Fantastic news for the rest of the Super League clubs!

Why not just give him a one year rolling contract and see how he does?
Committing to paying this clown a salary for the next THREE YEARS is a joke, he is getting worse as a player, not better.
You know it's time to get rid when your 6 gets caught by a prop, after being given a 15 yard head start.

A one year rolling deal offers no security. He'd probably go elsewhere. Who plays at stand off then? Who's the alternative?

Implying any other club is actually interested in signing sykes.
Danny Orr is out of contract at the end of this year, he would have been perfect.

I understand your points - and many are fair - especially the Fielden one!

However,

Based on where we are now, many of the players above are better than what we currently have in certain positions. In an IDEAL world we would have kept some of these players a little longer.

As much as Karl Pryce should be a world beater, is he any worse than Sheriffe? Is Richard Moore any worse than Sculthorpe? Is Lee Radford any worse than Glenn Hall (at the minute)?

I agree it's all hypothetical, but add Atkins, Peacock and Leon to our current squad and I think we'd be a lot better off and not necessarily struggling financially because of it......

I understand that. Can't remember on many if any occasions when any club has stated to having good news and bad news.

Connor Murphy has to be seen though as a main link between club and fans given he writes for the local paper. If he deems it as good news and bad news, you'd imagine he'd have fairly good judgement and it may even be how the club have give him the information.

I think I say this with many on this board in full agreement.

Connor Murphy has been a breath of fresh air. Approachable, keen and open are three words that sping to mind.

Long may it continue!!

Yeah. I reckon there would be quite a few. He's certainly not the greatest but he's not the worst player in SL either. He's having to do a job out of position at the moment too. What do you expect?



Orr's 4 years older than Sykes at 32. This season Sykes has played 17 games to Orr's 15. Their stats are as follows:

Metres Sykes 968 to Orr 829
Busts 23 Sykes to Orr 5
Assists 9 Sykes to Orr 4
CleanBreakss 7 Sykes to Orr 4
Missed Tackles Sykes 36 to Orr 45
Errors Syeks 21 to Orr 15
Penalties conceded Sykes 13 to Orr 10

From those stats and the relative ages of each player is Orr really that much better?

He has also scored twice as many tries as Sykes, has a much higher meters per carry average, and is a better goal kicker.

Given the fact that Orr is doing this despite being older than Sykes, I'd say yes, he is the better player.

He may have scored twice as many tries but 4 tries to 2 isn't much to write home about.

I'm not sure that signing Orr would be a significant improvement. Sykes has broken nearly 5 times as many tackles and has nearly twice as many assists yet has been very unimpressive at times.

Looking at where Quins are in table it suggests Orr hasn't been a star performer either. Had Orr been all that he wouldn't have been in London for so long.

Really we're quibbling over two average players. Which just reinforces my point. There's not much to choose from out there. Sykes, by being home grown and younger represents a better deal IMO. Albeit neither is one to get the blood pumping!

True.
On reflection, they're probably hoping that within 3 years' time, Southernwood will have managed to establish himself as first choice number 6 and Sykes will simply be acting as cover for a number of positions.

Suddenly 3 years seems like a very long time!

The scariest thing I've read recently, other than Sykes getting THREE years, is that McDermott supposedly rates him. I'm not even looking forward tonext season now.

At first I thought WTF?? But it does make sense really. Home-grown, can cover 3 positions to as reasonable standard and has been consistent all season (apart from the couple of bad performances recently, but thats the whole team).

And, tbf, even though he isn't a top stand-off, how many are OOC that are better than him? And if there is anyone, i'm nearly certain they'd want more than Sykes will be on.

no problem with sykes re-signing tbh. Can play 3 positions to a reasonable, if not brilliant, standard, counts towards homegrown quota and wont be on a massive amount.I'd hope that over course of his deal he's gradually displaced to being just a squad player, rather than a guaranteed starter, as other players are signed or academy products come through the system.
Pretty strong hint in article that langers is re-signing too which is excellent news if it comes to pass.

Only other one of our ooc players who would appear to be a must for re-signing is beaver, although I can understand club hanging on till new coach is appointed as if beaver stays we have no quota space to strengthen elsewhere in squad. Just hope the board dont wait too long and end up losing beaver through inaction.

As I understand it the only 2 clubs Beaver would consider playing for are Manly and Bradford now. He won't get on again at Manly dues to SC, and he loves life over here so he's not going to be too miffed about waiting I'd imagine.

not so sure about that. sure I read somewhere in last week that his agent was talking to other SL clubs. At the end of the day Its his job and he needs to know where his wage is coming from next year. If we leave it too long he'll have no option but to consider his options. Cant blame him either.

Well Menzies said he couldn't see himself playing against Bradford : He already loves the club.

In fact, last year, before he re-signed, the words he used were "It's Bradford or Retirement"

Not to bad of a signing, hardly the good news I hoped for though. Sykes is a squad man at best IMO, But a good one at that. His versatility and status are very valuable. But we do need to sign a 6 to play alongside Ox because we cant go another season with a makeshift stand off.

Connor reckons there's more good news coming next week. Fingers crossed for Langley/Menzies contract extensions.

With how he's come on, I wouldn't be surprised to see Whitehead get a new 3 year contract on improved terms.

I'm confident Langley will sign up though, given that he said this only a month ago :

It's not Sykes' fault he's getting played at 6, when he's clearly a centre in my opinion.

It's like Saints fans having a go at Scott Moore at the moment because he's not killing it as a scrum half.

Am I the only one who likes Sykes playing at 6?

He seems less exposed in defence, and whilst he will never be able to control a game, he certainly can have a much greater positive impact there than at centre.

Well he does seem to be less exposed in defence. I was hoping that was more down to an improvement in technique rather than him playing in a less exposed position. I guess we wouldn't know until we saw him back in the centre.

Sykes is doing a job, struggling at times but he's obviously giving it his best shot. I don't see him at SO long term, hopefully we can find someone who's a more natural halfback for that position.

Hopefully Langers, Beaver or a coach announcement next week then.



I do like him at 6, but he only seems to play well with an out and out creative 7. He was good with Deacs at the back end of last season and has been good with Orford. I don't think he can be relied upon to be the main creator in a HB partnership though.