Springer is a French International isn't he, so would surely take up a quota spot.

The question I would ask, is he worth that quota spot, as I would play England, Huby, Fifita and Hirst in front of him.

Is it worth having the quota spot sitting in the stands most weeks?

My opinion FWIW is yes. Because he's a known quantity rather than a highlight DVD. Wether you rate him or not is as I say opinion but if you do he's not a gamble - most of us have seen him in the flesh at least half a dozen times - you can't say that for most NRL imports.

I have a feeling you did but really can I be bothered to find out - no.

What you are suggesting is that Cas have palmed us off with some rubbish - really - so nobody knew Tansey's flaws as a player or Moore's criminality or Owens demons did they? Cas held a gun to our heads and told us to take these players. I can't stand Cas but you might as well go the whole hog and blame them for global warming!

It's been a mixed bag but all three of those players did their bit - Moore in particular on the field. Either way we should have known what they were, so either you're suggesting the club is staffed by stupid people who don't know whats happening in the wider world or people who are easily bullied - seriously?

French players don’t count on the quota.

Anyway i think MC denied this on twitter a couple of nights back.

He also told us Tyler Randal's signing was an "urban myth".

If he doesnt count on quota then would be happy with the signing as a back up, provided we are still going after Pauli.

With these, plus the addition of Baldwinson and Horo, to me would give us a stronger pack overall, than that of 2017.

Indeed, he’s a fibber!

aula

Give over it's one or the other.

Why is Pauli suudenly a better option than Springer the blokes hardly played a game in the last year.

I also seriously doubt you've ever seen him play other than YouTube highlights.

Also where is the cash coming from? Your the accountant.

Finally who says we are after him 'chippy women'? No just some random poster.

If you're wondering why you get shot down this is it.

FWIW I'd take either, why we'd need both I don't know. What club has 7 props in the squad that's a quarter of the team.

Just to remind that would be Fifita, England, Huby, Hirst, Baldwinson, plus Pauli and Springer. Slight overkill tbh.

Anyone know how much extra we get for finishing 5th? Isn't it nothing for 8th and £25000 For each position after? If so we would have £75000 extra for 5th?

And how much more do you think we had to agree to increase the salaries of the players we have brilliantly managed to retain.

The reason I said both is that since the start of 2017 we have lost Allgood, Ant and Adam Walker. I would think given Allgoods experience he would have been on more than Springer or Pauli. Would think Adam Walker was on a fair salary too.

I havent mentioned Williams, Gibson or Molloy, which two have gone and not been replaced and I dont think Molloy will be here next year. I see Baldwinson at the moment a Molloy replacement as he has played a fair bit in the back row too.

As for the money, there will be prize money and I would hazard a guess that our crowds are slightly up on last year as well as some of our other revenue streams.

Out of curiosity Vastman, you keep mentioning my profession, as well as resident know it all, what is yours?

For the record the chippy comment was from the owner of a very popular chippy in Wakefield where there is a lot of rugby memorabilia on the wall

Sure I read we weren’t getting our full allocation of sky money next season due to ground not meeting all criteria and this being the case will offset any prize money etc

That's a bit harsh innit pet, it's only yesterday you were singing his praises, in the words of Esther Phillips, what a difference a day makes

Surely that should apply to another club in a similar situation ground wise. If true of course.

Tbf I'd heard the Pauli Pauli rumour from a couple of lads who usually aren't too far off the mark. Also got told about a prop who's name was mentioned a few pages ago who's still under contract at his current club but mooted as part of a swap deal with a player who's still on our books, but what's the point if I have to justify everything to Vasty? I believe these are still targets with nothing concrete.

Nobody ever takes that into account.

You don't need to justify anything to me as I really don't care what you think

I'm afraid it doesn't work like that it's not lego. Like Belly says what about all long term deals signed in recent month? Most players have contracts that yield more the more games they play. You can very quickly end up with a smaller squad that costs more - in fact that's what you want as it shows you are signing and creating quality players.

As for your question - it's not me who keeps mentioning your profession it's you - you've mentioned it umpteen times, which of course is your prerogative - however I think you are the only person on here whose profession I know.

Finally I didn't know you'd made a 'chippy' reference, I was just being light hearted.

I'm a gogo dancer by the way

Its a fair point Belly about retaining players.

