I can't believe I'm the only person on this board that thinks Roberts would make a very good , I'm not saying that he won't make a very good back row, but if Wardle is going to be leaving us next season, It's the perfect time to start grooming Roberts.

There must be quite a few on here who can remember the Big strong s like Fox and Newlove etc to mention just a couple, and how devastating they could be, What about you Crackerjack, and since 1961, surely you would like to see another big fella like Meninga,
I think Roberts has the potential to be a good one

well it was welcomed a return to form after nothing for past two seasons from him.

if he stays then fair enough as it could solve who plays centre for us next season on the left

if he goes then happy days and we can have murphy, wood, mcintosh or gaskell there

Is that your opinion or has it come form Joe himself, as far as i am aware from my communications with people in the club no one else seems to think there is a problem yet you have insisted for ages now that he is !.

I know Roberts has played a little at centre for Ireland and maybe Oldham on dual reg? The lad has potential that's for sure, Centre is certainly a position where we don't have much depth, but even when we were short we played Murphy/Connor/Bruno there before him. Suppose it depends on where Oki wants to play too.

Would be nice to see Sam Wood or Jacob Wardle get some game time there if form warrants.

Yeah fair comment, Maybe the days of the big are over.

yes leave roberts where he is , progressing rapidly!

be interesting to see how good jacob wardle is, seems to be rated highly

Sam Wood impressed me at centre too to be honest

in todays examiner it says the hold up with mamo is because newcastle cant get their full back replacement in early! which is what i suspected. still hope though

linked with ryan bailey too... would add the mongrel we so dearly lack!

If we lose Huby to get Bailey it confirms the club is going backwards

Certainly wouldn't add any class.

id take bailey and wakeman over huby

but dont think the bailey rumour has much substance, i can only see that for the mongrel that we need in this team and its yet to be rectified

Bailey picks on players smaller than him, that's not mongrel

True.

Agree.
On top of that it seems he can't settle anywhere.

Forged a decent career for his sen though the best years.Fearless type of character.

Is this why we finished bottom of the pile,forwards with no 'psycho' in them,just honest guys hitting it up but getting dominated.

Fearless that's the best description of Bailey yet

Pantomime villain,can almost see him twirling his moustache as he takes the field

yeh

small players pick on our big ones though!

we can go into our shell as a team, oh to have the o'donnell and co days back!

I agree entirely with the bottom line of your post, but i think there has to be an alternative to the likes of Bailey. Apart from anything else he is well past whatever he once had.

signing Bailey would be a disaster for the Giants.
a) he's an idiot on the field and would cost us games and points.
b) he's always been limited as a player even in his 'prime'
c) any move would be seen as smacking of complete desperation.
d) he's always been disliked ( I almost used the word despised) by our supporters many of whom would find it very hypocritical to suddenly have to start cheering him.

If we're looking for Props to beef up the pack why not try the championship instead of the old peoples home - eg Phil Joy at Oldham for example. Saddleworth Lad.

Yeah I'd have been unhappy signing him at his "best"
Now I'll be furious

If we're that desperate look to the Championship

Or even better the Aussie championship,

I agree there is a lot of difference in signing young champ's players and ones who are there after being S league players, plus we have young players of our own. At the end of the day so much depends on the coach, RS might turn out to be another N Brown and really bring some of our players on, Just hope he isn't like him in every way though.

So it looks like Huby has gone to Wakey, loan or permanent? He is on Caton Browns instagram page talking about team bonding.
That's typical of the shambles communication we get from our club, we find out players have moved from instagram first. It's pathetic.

"Our focus as well as the pre-season training programme now includes further recruitment which at this time of the year is far from ideal, however these are the cards we have been dealt and we move on from the past and look forward with excitement and confidence to the start of the Super League season.”

This load of tosh sounds to me like that will be his excuse when all the fans kick off when we announce Ryan Bailey in a Giants shirt. I will be FUMING if this is the case.

We currently have 1 EXPERIENCED prop in our team and loads of youngsters. When we have 2 quota spots available and we are losing experienced British players such as Huby and Eorl. Unless we sign a Burgess or a Graham I don't see how they can be replaced so easily as most squads from UK have been complete - which makes me think the Bailey rumours could be true.

I think people need to wake up and realise how badly the club is run. We must have ridiculous amounts of cap space available at the moment.

We have lost:
Huby, Crabtree, Johnson, Grix, Connor, Wood & Ellis and still potentially Wardle and replaced with Clough, Gaskell & Ferguson and we were extremely short of players last season.

Although most of the players which have left I agree with we are still massively short of around 3/4 maybe 5 decent players now if we are going to compete in the top 8 and push for top 4 again I just can't see it happening or where these players are going to come from.

The only other British prop I can think of available is Ben Harrison but I would much rather have Huby any day.

Make your mind up! You say 'I think people need to wake up and realise how badly the club is run' and then 'Although most of the players which have left I agree with'