Taking away his off-field misdemeanour (putting it politely) he's been out of the game for 4 years. That's a hell of a long time to come back and be decent.

I'm not comfortable with the signing. I can't stand the guy. But I suppose I'll have to get use to it as it's the only way we can survive financially.

I thought he was a very good player, skills wise.

I complete liability, too, but decent when he's actually playing. Am I mixing him up with another nutter?

This signing is so bad that had I not already bought my season ticket, it would have stopped me from buying one.
This clown is a complete disgrace to the sport and the fact that he will be taking up some of our shoestring budget is making my blood boil.

I will be astounded if he doesn't pick up at least one suspension during the course of this season.

I don't care how well he plays for us, this pr!ck will NEVER have my support.

We dont know with what standard of player he is given that its been over 3 years since he actually played.

Im more concerned with the standard of human being he is!

It's strange how one club's thug can become a grizzly, hard-faced enforcer when he changes clubs.

Not saying that I think it's right, just that it happens. He's both effective and a liability, imo but he's also a good bit older than he was - so, does that make him more experienced (life wise, of course, not in a playing sense since he's been out of the game) or do leopards never change their spots?

I've always disliked him because of his 5hithousery but I'd rather have him on our side than against us because his tactics ALWAYS work against us and we get sucked in. If it makes the opposition tread a little lighter when he's out on the park then fine just don't have him and Flanagan on the park at the same time...

fight club it is....

Just remember Bradford had a fine tradition of turning 'troubled players' into gems...

I don’t see it as barrel scraping to be honest. I see it is a pragmatic signing that acknowledges how susceptible to being bullied we are with our skinny squad. I agree that Sam Barlow as an opponent is really unlikeable, but perhaps he’s what we need right at this moment.

Wonder what his brother Josh is doing ?

On his day Sam is a very, very good player who should have had a long career in SL. His failure to just get on with the job and not believe his own hype has left him where he is. Regarding comments about fighting, he's not really your enforcer type player more comedy villain as it may be his cheap shot that starts the fight but he will be quickly out of the way when it kicks off. Rugby wise though good footwork and a really good offload game and his body hasn't been hammered in a tough competition for nearly 4 years now although if he had put in the work up to his comeback he certainly wouldnt have been left with Bradford as his only option. I hope for Sam's sake that John Kear can get some sense in to him and get the best out of him but don't be surprised if after 1 good game he is going round telling people Leeds are in for him.

Well predicted Roger. I did a quick check of the Fax site yesterday to see if there was any further comment after the end of October announcement in TotalRL/fax site he was training with them, nothing so it seemed you were right.

It is a good pragmatic signing for us. I trust Kear to get the best out of him, even if it takes a few games. Thats the easy to get forward, does that mean Sammut is the easy to get back? No pun intended. Any thoughts Mick?

He signed for Leigh earlier this week.......

thanks Mr Dog, I take no notice of other clubs. It only leads to jealousy. Not so easy to get back then!

Greg Worthington?

Signed on loan at Fev....

Signed for Fev yesterday.

Slightly off topic but Hull KR putting together a team that looks like it could have a chance of bouncing straight back up in 2021.

I’m surprised nobody noticed this couple of week ago.
Elliot told me he was training with the Bulls.
I think he’s a decent signing to be honest

Looking at the list of players out of contract and not confirmed as staying at their current clubs, there aren't a lot of backs on the list. I wonder if the Toronto link/rumour may be the source, in which case I would think we're looking at either Gary Wheeler or Hakim Miloudi, but I would expect they would only be short term loans rather than anything long term.

Wheelers just signed another two yr deal

Barlow signing is a bit of gamble but we are not exactly in a position to take our pick. He's aggressive and an older head in a what is still a pretty young set of forwards. Time will tell if he's learned from his past mistakes, Kear has thrown him a chance so hopefully he takes it.

Barlow, is dangerous. he will cause more trouble off the pitch than he is worth on it.

And Miloudi a new 1 year deal. I'm aware. That's why I was saying they may be short term loan deals.

I've said it previously, but I wouldn't want to be pinning hopes on Toronto, whether it be loans deals or Dual Reg. I actually think they'd be just about the worst possible DR partner, given their total absence of reserves and academy. Their most recent squad list https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/ho ... 20-so-far/ shows that they have only 24 players signed for 2020, and two of that last (Brierley and Worthington) have now gone out on season long loans. With only 22 players, and NO reserves or academy, do you really think that they are going to be having spare players to loan out? All that's needed is a few injuries and they are going to be needing to loan players in... Granted they'll probably make a couple more signings, but still...

I've said it previously, but I wouldn't want to be pinning hopes on Toronto, whether it be loans deals or Dual Reg. I actually think they'd be just about the worst possible DR partner, given their total absence of reserves and academy. Their most recent squad list https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/ho ... 20-so-far/ shows that they have only 24 players signed for 2020, and two of that last (Brierley and Worthington) have now gone out on season long loans. With only 22 players, and NO reserves or academy, do you really think that they are going to be having spare players to loan out? All that's needed is a few injuries and they are going to be needing to loan players in... Granted they'll probably make a couple more signings, but still...

Worthington is a short term loan, not season long. And I believe Brierley is a permanent transfer rather than any kind of loan (although not 100% on that one).

I don't disagree with your point though, I don't think you'll get much out of them as a DR partner.