Same here.

You sure they aren’t old clips from a few years back? If he’s still pretty damn good I don’t why he can’t get a gig in a sport where you don’t need to be that quick.

So with Patton signing an extension it looks like next year will be Eastmond and Patton at 6 and 7 - would we be happy with that?
I am assuming Roberts is going home, and Brown is retiring.

It could be that one of Roberts/Patton will still be here and first choice with Eastmond, and Patton is re-signing on the expectation that Eastmond will spend a lot of time on the treatment table and there will still be plenty of first team opportunities.

I have a bad feeling about Eastmond, although Price and the staff must be better informed in terms of seeing his current form and fitness.

This year we seem to have had a really good team spirit without any big names or egos. Charnley is a big signing but he seems the kind of guy who can fit in well to a dressing room. When Eastmond was at Saints things seemed to go badly between him and the club. He had injury issues then as well.

My concern is we will end up with Eastmond on a 3 or 4 year contract spending a lot of time out injured and eating up space on the cap which restricts the opportunity to sign other players. If he still has the attributes he had in his younger days, when he was similar to Jason Robinson in terms of explosive speed and ability to flat foot defenders and beat them one on one, he would be a great asset, but if his body has started to decline then it could be he has had the best days of his career and is going to play out the rest of his career as a lesser version of his former self, and one that is often injured too.

Big assumption over Roberts, I think that issue is a long way from being settled. Dec Patton would have to improve a great deal this season to be first-choice 6, and if teamed with Eastmond (though I would take a gamble on signing him) we would be starting 2019 once again with an untested half-back combination.

Sally's got the old crystal ball out again. Plenty of assumptions. My crystal ball tells me that Patton won't be in the first choice as a half-back.

I hope not unless there is a dramatic improvement in his ability to create opportunities and lead the team around the field. I laughed when I read that "Future of Warrington" nonsense, people seem blind to his limitations and forget how we play when he is at halfback.

This!

IF Roberts goes (which is pure speculation) I want to see this money spent on an equivalent out and out half back. Eastmond isn’t the solution to Roberts leaving, and although I’m glad Patton is staying I think Price sees his value in the role he is currently utilised, not as a replacement for Brown.

Maybe I’ve just got my maths wrong and we can afford to have a decent half-back pairing PLUS Eastmond hanging about in the background slowly readjusting to the game.

And this too!

I suppose the big issue is cost, and particularly wrt the salary cap. Someone posted on here that he wanted £400k. But if he wants that kind of money, why isn't he being snapped up by a RU club ? If the figure is correct, I would guess that the figure was what his agent wanted and that £250k tops would be more realistic for a 29 year old (July) with a penchant for the injury room. That would mean a salary cap figure of around £125k in the first year of what I guess would be a 2 year contract.

Looking at the pros and cons, £125k would be fine, it would be pretty close to the likes of Hill and Clark I would have thought. On the debit side, he was renown for his speed off the mark and ability to break the line and that must surely be slower at the age of 30. Then as mentioned, he is injury prone. Also, how eager is he to play RL, and specifically Wire ? I may be doing him a disservice, but he sounds as though he is chasing the money to round off his pension - particularly as he has already turned us down a year or so ago.

Nobody seems to have seen him playing recently to judge his abilities, so you would have to go with the view of the coaching staff ...but he doesn't exactly look like a compelling buy.

£125k may be fine and affordable to a rich club, but it’s the amount of cap space we are using that worries me. Eastmond could prove the doubters wrong and be fantastic from day one, but it’s the less likely scenario. Decent players in Super League come much cheaper than £125-250k per season and we could probably get a couple of decent younger backs than that.

I have a feeling this is purely a publicity stunt to allow the headline ‘Former RU international joins Wire’... I don’t like to be negative about stuff at the moment but this sort of thing reminds me of when we were rubbish and would get excited at the prospect of a new player being the saviour of the club, only to find that we were just as rubbish with a highly paid former star getting walked over every week looking disinterested.

Dearly hope I’m wrong on this one though

Cap space is no issue.
It's £2m next season plus 2 marquee.
There'll only be Wire getting close to cap. The others other than Toronto, if they come up, can't afford it.

This may be true. Who do you have in mind for Half Back that could be available under transfer (or is off contract) for 2019 for £125-250k ?

I think Roberts will see out his contract. He's improving, as is the team. If we get to a final (or two) why would he move back? His family will be settling now no doubt...he isn't a flakey, Sandow-like character.

You'd think that the better we and him play the more at home he will feel. Playing a big part in a good team is what most players dream about.
Sandow seemed fine and then he got the dreaded injury.

Fair enough then, I guess it’s not such a gamble if we can afford it. I’d still like to see some money spent on assuring we have a decent experienced half-back pair, whether that’s from the NRL or transfer fees, whatever. I just don’t want to rely on the hope of Eastmond suddenly being a top RL half back after 7+ years out of the game.

We had enough long term rehabilitationistas under Mr Smith to last a lifetime. Not good to sign players with injury problems.

Every player gets injuries. What difference does it make if he so happens to aquire it preseason

I don't think long term injuries & injury prone players were as well received when their name was Gary Wheeler or the Aussie prop who came over injured in 2016 & played about 20 minutes all season. Mitchell Dodds i think his name was.

Was talked about before tonight’s game by Brian Carney and co.

Can we sign him ASAP to play in the halves.

I think you're being a bit harsh on Dodds, yes he missed a few opening games, but getting a double leg break vs Catalan was plain unlucky.

Yes that's twice his name has come up for injuries. There was nowt wrong with him till he double snapped the leg.

Gary Wheeler I'll except.

apart from him missing pre season and the first three months of the season, after getting a pin put in his hand the day after the NRL grand final.

Unfortunately for Dodds he just seems like one of those players that suffer with injuries.

Had some pretty serious knee issues before he signed for us, joined us with a wrist problem, broke his leg and still hasn't featured for Brisbane because of knee issues.