Also one journalist was indicating that Bobbie Goulding was in the running? as bad as the Kent story!'"

He was indeed, he was there watching his son play in the U20's match

I also remember Bobby Goulding say that London was an 'Aussie' club, classic.

The best thing about TRII so far has been the style, like nothing we have seen since the days of the golden triangle. I can't wait to see Sargy playing in such a way!

I was only stating that I feel at present Tony is best person for the job, we do not know all the applicants, such a Noble was highlighted as possible but I'm unsure if we would cut it now, his record with the Crusaders was not the best, look at how successful Monie was with Wigan!

If the players are working well with Tony Rea it makes common sense to give him the chance now to bring some stability to the club to try and build on, there are many coaches who have not achieved anything when they get posts, it is a case of working with the players you have.

So who would you have appointed then?

We will now be in Fantasy RL manager world, where money is no object, every coach in the world is wanting to up sticks, dump their club and come to London, and all were on the short list that DH reviewed.

We have very few players out of contract so there won't be too many changes to the squad. Tony has proven that he can get this squad playing well so I certainly have no issues with the appointment.

We have 4/5 slots for next season so there is room to strengthen depending on finances.

Tony Rea took the team to the play-offs twice with 5th in 2003 above the likes of Warrington and Hull and 6th in 2005 above Wigan making the play-offs twice in three years.

His full record from 2001 to 2006 is 6th, 8th, 5th, 10th, 6th and 7th,

He brought through Joe Mbu, Tony Clubb, Mike Worrincy and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook in 2006 whilst Will Sharp was also his discovery. He had Lamont Bryan training with the first team as a 16 year old. The crop of players which followed these were nowhere near as good without Tony's guidance.

He brought players to the club like Thomas Leuluai, Mark McLinden, Dennis Moran, Rob Purdham, Lee Hopkins and Luke Dorn plus many other durable players who have been the backbone of our squad over the past decade.

Some seasons he had a 50% win record and I'm sure his total win record is 40-50% which is superb for the smallest Super League club and which generally has not spent anywhere near the final salary cap.

He is an ambassador for London and well liked by the media raising the clubs profile.

In 2006 he had only £900k to spend on salary and we had a bad run. But that is a lot different to a badly run club. I don't know who got have won games with the likes of Pat Weisner as a starter!

McDermott, Powell and Tawhai were proven bad managers.

In various permutations they got more wrong than right taking us from 9th to 9th again to 11th, 13th, then bottom over five years. Both McDermott and Powell won less than 1 in 5 games over their last 40 games in tandem and as individuals. And they both lost their best British players.

They were very bad at talent acquisition with the likes of Chad Robinson, Luke Williamson, Nick Kouparitsas, Jarrad Hickey, Shane Rodney and David Howell being signed from the overseas markets on big money; bad at retention with one last deal for injury prone players and as for UK talent there is hardly anyone still at the club from either the North West or Yorkshire.

We have no right to expect to finish above clubs with 15,000-20,000 supporters, making cash signings and who have a full suite of internationals and will pay shares of the gate for cup final games as a bonus.

What success is for the Broncos is to achieve a 40%+ win record with the club winning half its home games and a stronger playing base year on year and to be in with a shout of the playoffs near the end of the season.

I believe Tony can get near to that, next year he has almost no turnover of senior players - a sprinkle of youngsters leaving plus maybe Big Karl and Goldy - so I'm expecting to miss out on the play-offs for sure but in 2014 I'm confident we will be a stronger side and competitive with the likes of Hull KR, Huddersfield and Catalans all of whom were much weaker than us when Tony left.

He was only sacked because Ian Lenagan had grand ambitions which were nearly all wrong. Welcome home Tony.

I didn't think it was that many, my mistake. We have that Widnes guy who's been in Aus coming in so he takes up one spot.

Yes we have Hickey's spot, plus Big Karl, Jason Golden, who I think will go plus maybe Lamont Bryan and Rob Thomas if we are foolish enough to release them. Also Omari Caro if he defects to St Helens as I am told has happened.

