone backwards, imo.

He was a good centre when he came to us from Wire. But then we played him at 2nd row for half a season & he wasn't powerful enough. But since then he hasn't been a great centre any more. I'm not sure what happened that season but we seemed to have broken him....

Perhaps a preseason with Rohan may find his mojo!

To be right he'd also played at SR at Wire too and whilst it's true he came, principally to play centre, he was already a utility when he arrived.

You're correct though, he was a decent centre when he first came over on loan, but for some reason he's fallen back imo.

My main issue with Blythe is his propensity to step out of the defensive line for a big hit, and invariably miss it.

He hits about 10% of them. And the other 90% of the time leaves a gaping hole in the line.

It's a shame you can't put his effort into someone with more ability.

Agreed.

I have no confidence in his fringe defence. It's worse than when we had Sykes and Platt in the centres.