As do the majority of them.
Two years ago id be really upset by the thought of larne being targeted by Wigan. Now I'm not that bothered. Players want to stay at the giants but if the club are willing to let him go then that's fine by me- it's been a while since we lost a player who hasn't been replaced by as good or better- or who we have missed- even longer since we lost a player because we needed the money. If we can cope without Luke o Donnell, Patrick going is not going to be an issue.
If he stays let's hope he has an improved season and contributes to the same for our team.

Firstly I wouldn't want larne to go, a mobile explosive player who gives it his all, a certain in my 17 man squad!

However if we did lose him to Wigan we have to look at the options we have at prop.
Eorl and koppy starting props, big lads able to do big minutes.
Kafusi would say a interchange prop who can replace either of the starting props without losing anything
Mullay big lad who didn't make the mark I thought he would last year a certain work in progress for the club but could feel more game time would be great for him.
Taai a very big aggressive lad, in comparison to Patrick he isn't a agile or as fast but would say bigger, stronger and more of a chance to offload in the tackle.
Fuey, yes fuey, the times he filled in at prop he really surprised me. Didn't take a backwards step and managed to make some decent metres.
So if Patrick left would we have enough with eorl and koppy interchanging with kafusi and taai? I think so.

If Patrick did go it would be a very clear message by the club that one of Mullally, Mason or Johnson was ready to step up to be pretty much a full time prop.

Unless one of those is ready NOW then we have to keep Patrick.

We can not go into the season with three props, an untried Ta ai and a utlity back ( fooey) as our main props.

The one thing about many teams recruitment over the season was to build their packs up ( ie look at Saints recruitment).

Next year will be a hard year for the forwards and so we need a good squad of forwards ( even though i think Patrick has been fairly ineffective as a prop compared to a couple of years ago ).

Do you really think Patrick will be used as a prop this year anyway? Iv got a sneaking suspicion that he will be used out wide in 2nd row. As an impact off of bench to give Ferres or Chan a break as well. Koppy, Crabtree, Kafusai and Ta'ai main Props this year for me with Mullaly, Johnson and Mason feeding on scraps waiting to make a serious impact. But no 2 ways about it losing Patrick would be a big loss especially to a main rival. That's my opinion anyway.

If he was used as a second row spelling the second rows you might be right.

But the second rows seem nailed on to be Lawrence, Chan and Ferres with Bailey at loose.

With two props, a second row / Utility player and a hooker on the bench i am not sure where Patrick fits in.

You could have Patrick as a prop / second row plus , prop, hooker and a utility player on the bench to allow for other variations. My feeling is i would be happy to swap Patrick for Sammut [size=150IF[/size One of the other three back up props is deemed fully ready by the coaching staff.

We need to have depth to the squad if we are to win anything next year. What happens if Chan/Ferres get injured? We were very fortunate last year in that respect. I can understand you saying Larne is not as effective as few year ago but he wouldn't of been able to muscle up in defence like he did last year and spend as many minutes on the field. Yes his eye catching work has slowed a bit, as you would expect with the way he hits the ball and opposition defence, and he did a lot of the unsung work last year.

When i first read this i thought you were on about something totally different

I was shocked at first when i saw him at a function with his partner,but good on him i say

??

Last time you were on the Huddersfield forum you were telling us Lunt was NAILED on for the number 9 shirt at Leeds next season.

has patrick gone to portugal with the squad?

Yes.

The fact that Lunt is not at the Rhinos now says far more about your club and how much they wanted to keep him, as The offer they turned down would have been accepted during Nathan Browns reign without a doubt

No it wouldn't. NB wanted to sell him but Baloo said no.

The only way Patrick goes to Wigan is if we get a replacement. I'm quite confident he wont be going anywhere otherwise he wouldn't be going to Portugal with the rest of the squad

The fact that Lunt is not at the Rhinos now proves nothing other than you were wrong.

perhaps it says more about how tight hetherington is! never mind youve got aiton instead

Now I don't believe this for a minute, but at the boxing day friendly it was rumoured Craig Huby would be heading your way. A few more rumours are coming out suggesting there may be something in it. Its rumoured Cas are talking to Gareth Carvell as his replacement.

I don't believe it as Huby told me and plenty of mates quite openly in the pub a couple of years ago the only way he would leave Cas would be for a change of life for his family, and said that would be Catalans or the NRL.

Time will tell.

I think this was rumored towards the end of last season, or just after Several Cas supporters stated the same thing about him and to be honest I believe them.

That said, I do rate him and if he could get his fitness back and could get up to speed he would be a good addition.

been linked with huby for a while now.. cant see us signing another prop unless someone goes the other way.. but its getting abit late in the day for all this now, season starts soon... may hold fire to see how we go during the season..injuries etc

Looks like Patrick will be here next season going off Wigans local rag. www.wigantoday.net/sport/wigan-w ... -1-6368919

Looks like Patrick will be here next season going off Wigans local rag. www.wigantoday.net/sport/wigan-w ... -1-6368919

I suspect a number of clubs have discussed hypothetical moves, much more so than usual at this stage of pre-season, simply because with the uncertainty at Bradford and London there is more scope to both get players in and move them on. So many coaches will have talks about what might be possible, only a small fraction of such discussions will ever actually become deals.

I would not be at all surprised if Powell had spoken to Anderson who had spoken to Wane, but I do not expect anything to come of it.

Giants said you can have Patrick for £200,000... Wigan said no

and quite right too, we should be able to command decent fees now for most of our contracted players.

Not what Baloo said at the Fans forum last night, it would have been a lot more than that if a deal had been done !!

And they get Jordan James instead. Better not say too much against him as he was excellent for Cru and scored against us last year when both him and Koppy scoring scooped me a nice win at the bookies but at his age it is hardly going to strike fear into the rest of SL.