rick stone says the club is working on tying players down to new deals that they want or are trying to keep, some are being courted by sl/nrl teams

we have got ikahihifo , roberts and clough signed up, the former two will no doubt be on improved deals leaving less cap space

so that leaves these

brough (apparently getting a 1 yr deal for me at this point id rather watch gaskell & rankin at half back!)

ferguson .. think he could be the one whos getting interest from elsewhere, we need to sign him up been our best performer so far this season

hinchlfffe - fair to say he will be going and we can use his money to better effect elsewhere

mamo - think he will be the one with nrl interest stone speaks of.

murphy - difficult one with mcintosh waiting in the wings

wakeman - not too fussed if he goes home

taai - not sure what deal hes on

I'd go:

Symonds - Release.
Wakeman - Release.
Hinchliffe - Release.
Murphy - Release.
Ferguson - 2 year deal.
Brough - Release.
Mamo - 2 year deal if his form picks up.

Brough - well he’s not the player he was- but replacing him would be difficult. Of those left there is only Hinchcliffe who I’d be sorry to see leave. The rest are easily replaceable with similar players.

Agree with this. Shame about Symonds , good player but clearly one injury away from retirement. Now is the time to start scouring upcoming talent for the Brough replacement. It will be very hard whenever we do it, but the end of this year is the right time to start fresh for me. We really can't change the way we play until Brough is replaced, time for the club to look upward and do the neccesary, but i fear they will play it safe and give him another year, prolonging the agony.

We should have looked after Connor properly and we would have been sorted. Worst decision we've made in recent years to try and get him on the cheap. Ironically we replaced him with older more expensive players, of a similar ability with less potential in gaskell and rankin.

Agree with all the above plus a change off the field as well

we could replace brough now with gaskell.

but brough is staying so we are stuck with poor attack and awful goal kicking for at least another season.

hinchcliffe will highly likely be going home.

Has Brough ever been dropped in his entire time at the club and if not what would he have to do get dropped

Wasn’t he dropped when he lost the captaincy?

Realistically though it's the Giants we're talking about here, more likely scenarios:

Symonds - he'll get fit and have a couple of decent games, get a 2 year deal deal of the back of it and then get injured.

Hinchliffe - New 2 year deal with Stone commenting "He's a well respected member of the squad"

Murphy - Similar scenario but a 3 year deal. "We're glad murph chose to end his career with the Giants, a hugely popular figure in the dressing room"

Wakeman - I think he'll 100% be going.

Brough - 1 year deal. "Important figure at the club who has still got it at 35 and great kicking game"

Mamo - I thought be would be going but after recent performances, no NRL could would have him. He'll end up in the NSW cup or get a 3 year deal here.

Ferguson - 3 year deal.

This is why the club don't need a marketing department, they can just copy and paste your comments, bang on.

Also, great news about Sam Wood signing up for the next few years, hope he gets some game time now!

You are right about Connor, it's sickening to see how well he is progressing at Hull, with his good hands and rugby brain he was always going to make a good half. He's not the quickest, but he has the x factor, especially near the oppositions line.

good news on sam wood, think he could be a good second rower for us

prob see him play centre tonight and never let us down.

we have lost jake connor, mullally and joe wardle in recent times... wasnt long ago we used to lose players and they werent much of a loss as they never went onto do anything but maybe we are losing a few now

cant keep them all though remember!!

Why not play Broughy at 9 it would give us a few more options and he would be fresher coming off the bench.I can see Hinchcliffe doing another season Jools but we will see.

he can defo play there but means displacing one of obrien and leeming

hinchy will head back home id say, one of the highest paid at club and we need that salary cap space

The way to improve a team is to replace good players with better players when they are available.If they are not available then you have to stick with what you've got.There appear to be less and less players in the market every year and more and more competion for those that are available(the likes of Toronto and Tolouse have contributed to the situation).Recruitment is becoming harder and harder and if a player is wanting to win medals and honours they are not going to come to us.I would be quite happy to lose one overseas player if that money was used to run a reserve team and develop the academy further,this is where the future of all clubs lie

I would honestly lose 2 overseas players myself.

If we lost Symonds and Wakeman this season, it wouldn't make a difference to our team really.

brough gets his 1 yr deal, cant say im overjoyed but super league isnt improving so he can still operate at this level, unfortunately its mean we wont improve as a team for another 12months at least, certainly in attack and kicking goals anyway... get to see him mouthing off at every play another player makes too that doesnt come off which i dont like to see its not good for the team, one thing we can never question though is his effort..

worried we could be losing ferguson , would much rather we signed him up asap

I think the real way to develop a winning team - and more so in the current circumstances you describe - is to develop it in house. Get the core of the team from your own youngsters, then bring in some stardust.

I’m surprised that folk are happy/want players to extend . Eg Clough/ferguson who are players that were “unwanted” by stone according to many on here- now they are happy to sign them up. We aren’t improving our squad- we are just keeping the same one!

Exactly my point made on the Giants Facebook Jools. I believe the club has no ambition now and the yearly aims are just to scrape in the top 8, this squad is a million miles off top 4.

Regarding Ferguson and Clough, I've changed my mind on these due to they have been consistent and have an excellent injury record. Some fans would still be over the moon if we re sign Symonds, Hinchliffe, Wakeman and Murphy.

If we re sign anymore first team players who are OOC, how can the club really improve, with the exact same squad apart from maybe bringing 1 new *project* signing in?

For me Symonds, Wakeman and Murphy should 100% be their last season with us, but we know it won't be. People will rant saying Murphy is mr dependable but we need more than that now. We are not threatening down his wing at all.

Who knows what will happen with Mamo but he is definitely replaceable of he decides to go.

always been a fan of ferguson

think we might lose him

Meh

no deal for murphy going forward

or stone.

dont be surprised if mcgillvary leaves also.