Haven't we got the older, hopefully cheaper, full on Championship level version of Addy in Scott Murrell heading our way?

Although he has kicked us to death for nearly 2 years.

Murrell practically beat us single handedly at the Shay this year.

It's time for Addy to move on for everyone's best interests, as has been said before. Murrell as a short term solution, I'm perfectly fine with. Especially if he's the one that ends up interchanging with AOB to give our hooker a rest.

Same here. If Addy's off then good luck to him. He needs a change of club.

Murrell - if he is signing for us- is a decent replacement for a season until one of the young lads is ready to take over.

The article with Rohan today mentions the possibility of Joseph playing at loose forward.

Where did the Murrell rumour even come from? Anyone credible ie not Gledhill?

Red

It was mentioned by Ross on T&A earlier this week

He's played quite a bit of loose in his career. He's a lot better at prop or at loose (as a 3rd prop style, not as a ball playing Sculthorpe type) than he is at hooker.

Ben Evans has now been confirmed by London.

More talk of replacement hookers - I ask again, what about Lumb? Is the consensus that he isn't ready yet, or am I fillng in the blanks incorrectly?

Fev offered a little bit of Money for Murrell and although we are making cuts were still told no. Unless something has changed the answer is probably still no.

Im not sure if I saw it mentioned anywhere but obviously the Tangata deal is dead in the water with the player turning down any deal before it even got to the point of what players were coming our way in exchange.

Lumb is ready to be back up. He's not at OB's level yet but may be soon.

Both players are quite small but you don't need to be big to be effective at hooker. Cameron Smith is a titch by modern RL standards.

The amount of tackles Smith does in a match belies his physical strength also his playmaking skills and kicking ability are at a level those to can only dream to aspire too!

I think Cameron Smith's major strength is his decision making - he barely ever does the wrong thing, and with that he can turn sticky situations around and put the opposition on the back foot with a well placed kick or dart from dummy half. Add that to all of the above, that's why he is the best hooker in the world bar none.

Cameron Smith? Pfft. He's no Vila Halafihi is he?

And I bet he wakes up grateful for that every morning

Hamsterchops: could you please edit your first page post so its the latest squad list, your last update, that you can update and paste, is on page 17, then its easy to get at. thanks in anticipation.

Done.

And I've added Phil Joseph who's joined since. Don't think there's been any other updates?

Thanks, thats easier to find.

Well looking at the squad, there does seem to be less bloat and more balance. However I still think we're short of quality in a few areas.
The back line is solid and more than capable of scoring plenty of points
The halves, as long as they click, should provide enough attacking threat to get us moving.
The pack, however, is worryingly light in terms of LF and 2nd rowers.

Still, there's time enough before next season

No worries. If people want this to be the pinned thread for next season, I'm happy to keep it up to date as and when things comes out by the way.

(I've edited original post with some extra info now)

I really don't know why we aren't getting Tom Olbison signed up straight away. He obviously wants to stay, isn't getting any better offers, frankly, and is better than most of what is going to be around at this point.

It's difficult to know without being "on the inside" really. There's every chance he's asking for more money than the club / Rohan think he's worth. Or Rohan may just not rate him. Or Olbison may have told the club he actually doesn't want to be here any more. All total guesswork, but without knowing the reasons, it's difficult to understand why he's likely on his way out.

No, I don't get it either. The lad's a work horse who doesn't get the praise he deserves.
He was always slightly overshadowed because he came through at the same time as Bateman and Whitehead, but he's kept on and been a steady player

suspect in olbisons case we're working to a very tight budget and giving him a deal might not leave us with enough in the pot for someone higher up coaches priority list. Also think theres still 4 or 5 on books that arent really in our plans and we'd like to move them on or get them on season long loans which might free up enough extra to sign olbison on.

He supposed had a offer from Wakey on the table which they have backtracked on. So because he was wiling to leave we are playing hardball now.