I can see the Welham move coming off. Its been widely hinted at that finances are tight and with a lack of options then Welham fits the 'established SL' tag and will be cheap.

Bradford and Salford were strongly linked but 'another' SL club has come in for him. BJB will be on a pretty big salary at the reds so would Hull match that?

Good piece of business for a player that's predominantly underwhelmed at Hull.
Just no need for the cloak and dagger routine from Pearson. Honesty with the fans will go a long way.

There you go..

If you think Welham is "turning out well" you are more deluded than i thought.

Which I would have not problem with. Not point is signing a player for the sake of it if they are not good enough. I'd expect us to see a signing come in mid season. Inevitably a player somewhere will upset the apple cart at their club and seek a move else where.

I'd rather do with what we have than sign Welham.

For Welham, read Liam Colbon. A player we don't need and who isn't good enough. Stick with Logan and Lancaster! And use Thompson as a centre if need be. Just not Welham.

Sorry to see you go Joe you gave the club 5 years of good service, as for potential back to come I would like to see Ben Jones Bishop I've all ways rated him.

Sarginson going to union. Charnley would be great but with Burgess going I'd imagine Wigan will want to keep hold.

Wigan are supposedly after Carney from Cas so might need to let Charnley go to accommodate him?

Joe's always shown he's a natural rugby league player with a good set of hands and boot, a solid leader on the pitch at times too. Shame about his (rumoured) off field antics. Think he'll go well at wire or disappear from the game entirely.

Could we be in for Carney?

Good bit of business this to get 150k did work hard on the field but off the field was not the role model we were looking for. I would rather have the players we are signing now that lead on and off the field.

I don't see this as a step backwards but a step forwards at making the club players more professional.

Not without getting rid of another quota player I don't think. Unless the plan is to sack off Michaels and get someone better!

Of the players mentioned BJB or Charnley would both be good options.

That really is revisionism/selective. I'd say IMO, but the stats say otherwise, too:

2015 - has been a disappointing year with few tries and clean breaks, but he does have a decent amount of tackle busts being joint 8th, and was level on assists with Pryce (who I know missed a few games).
2014 - low on tries, but joint 4th for assists with Heremaia at 9, only 1 behind Horne. He was our leading tackle buster with 81, and joint 7th for clean breaks with our POTY Talanoa.
2013 - joint 5th for tries and joint 7th for assists (only halves, hookers and Crooks with more, as it should be). 3rd for tackle busts and 10th for clean breaks (leading forward).
2012 - missed a huge chunk with shoulder dislocation.
2011 - 4th for tries, 5th for assists, 3rd for clean breaks, 4th for tackle busts. A great first season that still just wasn't good enough for many.

I have no wish to get into the ins and outs of his departure etc, but I have simply never understood the amount of criticism and lack of credit Westerman has received for most of his time here, and how many things that are stated are simply outright untrue.

Thanks for the service a change and a move away from Cas area will probs bring the best out of Joe and I'm sure he will be better under Tony Smith who turned Briers round off field, got to say the back rows we have coming in are far superior and we have a young lad in Abdul who has a lot of the handling skills Joe made his name for, I just hope we use the cap space wisely and strengthen the squad in an attacking manner, we make line breaks but we don't convert we dominate but do not put teams away this needs addressing with backs who support play and half's who can create try's and a hooker who can be spelled by another attacking threat round the ruck

Our squad is up to full cap. We release Westerman, freeing up some cap. We replace Westerman with a salary that can be no more than his. So far we're square financially at worst. Then AP gets £150k to bridge funding shortfalls. Brilliant news!

How much are these shortfalls?

We could be. Would be a bit awkward, mind.

£150k lower than yesterday. Unless we use some to pay a fee, of course.

This is good business from the club. Is Welham "high profile"? I think we have someone else in mind personally.

We have underachieved for the last 5 years, so comparing them to other Hull players isn't really a comparison I want, I want him to look like a top 4 playe and be compared to other top LF's.

His defenceis good, but for a pivot position his attack has been good enough for the majority time he has been at Hull

I've been a big Westerman fan in the past and still will be. Hope he has a great career at Warrington.

This deal was a no-brainer for the club though, £150K for a player with a year left on his contract.

Our forwards are probably the best assembled in SL for next year, something had to give. Would be great if we can get salary cap freed up to strengthen the backs, but I think some of Westerman's salary will have already been earmarked for some of our new signings.

Has to be good business £150K for a player who would leave for nothing at the seasons end.Not everyone will approve,but as we did with blake green and travis burns take the cash while its available as wish you had.

I disagree. I don't think his attack is a weakness, and I think it is entirely fair to compare him to those around him who are working with the same conditions. In particular I think it is massively flawed to assess his attacking game by measuring his tries scored and assisted against players in top sides that actually have functioning attacks whilst we have been woeful at that particular aspect of the game for most of his time here. If we had actually had any sort of semblance of a support game in the last 5 years his assists could easily be double what they are. Even then, assists don't always tell the full story.

The debate has been done to death and this thread doesn't need any more of it though, and we might see how he does in a better attack next season.