Eseh is a real handful and has a lot going for him, size, footwork at the line, a well informed offload, mostly finds his front, courage, work rate and he’s getting some valuable experience at Featherstone.

A word of caution though, on that clip there’s another big front rower called Sam Kibula who was doing much the same as Eseh through the Wigan Academy, England Academy etc. He’s been unable to carry his attributes through to the very top level and is now playing for Dewsbury Rams.

I think Eseh still needs another year or so at Featherstone or another good Championship club before coming back to try his hand at Super League level,

He’s an exciting prospect for the future though

I completely understand that we shouldn’t burden Eseh with too much expectation. That said I think he is ready for some games from the bench so he can continue his learning. We may not see the best of him for a couple of years at superleague level but at the least he seems to have the attributes and has done well at the closest level to superleague.

Fingers crossed we see him transition well and end up with a player on our hands.

Also, I think next season if we re-sign Shaw that he would also benefit from a loan period in the championship.

Agreed, a special talent hence him being loaned to a top Championship side.

Talking of big units Windrow is a big lad and puts it about, I hope he breaks through next season.

Windrow is an interesting one. Definitely needs to break through next year along with O’Donnovan. These players again may benefit from a loan to a championship club.

For me Windrow is ready. He an instant replacement for Batch though a different kind of player. I was amazed as to how big and strong he’s got. Not a bad player either, some way off international class yet but SL he should be in contention every week even if not an automatic.

O’Donovan has a bit to go yet.

I think, no I hope Applegarth backs himself and runs with these lads.

Also wonder whether he might look at Ruane again. Let’s face it that lads a better bet than Minns, SId and especially Army Dave ever were.

Yes I agree with Ruan but by all accounts on the Leeds rlfans they believe he’s signed a long term deal with them. If he’s available it’s worth a look as I thought he would be worth a deal last year being standout in academy. Even more so now with many games under his belt for Doncaster.

interesting debate about who's ready and who needs to break through NOW! or he's useless...

when they signed for Trinity in Jan 2021 Eshe was 17 and O'Donovan 18... the Oldham press reported that Windrow is a highly rated 19 year old when he signed on loan in May 2022... It seems like they've been at the club for ages but they are barely out of their teens... Harry Bowes turned 21 in the past few days and Issac Shaw does not have his age recorded but played for England Youth in 2019 (which is I think is under 1icon_cool.gif

Trinity stated their aim was to create an environment which transitioned talented youngsters into Super league players, and I think they're doing pretty well.... My (uneducated guess) is the Shaw, Eshe and Bowes will be regular starters (first 17/21) next season... Windrow and O'Donovan will play some first grade and I think Scriven might also...


I'm also picking up vibes that the aim is to move to a 14 team Super League in 2024 and there will be no relegation and two promoted teams from the 23 season... If this is so, it would more than explain the reasoning behind hastening MA's promotion to first team coach... a year of embedding his philosophy and blooding younger players without the fear of the drop... Time will tell on that rumour though I guess.

This for me is where Mash has the advantages, he’s brought these young through the set up, he knows them inside out and He’ll make the informed judgement when the time is right as to when these lads are up to the rigours of SL. The more I think about his head coaching appointment the more it makes sense to a club that has to look towards its youth set up more than most due to money restraints . Get a standout half like Salford and a workmanlike team around you and all pulling in the same direction , and your going places. Losing miller may be a blessing if we can get the right man to replace him . Salford have a knack of picking up rare quality players who transform the team around them , Hastings and now Crofts have got those abilities, and you certainly don’t need a team bristling with super star as they have proven time and time again in recent seasons

Have we actually signed anyone as yet. I have been away, dint know if I've missed anything.

It's coming up to 4 weeks since our super league status was confirmed for 2023.

That was a bit back not heard.much recently.

Yes Tuafu and Bowden. Not sure why fans seem to discount these signings. Both of these players will be on next years budget not this and you will have to include them as taking the wage of one of the departed players.

You could throw Butler in also but I’m inclined to think we got a bit of a deal with him as a mid season contingency player.

But that two and a half slots gone already.

With all the luck in the world I doubt we’ve offloads Lineham either.

I knew about those.

I meant since we were guaranteed survival

I read a fairly recent post Ruan has been training with them and secured a deal. Still not seen anything official though so who knows.

I'd say it's to do with only getting our new coach last week. Judging by the way it was done it wasn't on a whim so there were never going to be any deals until Applegarth was in place. I imagine he's spent the last seven days reviewing all options.

Personally I have never understood the obsession with signings on this forum. Any good coach will take his time and not panic, buy early and you may find yourself regretting it for a long time, see Lineham and Gaskell. Remember, it's not just clubs holding off for the best deal so are players.

More Tricky with NRL players but it's still only mid September, the season isn't even over.

Finally I expect some shrewd signings but can't see any of those Unicorn signings that supposedly sell season tickets. Be great but I can't see Cameron Munster joining us this season. So why rush, let the WC happen and see where we are as we have a good deal of wiggle room.

