rhys williams was his last official signing was it not? prior to that the moneybags 4some of 2008.

how much input did he have if at all in carvell and higham?

You are getting ripped for it in the Star today. They reckon Waterhouse has had his best days and didn't get any offers from any of the NRL clubs.

Are you kidding. Bracek is a future Man Of Steel !

I read in the daily Mirror on line that Ratchford has not ruled out staying at Salford next year and that he is awaiting the arrival of their new coach to discuss his future. They probably have nothing else to report on.

I think he said it on GMR, it does appear he has plenty of options. Leave him to it, though you do suspect Smith will only wait for so long.

he is in contention for the next origin game for the blues so cant be that far past his best

Didnt Myler say something similar before signing for us?

What, that he was waiting for the new coach to turn up to see if he fits into his plans? I don't think so.
One thing I believe is that the Lord Tony Smith won't be fond of the statement if true.

I watch Salford's highlights purely to see Ratchford play. Very elusive smart player, capable of a moment of magic. Chase is similiar probably with a bit more organisation. I would go for Ratchford only really because he is young and british.

Neither did Joel Monaghan.

The Bulldogs were keen I heard?

I'll give you that one Saddened.

Didn't realise Waterhouse had disgraced himself and been hounded out of the country

Done deal for Ratchford.

I hope that aint true, i'll repeat what ive said in the past about Ratchford. Ive never seen a game where he's played thats left me thinking "Wow we need to sign him".

Lets just say we have signed him, Briers has agreed another year so is Ratchford going to be happy sat on the touchline for a year as a backup player ?

Also lets presume that Ratchford will be the replacement for Lee Briers, where will our kicking game come from as neither Myler or Ratchford are really noted for having a prolific kicking game.

He'd be one heck of an expensive squad player if he's signing from next season.

I suggest you watch the highlights of Catalans vs Salford this year. Salford should've built the team around the likes of Ratchford over the last 3 years but he has been messed around under Mcrae. Can't blame him for going. He will be a big success at Wire or any other club with the right coaching. Expect to see him in an England shirt by the end of next season.

100% agreement with every word of this
I'm still scratching my head as to why we need him NOW
We've already got better, and he's hardly 'ripping up trees' currently for us to sign him now, as one for the future.
Let others have him. When Briers retires, I'm sure we can do better than Ratchford, and we've allready got better options at centre...keep clear imo

Rob, if we do get him, the vibe is he's coming as Hodgson's replacement, not Briers. (as that third pivot at fullback).

It will mean I presume that he'll cover the halves next year, playing the odd game at FB whilst learning the position. I don't see a replacement for Hodgson kicking around in SL, so I think it's something worth doing myself. He's an elusive runner and has a good pair of hands.

We could still then get a replacement for Briers from either SL or the NRL.

His best position IMO would be centre. Throw a couple of stone on him and some of his movement would be Newlove-esque.

Jeez lets give the lad a chance. IF he does end up at the HJ that is.

I don't see what's wrong with developing O'Brien with Myler (if we want to take a risk). If not, we get someone in from NRL.

I've yet to see (regularly) how Ratchford could improve our side/squad, and he'll account for a decent amount of wage, too

I see what you mean, sign a stand off for big money thats occasionally played at centre and groom him as a fullback.

You may point to Sam Tomkins reverting from the halves to fullback as an example, thats a different story as he's a freak of a player talent wise that was already on Wigan's books so it wasn't going to cost them anything money wise to try him out at fullback, its going to cost any club a fair bit for Ratchford's services.

Ratchford doesn't look like a natural last line of defence to me, can he read the game like a Wellens, Radlinski or Hampson ? Ive seen no evidence of that from the times ive seen him on sky, Tomkins even when he was in the half backs was always looking for work and tackles, i'm not so sure that ive seen Ratchford go out of his way too often to get involved in defence and the graft that he'll need to do at fullback.

I just prey we don't sign him any capacity, i can't see how he'll be an improvement on what we already have in Hodgson at fullback or Briers at stand off. Any signings we make of a significant note (Like possibly Ratchford who would be a significant signing money wise) must be better than what we already have to improve us, i don't see him as that.

Ratchford Might be staying at Salford after all !! Just been on the Super League Show !!

Well I think we safely say it's either stay at Salford or go to Warrington.