Thewlis will be playing on the wing, until Dufty leaves us.

I just thought, didn't someone say we'd quietly re-signed Minikin on another 1 year deal. Could be (and i hope not) him taking left centre if we have actually re-signed him.

Gosh, I'd forgotten about him

We signed him on a 2 years deal in Sep 2021, so he's here for next season.

Madame Boyd on twitter indicating Drinkwater has signed. https://twitter.com/BoydMadame/status/1 ... et%3DTweet

Madame Boyd on twitter indicating Drinkwater has signed. https://twitter.com/BoydMadame/status/1 ... et%3DTweet

Fair enough, i'll be happy with him in the halves

re. Drinkwater at his best Worth having a look at these highlights v Wigan 2021 season. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdPHnzyqoK4 and added later https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0L6SRiIpdw Very good short kicking game. (Bit of fun at the end as well.)

re. Drinkwater at his best Worth having a look at these highlights v Wigan 2021 season. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdPHnzyqoK4 and added later https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0L6SRiIpdw Very good short kicking game. (Bit of fun at the end as well.)

Saints and Wigan have produced more homegrown players than we have for years although things may be starting to change. Our failure to develop halves in particular is a sad story and potentially good players have been let go which suggests to me we got it wrong. If our pack is going to be as big and strong as predicted next season Riley Dean must be given a chance he would probably get at Saints or Wigan. Ratch is not a halve and Drinkwater is a one track pony.
I smell an Aussie!

Assuming we sign Drinkwater I guess he would be first choice kicker? Unless Matu'tia took it on full time?

Drinkwater hasn't done much kicking, last time he regularly kicked was 2018 when he averaged 67%, not great. Mata'utia last kicked regularly in 2020 he was at 73% ish.

Ratchford has regularly kicked 80%+ and has been up at 85% for the last couple of years, probably helped by the fact we can't shift the ball wide, so all our tries have been by the posts...

Which potentially good players have been let go?

If Drinkwater is fit, why would Catalans release him? He's got another year on his contract there. He also spoke about how he was loving life in France and couldn't imagine leaving and missed a few months with a mystery foot injury that puzzled doctors around the world. If you're signing him, who are Catalans getting? They were very happy with Drinkwater, so must be someone big.

Josh Drinkwater is an Aussie.

They seemed to prefer Tyrone May there at the end of last year and are lining up 2 new centres. I guess they would need to release Drinkwater for cap purposes.

Taukeiaho, Plus Tomkins, plus Pearce plus 2 new centres (think they where chasing Luetele?) won’t come cheap

https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/sp ... on-wolves/

https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/sp ... on-wolves/

All these suggestions of who we might or not be signing & who might be going are a pretty poor reflection on the man who has had his finger on the pulse for over 18 months. We will no doubt be dragged into a late spending spree once more to bring the overpaid over here to under perform.
And the club wants to sell season tickets.

Every time I saw Drinkwater last year he looked a stone overweight.

I recall seeing him make a break in one match and you could actually see the physio preparing the oxygen tent on the touchline.

As Saddened said earlier, he’s happy in France and he’s under contract. To me that says he wouldn’t be heading here for anything other than more money on a longer deal.

It’s a no from me. If Williams is good enough to be the England captain he should be good enough to steer us around the park behind a bigger pack. I’m sure Dean or Hayes have a good enough long kicking game to justify the other HB jersey (if Ratchford isn’t up to standard as we suspect).

I just hope we don’t throw too much money at Gildart for centre. He’s above average, but nothing that justifies King-style wages.

We aren’t half in a mess right now. I actually felt better last month at the end of an awful season.

So assuming we sign Drinkwater the squad for next season is looking something like:-

1. Dufty
2. Ashton
3. Ma'atutia
4. Ratchford
5. Thewlis
6. Williams
7. Drinkwater
8. Vaughan
9. Clark
10. Dudson
11. Currie
12. Nicholson
13. McGuire

Walker
Kasiano
Mikaele
Harrison
Bullock
Philbin
Wrench
Minikin

Sort of the opposite of last season - the forwards look good but are we a little weak in the backs? Or a lot weaker? I hope Dufty turns out to be the spark we’ve been looking for. Behind a winning pack he should look better. And with Powell’s attacking structures (we’ve not seen them yet really) it doesn’t matter too much about raw talent along the three quarters as long as we have pace. Maybe Gildart will slot in there, despite the rumour of him signing up long term at the Dolphins.

Looks good on paper for a change.

I think it’s clear that another back is essential. Ratchford at centre isn’t a good place to start, but competition for places and/or cover for injury is limited only to Minikin for a significant portion of the season. I’d prefer to start Dean and invest in a centre than get Drinkwater.

It`s looking like we will sign both a centre and a halfback for 2023.

Releasing Holmes and possibly A.N. Other will allow us to do that.

With the meagre salary that he will be on, I can`t see how it would affect our Salary Cap that much, and I would like to retain Longstaff.

[urlhttps://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/brandon-wakeham-super-league-fiji-25234955[/url

Were we supposed to be after him?

Yes, we were linked with him part the way through last season.

Weak in the centres. Which is not surprising when you let 2 go and don't currently have any replacements.