According to this article he turned us down to sign for Warrington and has now had enough and abandoned ship to go back home.
Looks like we got a lucky break there.

[urlhttps://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/warrington-wolves-release-billy-magoulias/[/url

He may have loved it at Trin

The Warrington fans certainly didn’t warm to his performances from what I’ve read. I read he didn’t look fit too.

Maybe we dodged a bullet. I’m slowly being won over by Crowther at LF. As he’s getting more games under his belt he seems to be becoming a handy player to have in the middle. He looks to have matured physically this season and we are starting to see a player with a good engine. You can’t beat investing in your youth system.

It may take a few years with some players but it’s definitely the way forward for a club like ours.

I guess we ended up with Whitbread instead. No complaints from me.

Me neither. Whitbread is a workhorse with a good engine who does all the tough stuff in the middle. Hopefully he’s at trinity next season. He’s finding some form and consistency lately.

I’ve been saying it for a while now but even the NRL talent pool has dried up.

Partly because they like us don’t produce as many players as they once did. But also because the Aussie game Is bigger than ever. The NRL has more teams but also the levies below are stronger. So with a poor exchange rate the incentive to chance your arm at an ever poorer SL is less appealing.

This is especially the case for any player with a reputation, why bother unless for mega bucks. Hence the number of so called reputation players coming over here to redirect their careers or bank balances and failing.

Bringing over unknowns like we do is still a risk as even they are overpaid but at least in most cases you know they want to make a name for themselves and in most cases at least manage to be useful.

Al the same the days of picking up a real talent like Solomona is zero and not just for us but even for the big spenders like Leeds or Saints. Any player with any real NRL pedigree has no real need to come to SL now unless they are crocked and everyone in the NRL knows it.

Retaining our academy was vital and bringing through talent from it should be our number one priority. Not just because it’s mortally right but because it’s financially prudent and the best remaining path to success.

Yes, really good post this. The Dolphins are struggling to fill their roster for next year as like you say. All that happens is lower teams like West’s and Canterbury pay over the odds for players worth 2/3 of what they should be getting. Penrith I believe ( read) have the biggest and best academy over there, and they are clearly reaping the rewards of that. Leigh currently have 14 over seas players in their team. They will have to cut at least 7 of them, and obviously there is no cap in the championship either, so where will those extra players come from over here. Although I must say Queensland teams this year more so North Queensland have gone with a youthful side through their academy and have really reaped the rewards of this. The talent pool up there just seems never ending!

I think he would have been far better suited to the Trinity environment

By the size of him he would have definitely gone toe to toe with Pauli Pauli on the pie n pint nights out .The few games I’ve seen him play over here he looked unfit and overweight , dodged a real bullet if I’m honest not coming to wakey and will have been on a decent packet also , whitbread all the way for me .

Sadly you can't know that. As spook said he could have found Trinity a better club for him. Players tend to get over weight and out of shape due to injuries or being unhappy where they are.

All the same I'm now very happy with Whitbread so it's academic.

I watched him come through as a junior and he is a massively talented player…

One thing I've always believed is that talent is permanent.

However some players can only express this in the right environment for them where as with others it doesn't seem to matter.

I'm not getting at Ketty here, but we should know this better than most. Our SL history is littered with rejects and odballs and especially players written off who've become absolute stars at the club.

JD couldn't get a gig in the NRL. Korky was voted as one of the ten worst Roosters players of all time. Fifita was just a curio to his illustrious brother and so on.

Had this lad come to us, a club with a very welcoming inclusive culture he may well have clicked. I'd still be interested in this particular player, fitness is fairly easy to regain if you are happy and thus willing to do the work.

So yes we may have dodged a bullet, but likewise despite whats happened at Warrington we may have missed a gem.

I watched his first game over here in particular because of the wakey connection and he was overweight and put a poor performance in ,and also the rest of the games he played . We simply can’t afford to have anymore overseas deadwood in our team , we have had our bellies full over the years of payday players over for a quick buck . I Stand by my statement in that we dodged an expensive bullet imo .

Yes but what I'm trying to say is that just because he was 'deadwood' at Warrington as you put it doesn't mean he would have been for us.

Solomona was totally out of shape when he arrived and tbf so was Whitbread, he's only come good in the last month or so. You just can't judge players totally on how they have done at their previous club.

If you consider Miller who many at Hull were glad to see him leave but at Wakefield his improvement now makes him wanted by a former Hull coach.

I don't agree about Whitbread. He's had games like this before he was just over shadowed by others playing badly. He was a key player when we beat Warrington in games 1 and 2.
It just got trendy to bag him.
I remember posting his stats and doesn't make errors and does the hard work for others. Great signing in my opinion.

Solomona by his own admission needed to catch up but realistically, he could have been on crutches and still been the best player on the field.

In terms of Magoulias I agree I think he chose the wrong club. He needed a club that would let him have some freedom. They tried to make him into an average middle when he's a 13. Shame but we covered that loss now.

Didn’t mean anything disrespectful to Magoulias vastman , but I’ve seen far too many so called big names over the years turn up for us and turn out to be damp squibs ,and billy certainly didn’t stand out in a poor wires outfit from the games I’ve seen him in . Reading about his return home on compassionate ground it stated that his wife’s sister was having her first child , and they wanted to be close .Big ask for any player to drag his wife and kids half way round the world and then get dropped into a team in turmoil with zero confidence, think it may be a case of him dodging a bullet and not the wires on this one .

Played at 13 for Newtown Jets yesterday.

The Sharks feeder club. Looks like he’s coming home.

I agree about Whitbread. Some are only just seeing it this past 3/4 games but for me he’s been a workhorse throughout. Every club needs a direct no nonesence player who can graft the yards and defend well with a low error rate. He has adapted well to the prop position. When the season started I had him at 13 but he’s really grown into the prop role.

Id extend his contract now if we haven’t already.

What do you mean some people didn’t see it?

We all saw he was a workhorse but we already had a dozen of those. We needed a bit more than that from an quota player. In the last few games he’s started to look like he might and I say might have more to offer. Let’s not get carried away.

Pretty sure I’ve seen some posts in the past where people haven’t been impressed with him that’s all. Me personally I think he’s been reasonably good and consistent throughout the whole season. I’m not getting carried away but I do think he would offer very good value moving forwards and I have seen enough to make me think he would be a good investment longer term.

I think they argument has been what yet he offers enough as a quota player. Were he a British player we’d picked up from somewhere I’d call him a bargain. The truth is though that you should be expecting something really special from overseas players, something that isn’t available in a British player.

I don’t think we were getting that. I also don’t think we are there yet with Whitbread. What I will say is we are now heading in the right direction hopefully.

I’ve been willing to give him some leeway because he’s quite young and relatively inexperienced hence why I think he’s worth another year.

Not that what I say matters much.

Personally, I think Whitbread has gone well for us.

Further to Magoulas, and the Warrington exodus, I see also, that Mulhern has been released, think he could do a decent job for us. Still reasonably young, and British too, so no quota spot

That does surprise me I’ve been impressed every time I’ve seen him play.

I’d go for him but that’s just my perspective. Does seem an odd decision by Warrington.