Im quite excited about matty Ashton, he will have to wait for his chance but I really hope he takes it and puts pressure on the wingers and mamo to perform. He has a lot of potential thats for sure.

Sam Lisone is staying in New Zealand, good job we didn’t go anywhere near him. He looks very average

saw ashton at the shirt launch last week, he's already surprisingly big built, so he probably could put a little weight on and it not affect him too much

Ha ha ha ha i guess we're just not getting a new prop this year then

Appears strange given we have lost 2 "middles" in Westwood and Tasi.
If we don't manage to recruit another prop then the coaches will really have to earn their money on getting some of the younger players up to super league level. We have 3 ex players on the payroll who could be in a list of some of the best forwards in the super league era (Kylie, Anderson and Westwood) and it would be disappointing if we cannot develop some of what we have got into regular first team players.

We are clearly struggling as pre-season has started already. Our pack deficiency has been known for over 1 year too.

Have faith.

I refuse to believe that we arent signing at LEAST 2 established forwards.... Like someone already said.. We had a weak pack and we lost Westwood and Tasi... No one at the club can seriously be thinking we are ok as we are.

Stuart Middleton doesn't think that. He's frustrated.
We were in the hunt but we keep losing out.
We'll get someone I'm sure.

I'm not sure we need 2, I think one would suffice presuming Kibula can step up and play a few games. Tasi & Westwood didn't play regularly last year to mean we need to replace them both. I would much rather we got one top prop rather than two average ones, but the signs currently don't look great.

I wonder whether its a choice of signing someone for the sake of it to fill a place, or keeping it open to see if there is any movement during the season, which would people prefer?

I would prefer us to sign the right person even if it means waiting til season starts

Hopefully it won't be a bargain bucket panic buy like we've done so many times. I hope Kibula hits the ground running and impresses and i'm hoping Luis Johnson can up a gear as from the little i saw him play for us he was very impressive. Looked like he'd packed some size on when we saw him at KR and was about on par with Tasi

Last year we struggled to make ground through our forwards and when Cooper and Hill were off the pitch we looked very poor. Personally I think we were fortunate with injuries as Coops and Hill played 60 games between them, I hate to think where we would have been if they each had, say 6 games out.

We then have Philbin and BMM as impact props. Can either of them do long minutes ? It's possible as Philbin is still young whilst BMM seems to be over his injury / fitness issues, but I wouldn't like to go into 2020 assuming they will.

Samy Kibula looks the part physically, but has played only 1 SL game. Eribe Doro will hopefully make a debut for us, but I suspect both these players may only play a handful of games next year. If we get more from them, then its a bonus. I think we need to view them as replacements for 2021/2, and that assumes they 'come good'.

Clark and Akauola at interchange is not very inspiring. Clark can do the time but not the yardage. Akauola can do the yardage but not the time.

So yes, I think we definitely need a top class prop that can fill in for Hill and Coops. Failing that, two decent interchange props.

I think we do. Hill has another season in him at best. I'd rather get 2 props now for bedding in.

Don't honestly expect much from Kibula. (At least this season).
Wigan let him go for a reason.
And Wire don't have a great record of developing players.
Matty Russell's failings weren't ironed out and he was let go by Wigan.

We need 2 props, a top quality one and a very solid interchange like Paul Wood was. Cooper and Hill will be gassed for the business end, akauola won't do enough minutes, philbin is very good but would be better spelling loose forward or second row IMO.

Kibula may well end up being very good but we can't rely on an unproven player at this stage. I really think we are barking up the wrong tree in the NRL. We should be aiming for a quality prop from another superleague side like we did with carvel. You know they will settle a lot quicker and you know what you're getting.

They signed Burgess and they don't have the clout since the attendance drop off during Sean Wane's period. I'd say that was much of the reason.

Kibula isn’t as good as pat Moran and you will find that out this season imo . I watch a lot of championship rugby and he didn’t do much for Dewsbury or Swinton while Moran was stand out for Sheffield also the lad you had on loan at Widnes Ellis robson was stand out for them week in week out , I wouldn’t be surprised to see him break though this year rather than kibula

Seems like its shaping up to be a familiar year on the recruitment front. We can see clear weaknesses in certain positions. We get linked with players, then don't sign them. As the off season goes on, the calibre of players we get linked with drops.

In the end we will probably sign somebody just because we have to, likely a borderline starter in the NRL whose club wants to move them on and they don't have many other options.

When you're a club somewhere in the range of 4th to 5th best in the competition, and you have aspirations to be 1st, the only way to break in to that is to make elite signings that make those above you nervous.

If you just pad the squad with a couple of fillers, you're focusing on consolidating 4th - 5th, not chasing down the pack above you.

BMM isn't a prop.

currently in the squad we have two top class SL Props and a decent young up and coming prop in Philbin off the bench. we then have a slack handful of reserve grade standard props. NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

Even with Hill and Cooper on the field we aren't the sort of pack that's going to steam roll over the opposition down field, set a platform and have a set attacking play on the 4th or 5th.

We're a middle weight, mobile, athletic pack that all have a decent set of hands. We need two more Cooper esque props with a good engine that can come on and run tight lines with tip ons and offloads.

What is your view on Eribe Doro?

He had a quiet season with our Academy last season owing to injuries and disciplinary reasons, but if given a chance in the 1st team, he could claim a prop substitute role in 2020.

I think he is much better than Kibula.

Hill was shown off to his best playing for GB ,as a ball playing prop ,& not a five drive steam roller. If Price can bring in a more expansive game, where players back up the ball carrier & are ready for a cheeky pass, we could have a more entertaining & effective team instead of the recent constipated on field product.

100% spot on mate

And that is why last season became such a damp squib, and whoever we sign unless SP changes style of play we will have a similar season.

Hill and Cooper were off loading a lot more at the beginning of last season and said in an interview this was part of their regular training.
It definitely wasn't how they were playing by mid season for whatever reason SP decided to change what seemed to be working.