Wont be coming after all hes backed out of a move now closing in on martin lino from Newcastle who i may be wrong but i believe is more of a running half back.
Where also looking down under for a forward

I have watched him playing for Newcastle where he played in the halves when he was selected. He appears to have a reasonable short kicking game and average speed. He is also a goal kicker even for the first team I didn’t see him organising the plays but that could be due to the more senior players around him. He certainly played more for the first team at Newcastle than Williams did at Canberra.

Mason Lino, liked him as a half, decent kick out of hand and from tee, but do not see him as the answer for us, has not really run a team at top level - always non dominant half IMO
But this may be our limit and given a chance could surprise

Lino was a bit unfortunate to be at the NZ Warriors at the same time as Shaun Johnson and at Newcastle at the same time as Mitchell Pearce so probably didn't get many opportunities to shine, If the rumour is true then perhaps we are the opportunity he's looking for. We don't have the cash or the 'pull' for a top name , so it would be a gamble, but then how much did we know about Tinirau Arona or Bill Tupou before they signed, and they've not worked out too bad. Different positions I know but, you never know,

I was just pointing out that based on what we have seen he is currently not the type of player we declared we are looking for. I am not saying he won’t be but also I wouldn’t want fans to expect too much initially. If I remember correctly Tupou was much maligned when he first signed by some on here.

Have to agree Mason Lino would be a bit of a strange signing if true. He’s a decent enough player don’t get me wrong but from what i’ve seen he’s not really the general we have said we want. To be honest i’m not sure he’d offer anything different or better to what Hampshire already does but he’d probably cost a bit more and take up a quota spot as well.

Same here but it's press talk. Maybe Walker will be groomed for that and this lad will add some variety. Who knows.

I do think this 'general' thing is a red herring, I don't think there are many of those about these days, imo it will need to come from them all.

Every team needs a leader and we lack one.
We have motivators but not someone to captain the ship and point the directions.
That's the general we need. Doesn't matter what position but its likely to be the 7.

Again I don't agree, doesn't work like that IMO. Yes there are assertive players but you don't get the players who run the game like you did 30years ago, it seems more collective now.

Whose the 'General' at Saints'? It's not Roby because he isn't permanently on the pitch. Ditto Wigan and Warrington, they all have a number of players who take charge at various points. Only Gale at Leeds could be called a 'General' IMO.

It's also a risky strategy, Hudds employed Sezer allegedly for that role but once he got injured they were stuffed.

If we have a 'General' it's Fifita but he's not on for 80mins and he currently isn't fit enough to do the things he wants or needs to do.

Opinions will differ but I think its an old fashioned mentality - it's like the role of Captain, I feel that's just an honourary thing these days.

What you need is playmakers who can do the job and more importantly can be understood by the team as a whole and that's in a number of positions.

That`s really good point on Saints and Wigan FMC, I have never really thought about it like that but I guess they have almost got a leadership group in the likes of Coote, Lomax, Roby and perhaps a couple members of there pack as well, not just as you say a "General" to lead them around the field in terms of an individual.

That said, the likes of Wigan, Wire and Saints are blessed with so much talent and leadership in there squad they would probably find it hard to pick a player to guide them around the field.

Once again we look like buying the wrong player credentials we need, this a long season cashed by two half backs & not creators of leaders but runners & opertunists. !
Well, Chester should know what we want & not just to buy for buying same !
He won't be able to moan about not having a general we need to progress as a team !

Just because they have more than one player who can lead doesn't mean they don't have a leader.
When you have a team like that you have to coordinate but the role decides. Roby leads but Fages makes the call and Coote and Lomax make it happen.

Gale and Sezer are most definitely driving their team as generals.

But in the same way that Sts have drivers like Roby and Fages with slick connectors like Coote and Lomax who make everything they do more successful, all our key 'spine' players are connectors and not drivers.
Put Hampshire at 7 for Sts and Coote won't be the same. Still good but not the same.

Once again? He bought Brough who is exactly that player. He just got injured.
Tanginoa was what we needed too. As was Woods.
The only one I didn't like was Gigot and that is more to do with the player because he is capable.

He signed some very good players both here and Rovers. He's just buying on a budget so has to take risks. Sometimes they work like Tanginoa and Battye. Sometimes they don't like Gigot. Sometimes they work and then break like Brough.

IMO if you put Hampshire in the halves at saints for either Lomax or Fages, I don`t think they look much different. They didn't look any different with Lewis Dodd at 7 in the few games he has played this year.

Do you think Brough was the player we needed? He might have been 3 years prior, but we needed someone that would be on the pitch, yes he looks after himself but age plays a big factor in injuries and fitness as it proves time after time (Bar a few physical freaks) and it obviously showed. You can`t say "he got it right but he was injured", he got it wrong, plain and simple. Not only that he got it wrong at Hull KR with the likes of Campese, an older player with a terrible injury record, these are the risks you have to look at when looking at signing players.

Got a great player second rower in Tanginoa but persists on playing him in the front row 70% of the time, that said hopefully he now sees that he belongs in the SR and he stays there.

Gigot I think will prove to be a good addition to our team if he can nail down a starting position which maybe tricky for him and he can cut out the silly penalties, he is probably one of the most talented players in our squad.

I think the point is, there is a lot weighing on getting recruitment right for next season, especially when we are looking at a 7 as we can clearly see we are missing a quality one.

You see I thought Campese was a risk that worked.
I don't think they'd have been as successful with an alternative they could afford.

But your point is well made. This signing is very important.
It's only League Express saying we are alter this guy.
Let's see who he can find.

And Dodd is an excellent player who will develop into a general not a runner.

That is totally wrong in my opinion. How on earth do you know he’s the wrong type of player. How many times have you or anyone else seen him play? Not many because he hasn’t played that many NRL games.

He may be the perfect player for us he may not, all these Aussies are a gamble. There are very few proven quantities coming to SL these days.

He may thrive in SL a lot of Samoans do, some with even less pedigree than this lad. Of course he may not but you don’t know that do you!

He’s a half back, always has been, he’s a junior Kiwi and a Samoan international so Thurston he may not be but he’s no mug.

SL is a good rung below the NRL, a player who looks ordinary in in that comp can look a star in ours. You have heard of a lad called Tanginoa? Better still Ben Jeffries, Jacom Miller etc.

My only gripe is that he needs to prove himself. Hampshire played well in the last five games, he deserves to start at 7 IMO and if he doesn’t perform then Lino gets a go. Sadly I suspect he will walk straight in, expectations will be too high and he will probably fail. All CC has to do is resist the temptation and make the lad earn the shirt, if he doesn’t then and only then can you say he’s got it wrong.

As of now he just looks a good possible addition and may well be this much desired general. One things for sure I trust Chesters judgement on signing over yours any day. I’ll make it very clear, CC had a blip this year regarding signings, one partly bought on by last years injury crisis and Covid. You can criticise Chesters tactics, selections and style all you like but not his player purchases.

Over the past five years I’ve seen the quality of the Trinity team go through the roof. Why that hasn’t transformed into silverware is up for question. However there is no doubt in my mind that up until this year our recruitment on the budget we have has been brilliant.

Still I’m sure you could do better