If we go part-time then effectively NOBODY is signed up - unless they choose to renegotiate their deal. If you were Gaskell or O'Brien or Ferguson or Pitts - would you?

The squad requirements I fear very much are immaterial. We have proved that we can (on the basis of full-time and 6K paying fans) be the best team in the Championship.

But we have also proved - to me, at least - that the best team in the Championship will never get promotion unless a SL club collapses. Wakefield were as near to that as it gets, and even then we couldn't beat them, but had we been playing ANYBODY else from SL then we would have been caned. That is the reality.

Even if you don't agree with that, we'll hear and see the bad news, scaling down, reduced budgets, less money from a big drp in crowds which will follow, and however far down that spiral we go, the fact is that unless we all pay he same ticket money and unless we stayed full time, we cannot even get anywhere near the same level of challenge that we have just offered, which was a brave try but came up short.

The chances of promotion are almost a complete illusion. It isn't possible to play at this level with a million pounds worth less talent and win, barring disasters. Wakey dragged themselves just enough out of their disaster zone, but I can't see any team dropping into their brand of mire again.

We need one team or other to do a Bradford and go bust. We then take their place. That works for me. Otherwise, I should think the MPG team next season will need to be maybe 30% better than we were to stand a chance. Not weaker. Can you see us having 30% better players and being a 30% better team? Can you see a part-time Bulls, stripped of its leading players, beating a SL team for promotion? If you can, then I suggest you must be away with the fairies.

Ferocious - exactly right.

I wonder whether there is a rift between Ferres and Jimmy. I say this because Ferres does sign players and then Jimmy seems to not pick them. Remember when he was once asked about Davies and he bluntly said he wasn't answering questions on him. That sounded like he had a problem there and I wonder how many other players he has a problem with.
One player who I will be disappointed to lose is Shaw. Not because he is top class but because I can see something in him. He just needs to be coached well to make him a better player. He could be a good goal kicking winger outside Nielsen who has all the experience. This can be said about many of our players though. This begs the question of has Ferres signed some good potential but unfortunately Jimmy prefers established experience and isn't willing to go with youngsters. Is Jimmy the man to bring on and improve young potential? Older fans will remember that Foxy stuck with old ones and didn't like kids. Is Jimmy the same?

whilst he's missed quite a bit of time, still hasn't shown that he can cut it in this league. Our, understandable and noble, decision to allow Gareth O'Brien to return to Wire after he'd signed for us has really bitten us in the nether regions, and the remnants have been well and truly stuck down our throat. In other words we need a scrum half.

Sadly, who ever we get, we'll still be in the same hole come the end of next season if things don't change.

I might know a young back rower who could be available, but we are not short in that department

Matt Ryan waiting to see if gets offered a new deal.
Adam Henry off home
Lee smith heavily linked
Mitch Clark and Kyle Wood are rumoured
Gaskell staying

All according to Ross from T&A

Link?

Twitter

I wonder if Anthony Thackery would be an option?

Ryan Shaw, Adam Henry and Karl Davies all confirmed as leaving in today's t&a article.
The Davies one is interesting because he was originally on a 2 year deal if I'm not mistaken. No mention of us paying off the remainder of his contract.

Pretty sure Davies' release was agreed back in July. I never amend my squad list on internet rumours so I must have got it from the press, who I trust marginally more.....

TBF there is no need to mention whether he has been paid off or not

Davies has retired

We're has shaw gone? Like the look of the las wouldn't mind him at Leigh out on the wing!

Hull KR, I think...

You wouldn't be saying that if you saw him play there

He was class in The game at odsal were was he playing full back?

He did have a great game that day, but yeah that was from fullback.
When we lost at home to Fev he was on the wing. I'll say no more.

