If any truth in the Evans twins, then we are surely getting some top quality in. Both are excellent and only injuries have held them back.

I agree, I'd definitely keep the Evans boyos not too fussed about whether it's with or without the addition of Lineham

Would love to know where these rumours come from, have you a source , or do you not want to say..... anyhow don't you think the players in question would know before a fan with a connection......

Which would absolutely be his prerogative. He's not established enough to take a first choice part in our line up in my eyes, we are crying out for established quality.

By the sounds of it he's having another year at Bradford, which sounds sensible for him.

Totally agree with this Chester! Ben has really stood up since he came back from Bradford on loan couple of years ago and unfortunately for him, his injury this year was a bad one.

Rhys is another lad unlucky with injury as he had bagged the number 2 jersey and made that wing spot his own.

Re. the Evans brothers really hope that's not true.

Ben was superb last year and the timing and severity of his injury was a disaster - I really expected him to kick on in a way that, as yet, Laithwaite hasn't unfortunately.

As for Rhys, yes the lad has been unlucky with injuries but he can cover three positions (and I don't just mean play, but play excellently in three positions) and is brave, pacy and a good finisher. Given the choice of retaining Rhys, Gene or Kevin I'd go with Rhys every time and that is in no way a slur on anyone else.

The Evani (plural of Evans) are contracted till 2017 so I can't see it being true unless there's been an approach from the NRL/RU, in which case I think we'd get a fair bit of coin in return.

We could see a real turnaround in the squad at the end of this season.

OUT
Asotasi to probably retirement
Monaghan to Catalans
ratchford to Wigan
Myler to the NRL
Bridge - Contract is up i think.. No new one signed yet.. probably going to play 6 for the Storm
Evans brothers

IN
Gidley
Gaskell
Hampshire
Lineham
Eastmond
Cronk

have i missed anyone?

Hill to Leigh

The four half back system is certainly innovative, let's see if it pays off.

Not a chance.

Big Roy is to take up his 1 year option for 2016.

Christ I hope not, if it is in his favour I would just either loan him out all year or pay his contract out and get rid. Worst forward we've had for quite awhile.

Only a wind up

www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/s ... _division/

www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/s ... _division/

Don't think that he's any worse than Leikvoll or Rauhihi were.

Leikvoll terrible? No need for that. What I don't get is the criticism of Roys minutes...he doesn't sub himself. Still rubbish mind.

On the other hand if Roy was doing the business would TS be so keen to pull him off?

i nearly did a post on this following last week, but ended up pulling a roy and couldn't be d.

Leikvoll, well, after a bit of a slow start he became something of a cult hero to many and i would say we got value for money out of him in terms of tackling and offloads(eventually) i was sad to see him go.

Rauhihi though, well, i'm surprised his name hasn't cropped up more since the start of last season as you would think he's a bloody parallel to asotasi in terms of kiwi prop, early 30's, flattered to deceive.

Crazily by the time he had his last season here in 2009(yes he was here for 4 seasons believe it or not) i think a lot of people had come to lower their expectation which matched his less than expected output(but still included his own brand of chuck it ing anywhere offloads).

Its very disapointing, strangely he's not really had any exposure to fans as i know, no fans forums, i dont know if he's attended the two quizzes and i dont think he's been on the press duty pre match very much, so other than what you've seen on the pitch you've got zero else to endear him to the public.

He's a big bloke on big money with a big reputation who's come over and showed a low work rate, playing low minutes, and it kind of hurts to type that, cos i've wanted him to come over and be a success, i wanted him to come lead the pack and get the crowd behind him, it would be quite hard to even say he's phoning it in lately.

Apologies again for the uncoordinated rant, i'm just finishing off my saturday night whiskey and pot noodle.

I totally agree, I thought he would come over and be a leader. Put in the hard yards like Morley and make our pack a mobile unit of destruction, but instead we have 2 consistent props in hill and sims then have to constantly rotate other props to see who is putting effort in. I thought England had a solid game and was much better then Asotasi has been, so he could be the answer to fill in our prop dilemma. I think people have erased Rauhihi from their memories which is why I think he never gets brought up ha ha

I liked leikvoll and I think he ended up being a good prop, but yeah it took awhile for him to settle in.

Rauhihi was a bigger disappointment than Roy for me. He was probably better than Roy but the expectation was bigger. Also, I find it hard to believe that an ageing prop is our highest earner? Surely Joel, Hill, Westwood are all on more?

In 2009 Tony Smith was asked how are things progressing with the squad, replying all was fine with one exception one forward who either can't or won't do as I want him to, I as usual guessed wrong, I assume it must of been Rauhihi as he seemed to be phased out and not making the Wembley Squad so possibly a bit of both, in Roy's case for whatever reason I feel he just Can't do it any more.

Thinking back to Rauhihi and Leikvoll they were not overly consistent but on their day would take some stopping and could offload.

Didn't Rauhihi come over here as a top NRL offloader ? The main problem that came about with his game was that, apart from Michael Sullivan ,nobody ever supported him when he made a break so the speculative pass from him didn't work. You would have thought that would have been corrected on the training field though.
As for Leikvol ,he only came as the quality of import we could attract or afford at the time & although his talent was limited at least he put the effort in. I remember a cup match at Leigh where the Leigh player broke a couple of ribs just by running into Big Chris.

I had no real problem with either Leikvoll or Rauhihi. I don't think either of them shirked their responsibities, they just didn't hit the heights they were expected to. It happens.
Leikvoll was built like the proverbial brick "pooh" house. He just didn't use his size accordingly. Shame, as he didn't lack effort. As duckie would say about Sims not being big enough, maybe Leikvoll was a little TOO big.

Rauhihi was a strange fish. He was signed by Cullen when =#0040FFquote from club official at the time =#FF0000"It's easier to say what's right (physically) with him, than to tell you his injuries". When he [ieventually[/i got anywhere near full fitness, imo he wasn't a bad prop at all, and I still don't get the stick he got/still gets. Yes, he could've gone better (couldn't every player), but didn't. Cullen's signing of a crock, must be a major factor. You couldn't expect Rauhihi to say "No, Cull. Don't sign me. I'm goosed". He was a pro, and he needed wages.

Asotasi is a wage thief, plain and simple. He's barely been injured, yet has had precious few minutes on the pitch, and when he's been on, he's done the square root of ####all. The sooner he goes home, the happier I'll be. I'm no expert on how to make pancakes, but I know a t0$$er when I see one.