Williams to Fev and Campagnolo back to Queensland Cup.

So the update is training starts with 11 plus 6 trialists including conference players and some from the North. Presume that means the members of 2024 squad not announced aren’t staying. Apart from the obvious worry on squad size whilst we’ve got quite a bit of beef signed up it looks like the flair is coming from those 6 trialists. That’s. A bit worrying. Anyway we’re still in the game and they’re giving it a go. So it is what it is.

Open trials announced. Seems a little worrying it's happening so late in the day to me https://www.londonbroncosrl.com/london- ... pen-trials

Open trials announced. Seems a little worrying it's happening so late in the day to me https://www.londonbroncosrl.com/london- ... pen-trials

Quote ="Halfdan of t'wide embrace"Open trials announced. Seems a little worrying it's happening so late in the day to me https://www.londonbroncosrl.com/london- ... pen-trials'" Needs must and there isn't really much to lose by going down this route.

Quote ="Halfdan of t'wide embrace"Open trials announced. Seems a little worrying it's happening so late in the day to me https://www.londonbroncosrl.com/london- ... pen-trials'" Needs must and there isn't really much to lose by going down this route.

Quote ="Halfdan of t'wide embrace"Open trials announced. Seems a little worrying it's happening so late in the day to me https://www.londonbroncosrl.com/london- ... pen-trials'" Yes. I guess best to have enough players on the pitch to avoid forfeiting but what is it signalling? Is it we can’t get players through usual routes or that we can’t get them on the terms we are able to offer? I would have thought we’ d be on pretty solid ground with Davies and Boafo for instance who we know can do a job at Championship level so I assume it must be the latter.

Quote ="Halfdan of t'wide embrace"Open trials announced. Seems a little worrying it's happening so late in the day to me https://www.londonbroncosrl.com/london- ... pen-trials'" Yes. I guess best to have enough players on the pitch to avoid forfeiting but what is it signalling? Is it we can’t get players through usual routes or that we can’t get them on the terms we are able to offer? I would have thought we’ d be on pretty solid ground with Davies and Boafo for instance who we know can do a job at Championship level so I assume it must be the latter.

Sounds a bit desperate- maybe there’s another Bassett to be found at Wests?

We could certainly do with finding the likes of Martin Herdman, Colin Fenn & Steve Guyett, all of which came from nowhere. Maybe not another Gary Mason, although watching him score was amusing, carrying half the opposition team with him.



Keiren Murphy & Sumo Rees probably better known. Can't believe there aren't a few Union backs that might fancy it apart perhaps from earning more from Union. Let's hope we at least find a goal kicker. We also don't seem very good at recruiting some of the powerful black athletes out there.

That’s depressed the life out of me. I’d forgotten about goal kick8ng. We’ve been useless since Hankinson left. My guess Walker who if I recall took kick offs until he put it over the dead ball line once too often. On the plus side I think we can look forward to a season without that woeful short drop out that cost us so many points.

I suppose we could overcome our goal kicking frailties by trying to score less tries! Might not win many games though, but we might not anyway.

Interview with Worthington on YouTube. He seems a nice fella not that matters much. Taking of new people being brought in vaguely.

Interesting how he said he’d expected to play 30 minutes a game as prop for Whitehaven, but as they often only had 13 or 14 players available for some games, he ended up regularly playing 70 odd minutes.
Could be useful experience for us, seeing as we are looking likely to be in a similar situation- unless of course we find a wave of new players via the open trials….

he seems up for a challenge doesn't he

He does- be good if we can add a few more like him.

I'm guessing/hoping that there will be new signings announced ahead of the open day.

My aspirations are a little lower. I just home we announce some new signings before the opening fixture.

It was merely a guess. There's poor logic to it, given there were six on trial, I assumed some may be announced prior to the open day.

At this rate, we will all be announced as part of the squad.

Not to put a dampener on our recruitment but I’m thinking must wins to stay up: home and away Hunslet, Doncaster and Barrow at home and possibly Halifax who appear not to have a pot anymore as well. Oldham at home maybe although they appear to be in funds unlike ourselves. Perhaps we can bag a couple of fringe players from Wigan or some such. It’s all looking a little grim. Wonder what happened to Boafo, Davies et al. They’d be a better bet than random trialiists one assumes. What on earth was the point in signing Boafo last year- we didn’t play him and we haven’t retained him for the Championship where I think he would go really well and add some X factor.

Really thoughtful post, and I completely get where you’re coming from. It’s tough to stay optimistic when recruitment feels like it’s lagging and the ‘must-win’ games start piling up in our minds before the season even kicks off.

You make a good point about targeting teams like Hunslet, Doncaster, and Barrow—those matches are going to be absolutely pivotal if we want to stay up. As for Halifax, their financial situation could work to our advantage, but we can’t take anything for granted. Oldham, on the other hand, seems to be pulling resources together, which makes their games a bit trickier than they might have been.

On recruitment, the idea of bringing in fringe players from clubs like Wigan could be a smart move—especially if we can find hungry, underutilized talent. But you’re spot-on with the frustration around Boafo and Davies. It’s baffling that we didn’t give them more opportunities, especially Boafo, who had the potential to thrive in the Championship and bring that X factor you mentioned.

The trialist's situation is always a gamble. Maybe the club sees it as a low-cost, high-reward option, but it’s hard to trust that approach when the results haven’t been there. Let’s hope there’s a strategy behind the scenes we’re not seeing yet.

I share your concerns, but maybe some late signings or loan deals could turn things around. Fingers crossed!

Have you not got the email yet?
I'm in!

The email apparently only went to bobble hat wearers.

I believe our next plan is for Cakeman to lead a press gang around the rugby clubs of the South East. It worked for Nelson!!

Just been watching an old Midsomer Murders (the John Nettles version) & lo & behold, who should turn up in it but our very own Martin Herdman. Now he came out of nowhere so let's hope Cake can find a few more like him from somewhere.

[quote="Deadcowboys1":ea58bg8t]Just been watching an old Midsomer Murders (the John Nettles version) & lo & behold, who should turn up in it but our very own Martin Herdman. Now he came out of nowhere so let's hope Cake can find a few more like him from somewhere.[/quote:ea58bg8t] It looks like Cake needs to start scouring the countryside for rugby players disguised as actors – who knows what hidden gems are lurking in the next episode!

[quote="Torbreck":e18atblg]It looks like Cake needs to start scouring the countryside for rugby players disguised as actors – who knows what hidden gems are lurking in the next episode![/quote:e18atblg] Perhaps a shame Richard Harris is no longer with us, although might be a tad old if he were alive.

I see our new Aussie back has just arrived. A quick trip to Tesco in the driving rain to get a pint of milk only to find it’s closed for Bank Holiday should soon bring him up to speed on where we are. Happy days!