Also Salford play Mellor at nine, then I think Shorrocks comes on, or sometimes the ex rovers half “ forgot his name” comes in at nine, in other words Salford, unlike us, do not have to play their young kids in great abundance like we do.

So they prefer 3 non specialist hookers. Burough isn't a young kid, he's 23

Good try by Mellor

I do wonder if there was any other SL club in to offer Abdull a new contract going forward.

Of course they do, it works for them, maybe he’s 23, Mellor and Atkins are around ten years older than him.

It’s sort of sums us up, they have three adequate replacements they can play regularly at nine without overplaying their youth, we on the other hand, hammer our youth, and sign inexperienced positional players.

Nobody more than me would welcome an Impape, Walker, Clarke, or Parcel but it ain’t happening.

He already had one at rovers. Poor signing which won't work out. He'll be unfit and injured regularly

I'm not sure what your point is. They have a 23 year old specialist hooker who can't get a game because they prefer 3 non specialists there in front of him. It's because he's not good enough, no other reason. They're not protecting him at 23 if he's the best option. 4th choice behind 3 non specialists sums up our 2025 recruitment

You mentioned his age, we have no disagreement, as I said we have signed a young hooker, would I have signed him, no, do I feel we need a top class nine, too right, but as the original poster said, he will be good, or the opposite.

You implied salford were protecting him due to his age. I pointed out that at 23 he's not a youngster any more.

He's older than mikey lewis, who doesn't seem to need to be protected due to his age

Once again you mentioned his age, the original poster offered the hope that the Burough signing could go either way, you implied if he was that good he would be playing, I offered an explanation why he’s not broke into Salfords team, due to having more experienced options, Mellor, Atkins, Shorocks, which have worked well for Salford.

Value For Money ????

Now that is the conundrum constantly facing those holding the purse strings. I don't think they ever knowingly sign a dud, or choose to overpay BUT the state of the club & the geography seems to dictate we do have to offer 'overs' and longer contracts to get people in. Another impact of being so poor for so long.

Best analogy for me is going to a foreign sweet shop, you spend your money & you make your choice but you have no idea exactly what you are geting.

You called him a youngster. I was saying at 23 he isn't, which is why I mentioned his age

A lot of it was down to players and agents having one over the likes of clarkey who didn't have a clue what players were really worth

Bitter Sweet almost al

I’ve said this all along about Amir, plenty of players who are leaving still playing for their current clubs. It’s just the ones we’ve signed who’s aren’t….

Asiata aside, we’ve pretty much trawled a depleted market, but apart from our chase for Lamb, we’re bringing up the rocks in the net, Some will be solid, others will crumble.

Fingers crossed we might have another quota space come available

How long has Fash & Lane got left on their contracts ?

We had 4 quota spots available at one point and nearly all the salary cap open, we obviously couldn’t bring in the targets we really wanted then so honestly what difference does another spot make? None of our quota players signed up are particularly poor it might actually be safer sticking with what we have especially if we are rummaging in the bargain basement. Is it really worth gambling on more unknown Okunbor/Pele’s or going the other way and bringing in yet another player in their mid 30’s?

My only slight hope is that the investor/buyer/benefactor whatever you want to call it actually happens before next season. If we have a quota spot at that point if used correctly could make a big difference, it seems laughable now but maybe we could be in a situation to buy someone.

For me that’s all nonsense talk though as I don’t believe anything meaningful is going to happen on that front, some kind of change may happen but I just can’t see a situation that this basket case of a club is anything but heading for the championship at best and that will be our level.

Fash contract expires 2026
Lane. 2025

Knowing our luck we'll be losing herman

I presume he means Sao but if he goes we then only have herman, ashworth, Aydin and Fash plus youngsters. Nowhere near good enough so would need another decent prop anyway

Ese'ese will not be hear beyond next season. Why would he sign an extension with us?

Signed a 3 year contract, so should be here for two more years, but you never know will this club.