Sorry mate, but I have to disagree......if wheelan hadn't spat his RL dummy out, Lenegan would have taken this club forward. He is a businessman who has built up his empire from the 80"...he started workplace by flogging his BMW to get capital.....he knows and understands risks and risk management....David Hughes buys and Sells a product he doesn't ever see, employs no "teams" in R&D/Sales/Customer Services etc......Ian Lenegan would have made this club a success.

The day he became aware Wigan was up for grabs was the start of the decline that sees us where we are now and it is very unfair of anyone to blame IL for the situation we find ourselves in at present....I'd be more inclined to blame the RFL and David Hughes, who has employed a series of people who were/are not up to the task.

As for the OP......8% of SL coaches tat have tried to win SL have done so......about 188 out of 204 have won SFA......Tony Rea may not be the answer, but he'll do for the next 2 years and steady the ship at worst.

Oh I don't know, walking away with the majority shareholding didn't exactly help the club find new financial backers or enable balanced funding. Think an element of blame can be laid at his feet. More probable blame across the board. Lenaghan could have helped make us a success not would have.

As for appointment of Rea. Given the state of the senior playing side, confidence and winning more than being lost are the most essential things. Other aspects spin out from that. Agree he may or may not be the long term future but after last 18 months of terminal decline a period of stability will not do the club any harm.

i might be wrong here, but I seem to recall a couple of 750k payments being made to the club once he had gone.......the fact that that money was pi55ed up against the wall by others is not his fault, but it does explain why nobody else was prepared to pay for his shares. Don't forget either that without IL, we may very well have ceased to exist in 2005.........as for [uhelping make the club a success[/u, I repeat, he would have made the club a success........David Hughes has simply enabled the club to exist, but we have made no progress under his chairmanship/ownership....in fact, dare I say it, we have gone backwards!

Tony's Super 14 experience will certainly assist as and in his time away, he will have improved his coaching skills and as many have said, his man management is excellent, plus he's London through and through.

The best man we could get has the job.

Hickey > Wheeldon
Bryan and Thomas > not in top 20?
Te Mata and Golden > 2 spots free but these may be required to upgrade Dixon and Krasniqi whose agents ought to be demanding top 20 contracts

Not much wriggle room for bringing in anyone new unless some contracts are paid out/contracted players loaned out etc.

We seem to have no problem giving 18-year-olds professional deals - could we assume McMeekan and a.n.other (maybe Bishay?) will follow the example of Sarginson, Dixon, Lovell?

You really have a problem with Wheeldon don't you? Did he steal your burger?

Oh, I see what you did there now. I take it back

If his performance for the Skolars at Wrexham's any guide then Lamont Bryan isn't a SL player anyway - might hack it in the Championship, but no higher.

Bryan has found his level. He doesn't have a position and most certainly isnt SL standard.

that's how I read it first as well.

www.code13rugbyleague.com/2012/0 ... contracts/ Scott Wheeldon signed a new contract, announced on 25th June.

www.code13rugbyleague.com/2012/0 ... contracts/ Scott Wheeldon signed a new contract, announced on 25th June.

Sorry - my bad!

For the record, I'm pleased Wheeldon has a contract for 2013. Earlier in the year, I wouldn't have been.

Now, how about releasing a back or two on to find space for a world-class right centre?

We have 20 players out of the 'top 25' under contract for next year.

Dorn, Colbon, O'Callaghan, Howell, Robertson, Witt, Gower, Kaufusi, Randall, Bryant, Rodney, Bailey, Clubb, Rinaldi, Melling, Krasniqi,Sarginson, Cook, Dixon, Wheeldon.

With Shane Grady presumably to be a top 25 players that takes us up to 21 players.

That leaves four places left.

The out-of-contract players like Temata, Golden, Bryan, B Bolger or Caro could take one of these spots.

Alternatively an upgrade for R Thomas, S Bolger, McMeeken, Lovell, Channing, O Thomas, Bishay or Dollapi could also fill a slot.

At best we might get four new signings to add to Grady.

My info is a little dated but I understood Craig Hall and Andrew Dixon were out of contract plus some good players from Catalans and they'd be who I would look at.

Cheers
Mark