Agree to a point but teams around us have improved massively this year and we are certainly going through a transition. I would take a season like this if we improve the squad with some big signings next year and the youngsters who have played this year improve too.

Regarding Cooper, when he left this board was full of posts about how we wouldn't miss him, fair play to the lad he has done great so far.

If we had the "£440k" to spend during the close season who would you have signed.
To me the only player that has moved that i would have liked now with Hindsight is Luke Walsh at Saints. Other than that not sure who else was available that moved clubs.

The last half of last season Wood Hill and Cooper were our best front rowers imo.
Never rated Coops as a loose though. He knocked on too many times for my liking.

for what we supposedly need, there was no one.

People were harking on that luke walsh was available, but saints had him tied up from mid season last year, enough time for his form to pick up and the rumours start about him not coming over.

a few people after the wigan game were saying that we weren't caught short by the briers announcement, he retired in november, so we had the majority of the off season to recruit a new halfback from australia. Clearly they dont have a clue about how long it takes to sort something like that out. And at that point virtually no one of any class would be available to pick up.

Hmm. Still lacking a plan B though eh? If we expected Briers to play a full season unscathed then our medical staff were on a different planet, and if we didn't then we should have got cracking and started recruiting a replacement in well in advance as contigency should the worse happen ........... which it did.

And please don't tell me Ratchford, GOB & Myler were the contigency cos Ratchford was clearly being groomed for FB, and GOB was involved in more loans than Wonga.

I have heard from two different sources than we are well under the cap. One said £380,000 although i would be hesitant to trust this guy and another who I know well said £300,000 and I would trust his call.

If we are upto the cap then there are quite a few players earning well above their worth.

Can we refund you for the money for Daz Clark so you've got a few quid more to spend?

Would people have been happy if we would have recruited below standard players that may have been available NO. they would be calling for Smiths head over his recruitment. The club have siad that the quality of player was not available end of. We need to stick with the youth and hope that some come through, if not keep looking for the special player that warrents the big bucks.

Do people seriously believe that we are £300k to £400k under the cap?

At most we'd be Briers' wage less whatever up-grade Russell got for this year plus whoever replaced Briers in the 25 first tier players.

If King was on £600k (source: wigan forum) then Briers must have been on £400k at least

Benji Marshall was released from his contract today. He'd be alright for you lot. Bet you'd get him for £379,999.99 as well.

Well we can't all be as lucky as to have Lance Hohaia in our ranks can we? Just keep dousing your Luke Walsh figurine in holy water and praying he stays fit.

Woh there horsey. It wouldn't be the strangest thing in the world if he ended up with you. There presumably won't be too many NRL sides with loads of cap room sloshing around at this stage of the season,so it could fit.

And from the rumours on our board at the moment it seems Walsh won't be around for too much longer.

Aus $700000 is £387000 so that would put us in the game if the cap mattered, but technically as a union convert, I think he'll be cap exempt, so he's open season for every RL club.

No, no he's not cap exempt. Read the new talent pool rules for further details:

Eh ! Why where's he going? Is he injured?

I dont like Saints and certainly dont want them to win anything but I would be gutted to see Luke Walsh leave SL, he is a great player to watch.

...and there were rumours about St's wanting GOB a couple of weeks ago.

To replace wheeler. If rumours are to be believed, were in the very strange position next year of having to replace all our senior halfbacks! Fwiw Walsh will see out his contract

Walsh does seem to be enjoying it over here

I would think that could likely be the case. We have seen a fair bit of rotation with the younger lads and i think we can already see who looks likely to come through and cement their place in the first team. I like the look of the Evans boys but not so much Riley, for example. I would like to see more of Dwyer and i think it's time Currie really showed us what he's made of now.

Don't forget Currie is a teenager and a forward, I think people do need to put that in context.
Riley for such a big lad has awful leg drive and seems to have little strength.
England played well at Leeds but has had his injuries.
B.Evans hasn't stood out but equally hasn't done anything wrong.
Laithwaite is industrious but at the moment he's in that category that Mitchell/Tyke/Cooper/Blythe have been in. Good but are they good enough, take the Cooper route and good but he could go the other way.

Problem for Saints is Luke Walsh has put himself in the shop window by showing how good he is and once the big clubs start circling it becomes a question of can they keep hold of him, like Briers in the Challenge Cup run of 1997.

He didn't say £400,000 though. What a load of rubbish. Have you been hearing the voices again?

I'll never forget walking to the bus station from Priestley and seeing Lee being driven in, in tears in the back of the car.