One thing I would add, as other teams in super league are pretty much maxed out on the salary cap, there wouldnt be too much wiggle room for negiotiating by other clubs.

There is also such a thing is squad and club culture which seems to be a big thing the players are buying into.

Good luck with the go go dancing. Always thought pink would suit you.

I'm not aiming this at anyone in particular but I have a few questions regarding Pauli Pauli. I know this is a thread about Gadwin Springer but PP seems to be flavour of the month.

1: PP is nearly 20 stone and 6' 4'' even in the NRL that is a monster - so why is it's basement club getting rid of what appears to be an asset?

2: He has 48 NRL games under his belt, that's a lot more than Fifita had. Thats the same Fifita the KNIGHTS! were trying to sign at the end of 2016. Is it just me who finds that odd, why would Newcastle replace what appears to be a superior player on paper with an inferior one



3: Why are no other NRL teams interested?

4: There are at least 5-6 SL far more in need of a big prop than we are, why are they not interested?

Now in the case of 3 - 4 they may be interested but I've seen nothing.

Now if we do sign him the I'm happy to trust CC and JK judgement. However there are far more question marks over this player than there are over Springer. Could very well be another Charlie Leona or worse a ********* can't even say his name, Better the devil you know sometimes.

I'd go with that were it not for the fact (I believe) that MC stated we still can't spend to the full cap - which in essence means we don't have any wiggle room either.

The only way around it would be to find a sponsor who would pay a percentage of a certain players wage. It's not a new idea, just get the impression it might not be the way MC likes to do things but I could be very wrong.

Again I may be wrong but I think we have probably gone as far as we can now with the revenue streams available - we are now at a stage where BV as it stands is costing us dear.

I think with Pauli it's probably a injury issue why the Knights might not want to take a chance on him. just alone in 2017 he was involved in bad car accident, that was thhought at the time to be career ending. He managed to come back from that hip injury and then broke his leg in a game. The lads only just turned 23 now, & up until the 2017 season he's played a good amount of games. When I first saw him those first couple of years at Parra as a 19/20 year old he was being hailed as the next big thing for them.
Tbh If he's got over his leg break and his fitness is still good and CC thinks he's worth a punt, I'll go with that. Also if he gets back to what he was if he comes here, it won't be long before he's back in the NRL and age is on his side.

As for point 4, same could be said about Fifita. Most teams are after a big Prop but no one was bothered about him at the time.

Also on the point where you mention the Knights trying to sign Fifita, PP was still there and playing att and that was before his accident & leg break in 2017. So it wasn't a case of 'replace what appears to be a superior player on paper with an inferior one'.

Plus JK is also famous for his! the players nobody wanted projects and turning careers around.

I would say, a combination of a string of freak injuries, which must have being really difficult to come back from physically and mentally, the fact they are a basement club is prob the other reasons too, they'll need proven reliability and the talent pool over there allows letting players go of his caliber



By on paper i assume you just mean NRL games played?

Daves an awesome talent and at Wakey it works for him and he's playing the best rugby of his career, for various reasons he didn't settle at his NRL teams where as Pauli Pauli did

I wasn't aware/cant remember if Newcastle did want him but ultimately Fifita is a very talented player, so why wouldn't they try to sign him

To back up shifty cat, when he was playing at the eels he really was going to be the next best thing, at the time he was one of the props keeping Moi Moi out of the team, not only that, he really did look like the real deal especially for his age,

His running style and they way he held the ball was a little like SBW so could shift his weight well and offload or go straight and hard and he can carry alot of ball too, I can't remember what he was like defensively or from his time after the eels




NRL teams and SL teams may be wanting to sign him, we have know way on this board of knowing



It goes without saying, JK and CC know what they are doing an have my absolute backing and trust,
We've seen it time and time again with players especially with JK signings (it still makes me laugh when we signed Broughy and people were moaning actually at JK at one of the audience nights)

Our squad is so settled and we already have 4 quality first choice props, all with various individual skills, plus Baldwinson and potentially Aorna/Anikin, So I actually think we are in a position to take a punt on a player

BUT if Paulis fitness is ok, its not a punt, we would be bringing what could be another potential Dave Fifita caliber of player over,
Some one that could be the difference in the games like hull and sts at the end of next season, I don't think that would be quite the case with Springer although again, in CC/JK I trust

YES this, they seem to more often than not work a lot better for us