The thing is Rooney (ok he's no world beater, but he ain't Thorman either) will be affordable others may not be.

No more forwards signing hopefully now.

Dowes - Lauaki - King
Berrigan - Houghton
Cusack - O'Meley - Radford
Fitzgibbon - Burnett
Tickle - Manu
Washbrook

I would sign up Whiting and Maloney.

Enough cover their for now, need to sign a Stand Off and Broughton then that should be 2010 squad sorted for me.

Given the balance of our pack O'Meley is great signing as we need another 2x 15min stints guy. Think our 4 props next season of Dowes, Cusack, Hame and Shrek on paper is the strongest our props have looked in the SL era.

I dont quite get the whole we need a 6 though as a Horne and Long combo will go well with Tansey at 1, a centre has to be the next priority.

I agree that's were the bulk of the remaining available salary has to be spent, get the best we can afford. The thing is how much can we afford?

The reason I want a 6 is so when long isn't playing well or injured, we still have another player who can create and lead the team. Personally I want Horne to play centre but it wont happen.

All depends on our player retention really.

Agree with that , think its a very good signing . Just now need a top notch centre , even rule and agar have mentioned one coming in . If he has to be english i"d be happy with atkins . A class centre and the team would look a lot better and balanced .

So who do you think are viable options/targets for a centre spot.

Atkins (although my gut feeling is he'll end up at the Rhinos)
Tom Briscoe (do we play him there next season)

and tbh I can't think of anyone else at the moment.

Agree with all of that. Horne will go well with Long and for me a centre is a must.

I would rather go with Briscoe than Atkins or Turner. I was thinking more like a experienced centre who can assist Briscoes development at centre.

As I said when Long was signed, I do worry about just how many games we are going to get out of him. A creative SO will help when he is missing. Horne is a good SO but he doesn't really have any sort of creative side to his game IMO. I'd also say his long passing isn't the best and slows us down when trying to get the ball wide.

His left to right passing is terrible however i think Thorman puts Horne under pressure as his passing is very slow too.

Next season though the speed and accuracy of Longs passing will give Horne alot more room to work with like he does for Pryce, i hope.

good signing in my opinion" >

I really rate Briscoe, but if we are to persist with 'up the middle' rugby, we have to go for a bigger centre for the time being...like how Bradford backed up their huge pack with the unstoppable Vainikolo and Hape.

I think Briscoe could spend the year learning of an experienced centre, and I'm sure he'd still get a lot of game time with the way we get injuries.

Not gonna happen mate !
Champagne rugby all the way next season !!

Richard Horne or Jordan Tansey.

Very true. I guess time will tell. Certainly starting to shape up as a very good squad for next year and Agar will have no excuses if it doesn't perform.

I reckon next season's starting line up will look something like this

Tansey
Calderwood
New centre/Briscoe
Yeaman
Raynor
Horne R
Long
Dowes
Berrigan
Cusack
Fitzgibbon
Tickle
Washbrook
Subs
O'Meley
Luaikai
Manu
Houghton

that is far better than what we have now

I mean its very radical, with an actual half back and a loose forward, it'll be interesting to see if this experimental approach works, it might revolutionize RL



a quality centre really would get me excited for next season! and better still a new coach!

matty head

Cheers, I know it might come as an alien concept to some but I reckon it just might work.

Tansey
Calderwood
Briscoe
Yeaman
Raynor
Horne R
Long
Dowes
Berrigan
Shrek
Manu
Burnett
Fitzgibbon

Subs
Yak
Hame
Washbrook
Lee/Houghton

Wouldn't start with Dowes and Cusack TBH. Too much quality on the bench at risk of not playing at all with our utterly random interchanges.

Fancy taking 3 Players from one of the NRLs Worst Sides...

Yes, taking a world class prop and quality back rower could still play for Oz and taking a good utility player who has won a SL GF and played in the NRL is a bad thing isn't it.