So its possible that there could be a few departures at the end of the season.

Clarke - Probably won't get a new contract
Solomona - I don't think Tony Smith will extend his stay any further
King - Its looking like he wants to go back to Oz.
Anderson - (Rumoured) he wants a long term contract.
Carvell - (again a rumour) he's after a long term contract.

What do we think? Out of the listed players i'd really like us to keep Matt King and Louis...
What about possible replacements.?

Louis anderson is rumoured to have signed for catalan

and Saints

Big issue for Wire in my opinion. Ageing side, maybe the oldest in the league on average, makes me think it's this year for an SL crown or we wait a few more years at least (assuming Smith stays).

i spoke to Louis after the Salford match, he said he hasnt signed for anyone and he wants to stay.
i'd like carvell to stay, he has had a good year, i'll reserve judgement on king to see if he regains some form

Matt King is a top class player and it would be great if he decides to stay, but if he doesn't, there's no shortage of wingers within the club. I'd really like to see us sign a decent half back as I think we're short of cover in this area.

All depends who we sign. Remember most of the ageing players are ones who will be on big contracts so we should be able to enter the market for high quality players. There are enough younger players to give a fair bit of continuity, the real issue for me is not that we are ageing en masse but at a rough estimate, our four best players are M Monaghan, Briers, Morley and Hodgson. Probably all of these players will go in the next 2 years. So that means we need to sign four very good players.

I am not overly pessimistic about 'now or never' in regards winning SL this season, as we are not alone in being in a state of transition, Leeds are in a similar boat to us, Saints have been through it over the past few seasons, Wigan are best placed but now have the uncertainty of the coaching situation. If we keep TS we still have the best coach in the league and he turned around a side which was an absolute crock in early 2009 under Jimmy Lowes, in a very short space of time. I reckon if you put TS in charge of a mid table side, and gave him enough room in the salary cap to sign four quality players, he would be able to build a competitive side very quickly. And thats where I reckon we are - if you took those four players above out of our team I reckon we would be about 6th in the league. We signed King, Monaghan, Hicks and Louis Anderson in one go....if we have another off season signing players of that calibre then we will be able to have another strong team, even if there is a settling in period.

The make or break will be who we sign to replace Briers. We absolutely have to sign a top player for that position. I wish Kimmorley was a bit younger, I'd have loved him at Wire.

Is it your opinion we need to sign an experienced player or someone younger, ie; Pearce, Wallace or Sandow.

Sandow is off to Parramatta apparently.

Will Higham be here next season?

Isn't he contracted until the end of 2012?

Its going to be hard to sign top australian players from the NRL due to the weak £, its going to cost a lot more to bring them over than it would have done a few years ago. Also it will be difficult to keep the southern hemisphere players that are already here that are coming to the end of their contracts for the same reason.

Carvell .. offered a 1 year contract, wants a 2 year contract.

Louis Anderson will be leaving at the end of the season on a 3 year deal with Catalans.

Where'd you hear that? I've heard so many conflicting stories on big Gaz.
Surely he's worth a 2 year deal?

There was an interview with Carvell in League Express a couple of weeks ago where he said he'd like to play in the NRL. If he's going to do that, he'd probably need to go sooner rather than later.

Just been reading the Sydney morning Herald article about Saints raiding the NRL, at the end of the piece it states Sandow is apparently considering rejecting the eels big money offer.

But also they state Saints have been unable to re-sign Tony Puletua amid significant interest from elsewhere in thd competition..... !

Interesting......

It depends who is available, ideally I would want somebody aged 23-28, but if the market is relatively bare for halfbacks at the time, I would say go for an ageing player who can lead the team around for 1-2 years and look around the market again after he has gone. I think if the market is not good for halfbacks, there is not much point signing a 'decent' younger player on a four year deal.

Rumour I'd heard is that he has signed already - just waiting to be announced.

Rangi Chase would do for me as he's an exciting player to watch plus he's already upto speed with SL so no settling in period would be needed, the only problem that could leave is both Myler and Chase would be nowhere near the quality of Briers with the last kick options.

The rumour I heard was that Carvell has been offered a 3 year deal but only wants 1 year because he wants to go and play in the NRL.

Radio Warrington, 2 weeks ago.