Gilmour is NOT a centre. He is a second row who can play at centre occasionally. if our centre partnership next season is Gilmour and lawrence i will be disappointed.

i think we need a prop too.... maybe kirmond is being lined up to be a prop next season. was talk of him playing prop when he went on loan .. put on alot of size too

But he isnt a prop either.

Raleigh has done a sterling job in the front row, but is a back rower by nature, same for Kirmond imo.

We need a prop, we got rid of one too many last season (as many said at the time)

And we need a , and a very top class one too.

To be totally honest we were lucky that Sculthorpe took the offer from Bradford as he hasn't played a game for them yet due to his illness. I wonder if his contract is under threat like Tame Tupou's ended?

With Brown going back to Oz, how can we be signing players for next year to play under a coach who might not want them? Surely the coach [iought[/i to be the one to sign players?

Or does it mean our next coach is already in the thick of things??

He sure is

the club doesnt stop recruiting just because there isnt a coach in place for next year...

same as when sharp left.. we made signings such as brett hodgson, faalogo,kirmond..

readind the examiner tonight and we are linked with another full back, this time crusaders clinton schifcoske..was quite impressed when crusaders got him because had a very good rep in nrl but doesnt seem to have done much for them thus far

Was excellent years ago but far too old now! Can't be serious!

Richie Mathers anyone?

We already have players who are wary of going for bombs, why would we sign one that freely allows them to bounce rather than even to attempt to catch them?

Mathers would be a retrograde step and I think would go down like a fart in a spacesuit with the fans.

Preferable to Schifoske

H ewould be 35 before he even pulled on a Giants shirt

You'd have to think that particular rumour is just piffle. The reason we only offered Brett a year was his age and he's got years in the bag on him. Some of these rumours are just total pap and the journos need to have a word with themselves and think before they re-print what they read on the internet.

Let's put an end to all this speculation.

It's definately Billy Slater for next season. My mate swears he saw him in the Chippy in Elland last week buying pudding chips and gravy.

Or does that mean he's signing for Fax ?

it was a steak pie IIRC according to a mate of a mate of the chippy's daughter who is a cousin of the driver who delivers the potatoes to the chippy down the road from the said chippy where Billy was.

Well one guy who isn't coming to play full-back next year is Shaun Briscoe, was talking to him on Saturday at York Races and he was aware of the rumours about him coming to us and to FC but said he's contracted to KR for another 18 months and isn't planning on going anywhere.

AWWW you mean one eyed jack, well if id known he's seen BS i'd have goe down the bookies and put a pony on it being true. (turned a little lock stock for a second then)

A world class centre is top priority for me. At present our centres can be any two from 4 or 5, we need at least one centre who we know will not only hold his spot down week in week out but add some real class there.

Luke Patten offered a [url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/nrl/huddersfield-offer-canterbury-bulldogs-luke-patten-a-three-year-deal/story-e6frfgbo-1225873790651three year deal[/url according to his agent.

Nice mention of Skando in that article too!

This is a joke right? We won't offer the current man of steel two years, yet we offer a thirty year old with "chronic back problems" that same position for three years? Give me a break! He's an inferior player to the one we had, he's never played any rep footy and has been in Hodgson's shadow his entire NRL career! We had a full back who was desperate to stay for two years, who was settled here and committed to the club for the long haul. Instead we get rid of him to try to PERSUADE Patten to play for us for three years. Problem is, he's worried "he won't be able to handle the punishment until the end of 2013" due to his back problems. This makes absolutely no sense to me.

Nicko, the fact of the matter is that Brett Hodgson would have signed for Warrington Wolves no matter how many years Huddersfield Giants offered

Why would that be then?

Also if Patten is on a lot less money than Brett, leaving more for other positions then it could be a good move.

Money.

If the club are looking to sign him he would have to pass a medical first so i am not too worried about his fitness.

He looks a handy player and safe under the bomb.

It's a crucial position for any super league club and one that we have to get right if we are to push on. I agree that we need a top quality centre, wish we could have offered a deal to Shenton before Saints got to him...oh well. I'll probably get shot down here, but I've always been impressed by Fitzpatrick of Salford when I've seen him play and to be fair I believe he is the same age as Patten and he certainly won't have issues adapting to the weather and lifestyle...might be worth a punt.