Not Celtic , you mean the Crusaders , they are allowed 14

hard to be signing players not knowing if the club was going to survive or not

the calibre of player now is certainly a lot better than before, plus the coaching staff is better.

theyll be much better on the park this year

That's possible, but they're not going to have much of a pre-season to gell and wholesale changes are all well and good but stability and consistancy account for a lot.

I'm sure they'll pick up a win or two but it will be a long way into the season before they're playing anywhere near their potential. Do they even have 13 players yet?

www.crusadersrfl.com/newsstory40.htm These two confirmed today.

www.crusadersrfl.com/newsstory40.htm These two confirmed today.

They had the same problem last year though.

IIRC, about six of the team that played Leeds on the opening day had only been in the country for 24 hours because of visa problems.

Key point for me will be use of their Welsh academy players. They will have played together and should show cohesion. Foreigners will add punch, but we want to see improvement in the development ranks.

And that will result in them finishing in the same place as last year , bottom

14 southern hemisphere players ' Quota ' , plus some on euro passports plus whatever english he can get , be lucky to have more than 2/3 real Welsh per game

If they're going after players like that then it sounds like they're banking on average attendances of 6k+ minimum. Good luck.

And why do you say this?

With the confirmed signings to date I'd put our starting 17 as -

1. Kear
2. Dyer
3. Blackwood
4. Martin
5. Youngquest
6. Withers
7. Witt
8. O'Hara
9. Lee
10. Bryant
11. Chan
12. Winterstein
13. Lupton

14. James
15. Flower
16. Peek
17. White

Looking a lot better than it did a month or so ago.

Obviously depending on future signings and what Nobby's thoughts are Withers and Lee could switch at 6 and 9 with a shuffle in the backline.

Our pack, despite our rubbish league position, actually had a decent go last year. Our back line was bad to say the least. One game against Bradford last year saw a clear field ahead of a centre and wing and not the pace for either of them to finish the chance.

From what i've seen the Crusaders props are actually pretty good, certainly a good foundation to start from.

Yeah decent props and we had a decent platform in some games.

You get in the opponents 20 three times with no return then concede the first time they get into yours and it starts to take your confidence down a peg or two.

You are the welsh version of Paul Cullen.

Calm down I haven't even said upstream until now.

I think I'm a bit more screwed on than crazy Cullen anyway.

Upstream in your reverse pivot boat, targetting the C wave defender.


Im liking your thinking.

You read my mind. I think.



Imagine some faces in the dressing room when he comes out with that.

Like that Rowntrees advert.

If they are after one or two marquee signings on 150k + they will need at least 6k averages to pay for them. I cant see that happening. Gateshead, Sheffield, London/Quins, Celtic Crusaders mk1 have all struggled to break that kind of figure in SL. Why would Wrexham Crusaders be any different? Gateshead averaged approx 4k, didnt spend big and still went bust.

I cant see it being any kind of a success. Not even nearly.

We'll have to wait and see.

Mason has not signed yet and nobody else is near the 150k figure you speak of.

Melbourne bound.

Maybe.

As I have said before I would like to see the money used boosting our back line as this is the area with the greatest need.

Gateshead never went bust, if anything it was Hull that were in the mire with the money.

news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 433923.stm

news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 433923.stm

They lost £700k in year 1 and effectively went bust and opted to 'merge' with Hull and move to Hull. With a 3895 average crowd.

The only way to have a sustainable expansion franchise is with a solid fanbase, local business support and money. Crusaders haven't got it, Gateshead didnt have it, Quins havent got it. The RFL are dreamers and its embarrassing. 1 successful franchise, Catalans. But lets ignore what makes them successful and keep chucking in badly planned franchises into Super League. Crusaders will flop.

Crusaders have not failed yet and neither has rugby league in Wales.

Let's see how we go next year before writing Crusaders off.