Will he be parachuting in or have they found another way of paying for him?

Surely we must have had some spare cap space even before the end to the Crocker situation ??? Him aside, we haven't exactly broke the bank in the close season with signings and we didn't replace either Carvell or Dykes. Also, Byrne has freed up another quota place. Lauaki will obviously have taken some of the money up but surely we aren't nearly up to full cap with our current squad ??? We can't be, can we ???

Lauaki will be getting Carvell's money I imagine. Dykes was replaced by Thorman, although I would [ihope[/i that he's on a lot less cash. We've saved some money on Byrne but spent some on Moa. Did anyone else get a contract upgrade? I can't remember.

I would think that before losing Crocker we would have been pretty close to full cap - certainly not enough space for a real high quality signing, which is what we need.

Too many average players being paid too much. Fortunately, a lot of them are OOC at the end of the season. It will be interesting to see if we have the will to get rid and replace them with better, or just carry on with the same old plus one marque signing as per previous years.

Who is this years....

I don't think that there are THAT many though are there, especially highly paid ones ?? The obvious ones to me have already been given contracts for next season. Radford, King, Yeaman, Dowes, Tickle etc... (not that I would want ALL of those to leave BTW)

what about ryan atkins of wakefield - cause in the rugby paper's this week there saying leeds were lining up a move for him

heard from a friend that we have put a bid in for kevin brown!! dont know how much truth is in it but for me nt the signing we want

No better than what we have already got.

I bloody hope not!

Sharpe doing the recruitement then..................god i hope not.....besides,he's playing S/O and Hornes far better.

Sts fans reckon Gilmour may be going......is he worth a punt?

exactley what i said

That's a good point, actually. I'd forgotten some of the extensions already handed out for no apparent reason.

Seems he could be leaving, I rate him and he is useful both in the centres and backrow. Get shut of Tickle and bring in Gilmour, i'd be happy with that.

If we are then that may well be why we are falling behind as we have paid over the odds for average players of which we seem to have too many and not enough genuine quality in key positions.

We have yet to replace Jason Smith, Tony Smith, Richie Barnet Snr, Sid Domic, Kearney, Carvell etc etc. This is why I feel we are not moving forward and stepped up a level since the GF appearance. The players that have been brought in are simply not as good as the ones that left.

Gt shut of Radford and keep Tickle....Tickle offers a damn sight more.

Agree about those apart from the one in bold....he dropped us right in it and his replacement is stuck waiting for his visa as they have discoverd he once had 200 lines to do at school.

There are quite a number of players I'd get rid of before Tickle.

on contract till the end of 2010

And??????

I would do that now as I have stated elsewhere. Lee and Houghton have come on great guns at 9 this year and should be given the role from now on. The addition of a top class SH next year would massively benefit the two of them at 9 too. It would also help with the requirement to reduce overseas players going forward. Berro in the centre would relieve him a little bit from the wear and tear he appears to suffer from and would give us an attacking SOO centre threat. Do it now Agar and let Rich Whiting play LF this year in a free ball playing role keeping Washy in the halves for the rest of the season.

Totally agree we know were short of a quality centre Berrigan is SOO centre and as you say Lee and Houghton have really come on Whiting to LF , Leave R. Horne at Full back , washy to carry on at 6 with Thorman at 7 (no other option at 7 this season) Tony as the utility man on the bench. next season get a top quality 7 will take us to next level.

I was thinking of a backrower for a backrower, I guess G. Horne, Hall or Whiting could also come into it as centres.

I think we will have money for two top signings and possible more depending on how we sign for next season. We have been lookng for a 7 since the back end of last season and the fact Thorman was only given a one year deal backs that up.

We need a SH, above all else we need a SH. After that we could possibly need a fullback, centre or a prop. I would imagine the bulk of the money will go on a 7 and then another chunk on the next position we need to fill.

In terms of people wanting to know who we are signing, it never happens despite all of the rumours on here. Berro, Kearney and Crocker were all surprises, the last big signing we knew about was Swain.

I just think we need to be patient and see who the club manage to land for 2010. We could of course sign someone to come this season but I am not sure there is a quality player that we could bring in during 2009.

Agreed but as yet we still haven't yet replaced him as such so put him down.