Just need to look at our team lise, we could lose several players and not notice tbh. squad by squad number, coaching team and stats table below. 1 Jake Mullaney 1 year Overseas andNonFed https://twitter.com/jake_mullaney STAY 2 Etu Uaisele 2 years Kolpak and NonFed https://twitter.com/freshie_topai GO 3 Adrian Purtell 1 year Overseas and Nonfed https://twitter.com/bruiser3101 STAY 4 Matty Blythe 2 years https://twitter.com/mattyblythe88 STAY 5 Danny William 2 years https://twitter.com/danny_w86 STAY 6 Harry Siejka 2 years Koipak and NonFed https://twitter.com/h_siejka STAY (BACKUP) 7 Lee Gaskell 2 years STAY 8 Paul Clough 2 years https://twitter.com/Paul_klaus STAY 9 O'Brien 2 years https://twitter.com/adamob93 STAY 10 Adam Sidlow 1 year STAY 11 Tom Olbison 2 years https://twitter.com/Tom_Olby STAY 12 Dale Ferguson 2 years https://twitter.com/fergiefergz12 STAY 13 Danny Addy 2 years (back row/utility) https://twitter.com/dannyaddy32 STAY 14 Jay Pitts 2 years https://twitter.com/jpitts22 STAY 15 Dan Flemming 2 years https://twitter.com/DanFlem123 STAY 16 Karl Davies 2 years Overseas and NonFed https://twitter.com/KarlDavies08 GO 17 Jean-Philippe Baille GO 19 Chris Ulugia 2 years Kolpak and Nonfed https://twitter.com/chrisulugia STAY 20 Adam Henry 1 year overseas and NOT NonFed trained https://twitter.com/Addy_Henry ID LIKE HIM TO STAY, BUT OBVIOUSLY THERE ARE BETTER OUT THERE 21 Dave Petersen 1 year https https://twitter.com/chevwalker GO 23 Alex Mellor 1 year Junior https://twitter.com/melloralex STAY 24 Lucas Walshaw 2 years STAY 25 Nathan Conroy 1 year GO 26 Vila Halafihi 1 year https://twitter.com/Vila_Halafihi STAY 27 Ryan Shaw 1 year https://twitter.com/blazinshaw GO 28 Samir Tahraoui 2 years https://twitter.com/samirtahraoui STAY 29 Adam Brook 2 years https://twitter.com/Adam_Brook GO 30 Sam Bates 2 years GO 31 Epalahame Lauaki 2 years Kolpak and non-fed trained??? GO 32 Steve Crossley (nearly) 2 years STAY ?? James Mendeika aprox 2.5 years STAY Need either a FB or a SH depending upon what position Mullaney plays, havent included our new recruits as they are keepers, we also need a new big prop, think centres and wings are safe, and our 2nd row looks good

