Now that the last available half back has been signed up the cupboard looks rather bare. I see that we have been linked with a smallish prop from Bradford but we look to be missing a couple of key pieces in our jigsaw puzzle.

There are a few in Oz seemingly available but we don’t have a quota spot available currently.

In short - no one.

No one without a bigger than usual transfer fee. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; we should be targeting Jordan Abdul

I think it’s safe to assume we won’t be paying transfer fees, so you’re talking somebody like Norman or a team here doing a swap deal or releasing a player to free up cap space.

I try to be positive and I’m realistic in that doing deals for the sake of them isn’t the right thing to do (like going for Sneyd) but we’ve made an absolute mess of recruiting a halfback.

As much as we need a HB and I want us to sign one, there has to be some common sense in that you’re right in what you’re saying; we can’t just do a deal for the sake of it. It has to be the right half for the club. I’m quite happy to praise the club for not doing that sort of deal and getting in the “glass half full” club, I’d like to think that’s exactly why we haven’t done any halfback business to date.

I’m comfortable backing them in not signing the recent halfbacks that have become available like Sneyd, Gale, Richardson etc but going back to mid season 2021, they really should’ve been in the running for guys like Sezer, Fages or even a runner like Lolohea IMO and not just throwing all their eggs in the Williams basket. There seems to be an excuse that we tried for Williams, so therefore they were attempting to recruit in the position but I’d love to know what the actual plan has been longer term. Williams wasn’t originally available, so that was a reactionary move, one that came up out of the blue. We knew well in advance Hastings was off, so has it just been a case that they do not rate a single halfback option that has moved elsewhere? Were we in for one but shelved it thinking the Williams deal would be a formality? We surely can’t be that lax we have just left things too late?

I don’t know the answers and for all I know they’ve just been desperately unlucky or they may even have it all under control and have done for ages but the gut feeling is that we’ve totally missed the boat and will now struggle to get one in.

If we'd played a bit harder with Williams & warrington, we'd have the money to purchase a half-back.

Oh definitely it was poor planning. We all knew what JH signed he’d be off in a few years to the NRL, he made no secret of that. Sezer would have been an ideal signing IMO.

It’s just indicative of where we are at the moment.

How have we gone from attempting to sign Williams, IL stating there is money for a 6 to what looks like signing nobody?

It is very very poor from the club.

To lose Hastings and not have anyone lined up to replace him right away is bad. But to not get anyone at all… shocking.

According to last seasons squad numbers, Jai Field was signed to replace Hastings as he was given the number 6 shirt.

Has the club now change its mind for some reason?

ok so we went for Williams and failed, don't understand how that stops us signing any other half back ???

Williams contract was going to be the largest in the club's history, so from that I perceive that we have dosh in the budget left, unless signing Williams meant we would have had to let swathes of players go that we subsequently retained - unlikely IMO.

I really hope KR and Lenegan are trying to recruit in the Southern Hemisphere and the target is an out of favour experienced player or a starlet not getting the game time.

It's not that simple tho.

There's two other considerations - salary cap space (we had dispensations for GW) and quota spots.

We might have the money to spend, but not the room on the cap for it. We also don't have any quota spots available, so can't just 'go out' and sign someone.

quota spots?

I know its wrong to assume, but you see other SL teams and they appear to have far more overseas players than us, some are packed with south sea islanders...

Well they don't, we have seven.

We have and that's all because the club cannot make tough decisions e.g. not giving Tommy another contract.

Undoubtedly we've made a mess of it, but I disagree with the Tommy thing point.

The club have backed themselves into such a corner (by putting all their eggs in the GW basket) that anyone of quality has been snapped up. The Tommy signing to me screams of a last min, rushed decision to have some kind of cover & not doing him a favour or not being able to make tough decisions.

I'm sure that, if we'd have gone for someone else (which we should have done) Tommy would have moved into coaching.

Was that the clubs choice or was it Tommy's choice i.e. the extra year was in his favour?

With Clarke going we now comply with the overseas quota limit of 7, prior to that we were 1 over and administratively we wouldn’t have been able to register one of the players.

So even by losing Clarke we still don’t have any quota spots available.

It really does smack of very poor planning over the course of a number of years not just last year.

In my opinion someone should be made accountable for that, and maybe Lam has been but I’ve a feeling it’s down to decisions higher up the food chain than that and also one of the main reasons Wane is back at the club.

With Smith, Field, TL and French able to play in the halves, I wonder whether half back is really the biggest area?

I reckon an experienced prop and a strike centre might be more valuable. I respect Powell but maybe even a 9 with a little more strike to accompany him.

It's really hard to judge tbh. A good HB and make or break a team.

I really like the idea of Bibby being given a shot at centre too. He was great for Salford there, but has been a winger for the majority of his time here.

Has French played in the halves?

Yes, for a limited time, but he wasn’t very good and is why he has played fullback ever since.

Bevan French is categorically not a halfback

Which clubs and who?

I don’t agree with Fear the Vee that we’re covered in the halves already (we are in numbers possibly but not in quality) but if we do go with what we have because there isn’t the right quality available, then I fully agree that we need to look at other positions and get them as strong as possible to try and help the lads we do have be as efficient as they can be. I also agree with the positions I’d then be looking at. One would be another prop and the other a centre.

One situation that seems to be bubbling away down under is Luke Thompson and his refusal to get vaccinated. As with everything Covid related, they’re more hardline than us Down Under and after it seemingly being sorted, it now looks like he’s saying he won’t get it until the turn of the year (for some reason). I doubt anyone here would force him to have a vaccine and it’s something we should be keeping our eyes on, if the finance is available.

It feels like there's a awful lot of unknowns going into next season, I don't think we've seen enough of jai field to know much about the kind of player he'll turn out to be, is he a half back? Perhaps he's a really good halfback? Maybe smith has come on leaps and bounds with a bit of guidance from Lee Briers? Perhaps powell has had a rocket up his arris with the new coaching set up and some of the shackles have come off? Perhaps the shackles were lams doing and thing have changed for many players? Maybe matty peet is the prodigal son of coaching and he's turned everything around? Thornley, stupid signing or could turn out that he's gonna throw everything into a last couple of seasons and we'll see a really good player turn out. I'm not saying that everything's hunky dorey but I genuinely don't know what to expect. Just my opinion and I'm sure others will disagree.