Sadiq Adebiyi has signed for Keighley.

Keighly are building quite a useful side tbf for the championship. Fair play for them. They seem ambitious.

Injury scuppered his chances with us so good luck to him.

Hopefully we hear some news soon on coaching staff and players. Silence with very little coming out of the club. Not a bad thing of course.

I was looking at the players we have and tbh we have a pretty good set of core players. Certainly capable of performing in superleague. These 5 signings if in the right areas and right quality to improve the positions could certainly create some optimism. Looking forward to seeing who they are.

There’s a fair few players knocking around that could be very good signings:

Players like Hardaker and Ashworth are still available for example.

I saw Isa’s name mentioned as a rumour. Guess we are talking to a wide range of players. Hopefully Apelgarth can get what he wants.

It’s easy to say with hindsight but Sid along with Army Dave were utterly stupid signings.

We let Gwaze go because he wasn’t big enough, correct decision, so why drag a similar player in Sid all the way from London!

Dave I didn’t get them and never will, total waste of time and if we paid him only a pound it was a waste and cash that could have been spent on Aydin.

Minns was another though at least he has some kind of reputation at least.

We were like a home for strays last year.

Even Evans who can actually play a bit is possibly too old to ever reach his potential but might be useful.

The only one of these punts that may pay off is Butler, he’s young and he’s definitely a big unit, so it’s up to him.

Over all last years signings were pretty poor. I accept Lineham was CC but the rest were Poching.

Applegarth will need to be far more prudent. We want players with a real knowledge of the game and a real desire. They don’t have to be the best, they just have to be honest hard working pros. We need a team first flair later.

I expect to see Applegarth to raid SL fringe players and Championship players for support the Trinity produced backbone of the team.

I expect to see the missing links filled by quota players. The lad is young but I reckon he’s shrewder than either WP or CC. To put it another way he knows the local scene better than almost anyone.

As you say, easy with hindsight.

Yep, but in a way that's what a coach needs. They have to have an ability to see into the future a bit better than the rest of us. Clearly they can't be expected to predict injuries or personal issues but in purely playing terms they should be able to spot those on an upwards curve.

I thought Lineham was a good signing but he wasn't. I thought Gaskell was dodgy but actually he's been reasonably useful. But the thing is these players all came with solid RL credentials.

I don't know the deal with army Dave but if it cost 1p it was too much. I'm not against a punt but this lad was strictly RU third team having never reached any serious level in that game outside the Army. These are the sort of players you expect to see at London Skolars not a SL club. It has to go down as a truly poor signing even without hindsight.

It's just my opinion but I think it was as much Pochings recruitment as his coaching that cost him, but I may be totally wrong. Certainly if I were a CEO it would be that which alarmed me even more than the the results.

I think or hope Applegarth will go down the Toppo/Kelly route, find battle hardened players who still have a point to prove along with a few second chance youngsters from other clubs to fill any gaps our youngsters can't. Then hope that we get a few gems from the NRL.

I'm not sure that will win us many more games but I think it might secure our SL position sooner and avoid a relegation fight. It's sad it's come to this but avoiding a relegation scrap would be a massive success for us at the moment.

Toppo and Kelly signed duds too.
It's just one of those things.

Those signings were squad players. Evans was a punt that worked out for me.

Sam Lucklry - Salford to HKR
Oliver Partington - Wigan to Salford
Albert Vete - HKR to Castleford

Prop forwards that have gone to clubs we like to think we compete with
Others are getting their work done, where are we?

Hopefully lining up ours.

Not bothered overly about Luckley or Vete. Partington is a great pick up for Salford. Would have taken him for sure.

Yes but how can Salford sign him because according to our very own oracle they have no money.

I think I'm probably missing something - why are those 2 players classed as 2023 acquisitions when we started paying them in 2022 and they played in the 2022 season? They were on the salary cap at the same time as the players who have left werre they not?

I think Salford took a gamble this season and had they finished close to bottom would have been struggling. Luck then it has paid off somewhat getting to playoffs and finishing in a decent spot so they might have staved off the reaper and covered their losses.

A player like Partington wouldn’t break the bank tbh. At a similar stage to Batchelor but not as good imo.

The thing that probably worries me most is I hope we can extend Murphy and Hall. These lads are the future. If we can’t extend or they’re not willing it leaves us with a choice of whether to start a bidding war or let them talk to other clubs for free in May 2023. Personally I hope they give the club an extra year or two and continue their development and give the club that gave them their opportunity a bit longer to show its ambitions.

There’s absolutely no reason to slate the club though. Doesn’t matter who other clubs sign, we can’t use that to beat the club with. What matters is who we sign and we just need to be patient.

There’s plenty of players out there. The club has t announced anything we can form an opinion on yet. We are just impatient fans craving news to stop the boredom afterall.