Sorry! One of my many faults is being pedantic.

Was having a word with Tony Rae earlier in the season & was asking when Clubby was likely to be returning from an injury, during the conversation, he praised Clubby for his attitude & said he would be a future Club Captain, so this has been in the pipeline for a time.
If I remember rightly, didn't Wigan have a couple of Captains a few years ago ? Didn't seem to do them too much harm.
Hopefully Craig Gower is going to remain with us for the remainder of his contract but I wonder how much more punishment his body can take. Let's hope our players will finally learn to give him more protection during the game!!

Gower has always been a great playmaker and always gives 100%, even when some of those around him have lost interest. The example he sets is always exemplary, but sometimes you need leadership in the form of guidance to other players, and I'm not sure that's his strong point.

I'm sure some folk will argue that professional players shouldn't need guidance, but inevitably some players do. You could also argue that expecting your main playmaker to also guide the team strategically is placing too much on the shoulders of one man.

If Clubby is able to take on that strategic role it could be good, but I do worry that Gower might be getting ready to press the eject button.

Nobody has mentioned the possibility that this change was not Gower's idea, but Tony Rea's. Gower may be very upset with the decision of TR and maybe that is why the contract commitment was raised by TR.

If that is true then TR has made another big blunder. Gower is a natural leader and should have remained captain. The problem of motivating the players is up to the coach more than the captain. TR is obviously failing in this regard and he may well be trying to "pass the buck" on to Craig Gower. If so he has made a dangerous move. You don't humiliate the most distinguished and best player in your team. It's bad psychology, even for a New Age thinker.

I don't know why Craig Gower would want to be under the instructions of a less experienced and less distinguished player. He may well retire this year, though I doubt that he would want to sacrifice the money he is guaranteed if he stays on till the end of 2014.

Certainly crossed my mind (and everyone elses, I expect).

Of course, it is possible that there has been another golf buggy incident.

If you look at other clubs and even sports Captains have stood themselves down to concentrate on their own performances

So no-one knows but everyone continues to guess or make up stories to suit. But why does it always have to be something sinister?

spot on RB

Whatever the reason for the change, it seems to me that its a good idea to have an 80 minute player as captain, not someone who spends large chunks of the game on the bench.

Nothing I heard at the game on Saturday has given me any comfort at all.

I don't think CG stepped down willingly, and I doubt we have a willing Captain in the whole team.

Did anyone pick up Terry O'Connors comment on the SL review show? He said rumours are that Growler wants a release from his contract (no surprises there).

I'm really disappointed in this and the frustrating thing is, none of this would be happening if we were winning some games!

Triple M Radio in Oz are running the story
"Triple M's Ryan Girdler says former Panthers halfback Craig Gower wants to return to the NRL.

The 35-year-old is currently playing in the UK Super League as captain of the London Broncos, but Girds revealed he's spoken with Gower and he's not happy over there and wants to come back to Australia.

"He's frustrated in England because of the club he's at and their lack of training… so he wants to get out of there and finish off in the NRL," he told Triple M NRL on Sunday.

Ouch!

Watch this snowball....

He can join the queue! Fans first!

Oh dear, but who can blame him. Will the last one out please turn off Gus.

Lack of 'training'? If he'd said winning i could understand it but training? To be honest i think he would struggle to get a place in the NRL at his age and fitnes/injuries.

Why train when you can go go-karting, it helped them focus before the Wigan game

Absolutely this.

Gower has been around a few places in two codes, played for Australia several times.

It takes a bit of hubris for an unsuccessful coach to tell a seasoned professional representative player with Gower's resume, who has been the best player in the failing team week after week, that he is not a good enough captain. But then again, I have not immersed myself in New Age "philosophy."

I could imagine Gower getting a one year contract in the NRL.

Then again CG may be so pi**ed off with his team mates that he cannot function with this current squad as captain. Only Bailey and Dixon can read him!

I am sure that he is pi**ed off having to play with the likes of O'Callaghan and the other substandard players. But that doesn't mean he wanted to give up the captaincy. I was making a point about the coach's behavior. Sacking him was not exactly a smart move if you want to retain him.

Gower is a class above any other player we have. Or in J O'C's case several classes.

This.....with knobs on.
Rudderless club with no senior management in place to make the tough calls.......the hard decisions that would have involved standing up to Mr Hughes, have never been made......the bloke pays lip service to anyone who'll listen to him.

The purpose of a Chief Executive Officer is to ensure that the "company" is run to the best of its ability and that it reaches its full potential......not in any way shape or form has Gus carried out these duties.

If the players see the club being run into the ground, then it hardly matters to them that they are getting tonked week in week out. TR is protected by Hughes in the same way Powell was before......I really don't see the point ofhaving a CEO if all they are going to do is anything they can to hang onto their job.

Well for all my trying to be positive in my earlier post it looks like my fears were well founded and that Gower is reaching for the eject button.
Feels like another nail.

Should've read the other thread before posting. Eject button pressed.

Interesting how the Saints RLFans page has now a thread reaching two pages in no time regarding the signing of Tony to be Prop! for them, top clubs always love to claim their success in developing their own players through the youth ranks but Vultures soon start to approach when we have a player developed in the South who has potential.

It's a tough subject no one would want to deny young players brought to RL in the South developing their career which has to be currently in the North but it is never going to help develop the game in London!

Tony must be distraught coming just up the road in Gravesend. Talk about being butchered on your own doorstep.