I dont think I am jumping the gun when I say Hock's B sample will be positive. I cant think of a time when the B sample has ever come back negative in sport?

In any event we should have a decent amount of money to play with but who is available?

regardless we need some FORWARDS, NOT BACKS FORWARDS

please IL & BN use your brains and bring in at least one very good enforcer prop or two good work horses...we desperately need this for the rest of the season!!!!!!

But we also need a 7. which is a back.

Yes we need Myler.

We also need at least one prop to replace Coley/Fielden/Feka.

Lets bring in Logan and Kidwell and become the toughest pack in the league from our current position as the softest.

Both are getting on but we need some leaders.

It shouldn't be Lenegan who decides who to sign. It should be the coach that decides.

Maurice interfered when he was at our club and Lenegan is now doing the same.

Thats why Noble will not be our coach next year.

no, the reason he wont be here is cos he's $hite

Ho can you call the guy $hite. Look at the guys track record. What has he done in the game.

To be honest, i was shouting for his head, but the Hock thing shows the players are to blame for this mess.

How can Noble manage a bunch like we have????

Let Noble sign the right players and he will do a job.

You never hear of any other chairman spouting off about who HE is going to sign.

Does The Saints chairman do??

The idea the coach gets to decide who signs never happens anywhere. A coach may make his preference known but its up to the chairman to decide ultimately.

That said the chairmans input should only be on the financial side of it to keep us within the cap or say yes or no to any transfer fee that may be required. If he is deciding who he thinks is the better player then that isn't his job.

I also don't think the Hock situation should be used as an excuse for Noble. How does the action of [uone[/u player show the [uplayers[/u are to blame? Why are you tarring them all with the same brush?

If they are collectively as bad as Hock then its up to Noble to sort it out. For example I think Riddell is universally acknowledged as being not fit enough and carrying a beer belly. It is up to Noble to get the player to step into line and sort this out. I see no sign of this being sorted so the buck stops with Noble for this. All Noble does is pick him every week regardless.

Dave

Riddel has always been this big. Its not a new thing since hes come to Wigan you know. When BN or IL signed him they knew exactly what they were getting. In fairness he was an good player in Aus and has shown the odd glimpse over here but not often enough. Im thinking its a case of him taking a long time to adapt to SL the same way other players have in the past.Craig Smith was poor in his first season with us despite being only second to Webke as the best prop around when we signed him. I can see Nobles logic for playing him in that hes hoping he will play himself into some form. Maybe its a case of IL telling BN he cannot drop him due to his wages as Endacott said Lindsay did regarding Faz? Who knows whats going on behind the scenes but i also hear many times that Noble did not want Riddell and wanted another player.

Noble wanted Newton.

Riddell wasn't any good in Aus. Had about one good game in six.

Riddell was more known for his goal kicking up until a year or so ago, when he just disapeared.

I think he's been one of your better signings, he's certainly played better than I thought he would do.

One of our better signings? I don't know if that's cos recently bar Gleeson we've signed cr@p or you overrate the pigster.

Mathers-Poop
Smith-Poop
Pryce-so far poop
Coley-average at best
Roberts-average at best
Riddell-Poop
Gleeson-Good
Carmont-Good
Barrett-Hero and smasher of Inglis.

Recently our youngsters coming through have been the most exciting new players in our team.

I think you've agreed with my point correctly.

To be honest since he has started at Warrington he has been very good and getting better, he was outstanding against Hull and can only see signs of getting even better......

Riddell is still poop thou. Just highlights poor recruitment.

But he was poop for Wigan. Which is the point.

is that poor recruitment or poor coaching/relations within the camp...??

Interesting point, maybe a combo of both or different circumstances for different players, problem is the result is the same-poop!

He's still one of your better signings.....

Mishter Gawwy Hewwington

He was actually one of the few who you could rely on to play well.

Paea, Tronc Myler and Orford, at the expense of Hock, Bailey, Smith and Phelps/Carmont.

Trouble is, even if we wanted to replace Gaz for the rest of this year, we can't.

If/when the B sample comes back positive (it's extremely rare that it disagrees with the A sample), we can sack him from the playing squad with no compensation necessary.

However, we still can't bring anyone in to replace him due to the way the salary cap works.

So say for example that Hock earned £100k and we've paid him for 2/3 of the season, that means that we've spent £67k (ish), and have £33k freed up for this year.

BUT (and just like Feka, it's a big butt) - If we brought someone in for 1/3 of the season and paid him the remaining £33k of Hock's contract, we would have to declare the full £100k AGAIN on the Salary cap, as a full year's worth of wages has to be accounted for.
That means that covering Hock's position would cost us £166k for a £100k player.

So basically, we're screwed for this year for that player - Thanks Gaz.

because he was too injured. Same as what Wire did with Reardon.

He is taken off the cap.