Unless he goes for a night out in Hull of course...

Hold on hold on hold on, according to other posters statistics don't count. particularly if you are taking the average over the time hes been with us. its the last couple of seasons that count, and what that would show is that his missed tackles % has improved to pretty much the lowest its ever been. but on the other hand it is 7 years and he is 31, and if we are looking at continuing to rebuild then as posted elsewhere, what is important is that we get as good a replacement, but younger, and that the rest of the pack step up to their responsibilities. having them fully fit will help.

Yeah, well as I was putting those figures together I noticed several of his stats have improved in the last 3 season. It's been reported that the figure we got for Lynch was a significant 6 figure sum. I would hope we're talking above 100k because Lynch is certainly worth it.

As for other posters belief that stats don't count, I have to question the wisdom of that. After all, it's the closest thing we've got to KPI's for players.

Don't think many state that stats "Don't Count', instead I think the argument is that stats don't tell the full story!

Yes stats give people an insight into what happens on the field but take Ah Van for example. Looked pretty good on the conversions scored stats but I would never class him as a competent kicker.

Some people are choking on their breakfast after reading AP paid a 6 figure fee, but I think it's good business for both parties. Andy Lynch is a quality forward and the fee reflects that.

I can't believe how dumb some Hull fans are. There's some on their board who think that paying for Andy Lynch is a bad idea.

Now, I agree that stats don't show the full picture, but Lynch's stats are some of the most consistent in the league.

I can understand selling him if Lynch had told the club that he was going to leave after his deal ended next year regardless. After all, the choice between losing a player for nothing or getting a transfer fee for him is no choice at all for a club without a financial backer.

Hopefully, this will encourage the rest of the pack to pick up their performances. But really, the club need to move to limit the damage that this will likely do in terms of PR. A new signing of a significant calibre is needed.

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We are not in a position to turn down significant 6 figure sums for players that want to leave. Simple as that, disappointing yes, but not the end of the world. A team captained by Lynch hasn't been in the playoffs for quite a while now, its true that not having him will make that even harder but I don't think it will the difference between sucess and failure next year.

Good luck at Hull Andy, thanks for the efforts.

Mate,it doesn`t matter who we sign,some think its a bad idea before the poor sod has even got here.Personaly I think he may turn out to be worth the money,hope so.

Roof, apologies for my sarcasm, not aimed at you, and thanks for substantiating your comments with facts, or near facts as others might say. Your comment re KPI's very pertinent. And Daveyz999, you are right too, stats dont tell the whole story but they make up most of it provided you don't select. what is the point of a prop with attitude if they play less, tackle less, make fewer metres per carry, fewer carries, have a higher missed tackle %, fewer offloads and clean breaks per game than another, "nice guy" prop. Nothing a good captain should be doing anyway, inspiring the team on the pitch. In sport its results not intent that count as we know all too well!!! Ah Van a good case in point, his stats are only relevant relative to other kickers, whatever their conversion % is. On the other hand he is in the errors, missed tackles and penalties top 25 for the season, and on balance (as also in top 25 most metres) those are the reasons the fans and management concluded: no extension for him. Looking forward Gales offensive game looks good but look at all those missed tackles, but hes not there primarily for his tackling.

Anybody else going to boo him on his return to Odsal?

It's the way forward for me we're too nicey nice at Odsal. If everyone had followed my lead for the Catalans home game and booed Mr Beaver and Ian Henderson we'd have won that game.

Why would you want to boo him?

Really, the one's who deserve the booing would be the board for not offering trying to keep him at Odsal.

That's not true from what i've been told.

Might you be able to expand, suggest in vague terms, allude to, make cryptic commentary, provide an allegory to what you have been told ?

He didn't want to leave.

That he would have stayed says much about the loyalty of Andy to the Bulls.
It says much more about the Bull's decision in shipping him out for a fee.

Then the club were looking to offload him?

Sounds pretty typical to me. Well played Bradford if true.

Is money that tight at the moment at the club? did we [size=200need[/size to sell Andy just to give ourselves a bit of breathing space?
Or is it good business sense to get something when, in a years time we would get nothing (assuming we couldn't afford to make him an offer)
Maybe selling Andy gave us the chance to keep 3 or 4 or more other players, whether it's a good descision or not only time will tell.

Whats more worrying is we haven't come out and announced a new contract for Tom either.

If the Bulls thought it made sound financial sense then all credit to them. I bet most players leaving Man Utd didn't want to leave.

Apparently he wanted an extension of a year at the Bulls but we didnt offer it unfortunately

How early should we be negotiating new deals with players coming to end of contracts?. until we've finished this years retentions and recruitment then we dont know what cap space we potentially have available for upgrades in 2013 as some of this years signings will be on longer than one year deals. eg we let kearney and l'estrange both get upto april/may before renewing their deals. Would have thought tom would be near top of list in terms of players we want to retain and hence talks would start pretty soon in new year. Personally dont think he will sign another SL contract but will go to aus due to family pressure but hope club manage to tie him down.

I'm not sure to be honest - big fish in a small pond here or tiny fish in a big pond over there with his brothers. I think he will stay for a bit.
Unless the club needs to pay some bills or something of course.

club wouldnt get any money if he went at end of his contract next year. suspect if he did sign a new deal it would have NRL get out clause in it like sams. Just tend to think that with all his brothers now down under and his mother staying over here with tom, but going down under a few times a year to visit, he'll maybe come under a bit of peer pressure to follow. hopefully we can make him an attractive enough offer to keep him here but im not holding my breath.

Can't say I'm not disappointed to see Andy leave. He's never let the team down and been the proverbial rock in the pack for what seems like ages. I definitely wish him well though (cept when they play us, natch).

I've said before though, that we really need to judge the ins and outs as a whole package, so I'll hold off any real criticism until it's finalised (we still have the Jeffries passport issue and the, is he or isn't he, over Sammutt, muddying the waters), got to say that I thought we were just about Ok for props, possibly if anything, a tad light if we weren't going to overplay Tom, so I'll be disappointed if there isn't another prop in the offing, either as a newcomer or a re-jigging from within.