I have it on good authority he's signed a one year extension

I really hope that this good authority is bollox.

I'd be very suprised if it was

Here's one for any serious statos out there:
As a team we seem to do fairly well in a game but invariably have a 15 minute brain storm when we ship points for fun. Does any other team have a similar record?

I said last year Sykes was a poor defender when every one was slating Tupou.

TBF Tupou wasn't great either. Now we have Sheriffe outside him who's not a good defender either.

That right side has been shaky for a while and now it seems every team we play knows it.

I disagree on Tupou when he played out side Evans who was a good defender he was a totally different player. IMO any winger who plays outside Sykes is left with a tough call to make do they stay out or come in.

I guess we'll have to disagree on Tame. He never really convinced me wherever we played him. However I do agree it's easier to defend when the man on your inside knows what he's doing.

Swap sykes for evans.

so 2 very leaky defences go head to head this weekend but who'll come out on top?????

I've also heard Sykes will be with us next year, but no mention of the length of deal....



unlikely it seems.

I'll be disappointed if we're going again with Sykes and Sheriffe after the complete disaster they have been this year so far. Isn't Evans up for grabs again?

Ok, we won't win SL with Evans/Nero as our centre's but we might just win a few more of these tight games with some stronger defenders out wide.

God not Evans. We need strike, not mediocrity.

I dont disagree, and I'm hoping Crookes comes good next year and makes one of the spots his own.

Crookes isn't the best defender either. It's a problem he's had during all of his academy time. If he worked with a defensive minded coach it's a problem which could be fixed.

Thats why I'd pin my hopes on Crookes rather than Sykes for a longer term solution at . He's young enough to improve, I don't think Sykes has too much more room for improvement in his defence. But I'd like to think good coaching could mitigate his flaws and focus the attention elsewhere.

Evans was one of the most consistent and reliable players we had last year. Unfortunately we have now become the definition of mediocrity, which is apparently required when you're building for the future, and therefore it is extremely unlikely that we'll get a decent halfback, hooker and centre. If Evans were available I'd welcome him back, I still have fond memories of his last minute try in the centenary game against Leeds.

That is true, but he still doesnt provide the strike we need

Evans was just another dull signing like most of Steve McNamaras others. Signings of this type are fine for back up, not when you're serious about mounting a title challenge though.

Well like I say, he's not international class but he was a good performer during his time here. I'd settle for a Mr Consistent like Evans right now.

IMO if Sykes was working with a strong defensive coach a lot of the problem he has would have been fixed. But unfortunatly our current coaching team seem to be unable to fix the problem. That's why I don't hold out any hope of them helping Crookes.

Settling for mediocrity, that's just it with us isn't it over the past few years.
It's running from the very top of the club right through to the fans.

And yet you're a fan of a very inconsistent Newton, bizarre logic you have sometimes.

But Newton isn't inconsistent. God knows which games you watch. Obviously not many featuring the Bulls though.

Don't miss many, I suggest you watch the players rather than look out for the 'star' name.

This is why we need the productive junior system so much, we need to fill a SL squad with enough quality and experience to compete, spliting a finite cap amoungst our first team squad made up mainly of players brought in, often older/more experienced players who command a certain level of wage, or "signings of this type" as you put it.

Whereas someone like Leeds for example can put youngsters like Hall on the wing and he's got the quailty to be top try scorer and he's taking up cap space possibly half that of Sheriffe (likely to change when they upgrade his youngsters contract mind!) Spending less on home grown players like Hall and others to fill out the first team squad allows them to spend more on their marque signings and so the squad as a whole looks to be better value for the cap money as the quality of players like Hall dosent match the cap allocated, the same can be said for other teams with productive youth systems - Saints and wigan are also good at this, which is why ours needs (and seems to be getting) serious attention, but not to the extreme detriment of the first team.

With all that unasked for rant out of the way, I'd still take Evans next year with Nero whilst we develop our own talent, and I suspect he would be available too.