I'd like to see a playmaker in the mould of Andy Gregory at scrum half. Austin is a runner, so the question is "is Widdop that playmaker"?

He is beyond any signing we could realistically expect and still the question is “is he good enough”? A winner and a leader, just what we need.

Austin is the full package.

Hope he lives up to expectations RD. In answer to Captain H, I was answering Smiffy's question of what I'd like to see in a number 7. Whether I get to see what I would like doesn't always happen, and sometimes just isn't possible e.g. Brown's contracted for a third year. However, where have I asked "is he good enough"? That's a different matter altogether, and assuming he does come, he would be a massive improvement on Brown.

Apologies, I hadn’t picked up on the change in direction!

No apologies needed, Captain H. It's not always easy to get the gist of a post when the thread has items on Drinkwater interspersed with others on Widdop.
To be honest, I'd be more than happy if either came. On balance, I would prefer to wait a year to get Widdop as I believe he's the better of the two. I'd love to see another Andy Gregory type in P&B, one day. too!

Yes I'm with you. Thomas Leuluai might be similar to Gregory ... but not as good. Half Backs tend to play on left or right now. They play wider and hookers dominate the dummy half role. I think it depends who else is in your team.

At least you get it pal.
Few seem to know there aren't old school 6 7 9 and 1 anymore.

Yep .... and don't start me on the modern day loose forward and who could play there.
Oh and the difference between some second rows and centre ... about 5 yards. Oh and wingers who seem to bash the ball up more than the props. And how big a prop needs to be. Stop.
And a Happy New Year to all ... including "Rubber" of course.

You're a season or so out of date there mate, unless you want to add 'predominantly' to that statement. Halves are now given licence (indeed are actively encouraged) to switch sides as a way of breaking down defensive patterns.

Thanks Phussy ... one thing for certain is that I am definitely out of date by at least a season or so. But Half-Backs "switching sides" to confuse opposition ... blimey that's revolutionary ... tell no-one.

Switching or not....both your points highlight that halves roles are on a whole the same and the 6 and 7 specialists is near extinction (except in the minds of some game watchers) ...and with many teams so is any number of 1 9 and 13.

One more signing to come. https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/sp ... cruitment/

One more signing to come. https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/sp ... cruitment/

It doesn’t actually say we are, it’s just we may do.

I think it will depend on if Smith goes to Salford.

I'm not reading too much into this. It has previously been reported that we aren't 'fully spent' against the salary cap so, together with whatever would be saved should Smith leave for Salford, we would have the chance to make another signing but with no specific target in mind. Alternatively, there could already be an offer on the table for somebody but negotiations are on hold over Christmas.

In either case, I'm not expecting a big name. Just a bit of cover.

At this stage of the season, elite players tend to have contracts. There aren't many top players who get to January out of contract still scrapping to find a club. The only way you're going to get an elite player at this point is if something happens like they have a bust up with their club or if the club is in severe financial distress and needs the money.

More likely at this stage of the season you will pick someone up who is at the fringes of a squad and their club is willing to let them go to help the wage bill, which is fair enough if they provide something different to our squad, but I wouldn't expect a major signing.

....or we could get someone whose season would finish halfway through ours. Someone playing another code perhaps?

You can get a lot of player for little money by just vulturing around the relegation club at the back end of the season.

I'd also heard this rumour, but no name and no inside knowledge. A Union player who has never played League would be classed differently according to the Salary Cap, at least in their first year. Of course that reflects the fact that they are going to take time to learn the game.

This was probably the thinking behind the Prell signing. We had the funds to enable us to take a chance as long as we could manage within the Cap.

Some time ago Price said he would like to make two more signings - both outside backs. Since then we have signed Jake Mamo, so I assume the outstanding signing is space for the other outside back (which he is 'not rushing to fill'). Will Tom Lineham leave at the end of 2019, because we have heard nothing about a contract extension ?

The wording of the Guardian write up on the topic was however curious, unless I am reading too much into it;

[iThere may yet be more new faces to add to the six recruits the Wire have already confirmed for next year, but it is likely to be no more than one signing[/i

A singular signing but plural new faces. Can somebody join the squad but not sign up ? The only exception I can think of is where we take a player on loan from another club. I am not sure why we would do that as I think they would still go on our salary cap.

Ive heard done deal

Is this a successful approach for a club that has ambitions to win the title?

The only time I can think of us doing it was when Steve Anderson was here and he hoovered up Laughton, Fozzard and Weston from Huddersfield.

With a slightly different slant, we had two such players in the Grand Final from Leigh that were confined to the championship.

Its an interesting point about picking up players at bargain basement prices, whether that be from clubs that are in financial difficulty or otherwise. Looking back over recruitment over the past decade or so;

2007 Morley, V Anderson
2008 Hicks, King, Monas, t'other Anderson
2009 Higham, Carvell, Mathers, Brian Carney
2010 Myler, Atkins, Solo
2011 Hodgson, t'other Monaghan
2012 Waterhouse, Ratchford, Hill
2013 Nobody
2014 Russell, Asotasi, England, Kevin Penny mark2
2015 Clark, Simms, Wheeler, Sandow
2016 Gidley, Lineham, Hughes, Westerman, Dodds, plus err, Jordan Cox and Ryan Bailey
2017 Brown, Cooper, Crosby, Savelio, Blythe mark 2, Ryan Jones, Tony Prell, Ben Pomeroy, Peta Hiku (alas we lost him).

Have we taken players from ailing clubs ? I don't think there have been so many. There seems to be a couple of obvious trends. The first is something that we already know - we are a club that pays good money to recruit top class players. The second is something odd happened around 2013. For the remainder of TS's tenure there seems to have been a lot of higher risk recruitment such as Russell, Penny, Wheeler, Cox, Bailey, Blythe, Prell. Did the money dry up, or did TS decide he was an alchemist ?