Just need to look at our team lise, we could lose several players and not notice tbh. squad by squad number, coaching team and stats table below. 1 Jake Mullaney 1 year Overseas andNonFed https://twitter.com/jake_mullaney STAY 2 Etu Uaisele 2 years Kolpak and NonFed https://twitter.com/freshie_topai GO 3 Adrian Purtell 1 year Overseas and Nonfed https://twitter.com/bruiser3101 STAY 4 Matty Blythe 2 years https://twitter.com/mattyblythe88 STAY 5 Danny William 2 years https://twitter.com/danny_w86 STAY 6 Harry Siejka 2 years Koipak and NonFed https://twitter.com/h_siejka STAY (BACKUP) 7 Lee Gaskell 2 years STAY 8 Paul Clough 2 years https://twitter.com/Paul_klaus STAY 9 O'Brien 2 years https://twitter.com/adamob93 STAY 10 Adam Sidlow 1 year STAY 11 Tom Olbison 2 years https://twitter.com/Tom_Olby STAY 12 Dale Ferguson 2 years https://twitter.com/fergiefergz12 STAY 13 Danny Addy 2 years (back row/utility) https://twitter.com/dannyaddy32 STAY 14 Jay Pitts 2 years https://twitter.com/jpitts22 STAY 15 Dan Flemming 2 years https://twitter.com/DanFlem123 STAY 16 Karl Davies 2 years Overseas and NonFed https://twitter.com/KarlDavies08 GO 17 Jean-Philippe Baille GO 19 Chris Ulugia 2 years Kolpak and Nonfed https://twitter.com/chrisulugia STAY 20 Adam Henry 1 year overseas and NOT NonFed trained https://twitter.com/Addy_Henry ID LIKE HIM TO STAY, BUT OBVIOUSLY THERE ARE BETTER OUT THERE 21 Dave Petersen 1 year https https://twitter.com/chevwalker GO 23 Alex Mellor 1 year Junior https://twitter.com/melloralex STAY 24 Lucas Walshaw 2 years STAY 25 Nathan Conroy 1 year GO 26 Vila Halafihi 1 year https://twitter.com/Vila_Halafihi STAY 27 Ryan Shaw 1 year https://twitter.com/blazinshaw GO 28 Samir Tahraoui 2 years https://twitter.com/samirtahraoui STAY 29 Adam Brook 2 years https://twitter.com/Adam_Brook GO 30 Sam Bates 2 years GO 31 Epalahame Lauaki 2 years Kolpak and non-fed trained??? GO 32 Steve Crossley (nearly) 2 years STAY ?? James Mendeika aprox 2.5 years STAY Need either a FB or a SH depending upon what position Mullaney plays, havent included our new recruits as they are keepers, we also need a new big prop, think centres and wings are safe, and our 2nd row looks good

Gaskell confirmed he's going nowhere next season. Great news,

Fantastic

I've not read all the threads for a while, but this caught my eye. I agree and I'd also love to know a reason behind this. It has been blindingly obvious from very early on this season that we lacked a good enough scrum half. Addy covered it well enough for most weeks, harry can get away with some of his poor efforts in the championship, but neither was ever going to be a good enough option come the 8's, and so it proved, and yet we found the money to buy more back rowers and wingers. Sammut might not be the worlds best half, but hes better than Addy, Purtell and Harry, and would have given us another dangerous option on Saturday.

Of that list above, I actually rate Caro and Clare, and with Williams thats as good a set of wingers as we can expect in the Championship. Neilsen has been solid enough and I suspect we'll see more from him with a full preseason. Ryan is a good backrower, but we have never been short in the backrow and Id like to see Mellor Pitts Ferguson and Addy in there ahead of Ryan. And as for Mendieka, he was an odd signing and I dont think he is good enough, needs to be moved on.

The scrum half position IMO has been Lowes and Ferris' main failing, and the one area that needs rectifiying before all else next season, the answer might not be Sammut, but it needs to be not Addy/Purtell/Harry. I think Addy is one of our best players, but he needs to go into the backrow, I think Purtell has been brilliant, but he needs to play in the centre...Harry needs to leave.

I'm not sure where players on full time contracts could be offloaded other than Sheffield....although Hull KR have taken one.

Thanks for posting the squad list BroadyBull, its very useful to have it to reference

We already know that Walker, Conroy, Bates, Brook, Henry, Davies and Shaw have either gone or are imminently departing.

Nothing has been said about Baille and before the last week I would have assumed he would be off - but suddenly it seems like he might be back in favour, so maybe he will get another deal. Probably not though...

Peterson will probably sign for Sheffield and I wouldn't be surprised if we offloaded a few more in that direction as they need to sign a bunch of players. We might be able to offload Usaisele, Ulugia and Taharoui down to Sheffield as it seems obvious that Jimmy doesn't really rate them. No point in keeping people around who aren't going to get a game.

I'd like us to offload one of Flemming or Crossley as I think we need better in the prop department, and since its obvious that Jimmy really loves Lauaki for some unfathomable reason, then we'd have to see if someone would take one of the other two to free up a slot / money to bring in more grunt in the prop department.

When Petersen has his loan agreement extended it was said he'd made the move permanent.

When Baile signed it was said he had an option of a second year, but I don't know in who's favour.