Backrow for me, strong defender, makes yards and good hands.

Agree with the above.

Agar has developed players, Briscoe, Houghton, Moa, Turner is coming along nicely. Yeamo has got back to his best, Manu is hitting his straps. If Agar was unable to develop players all of these players would have gone backwards.
Some players like Washy have not kicked on because simply they are not good enough

We've tried it before with limited success, but I'd try to bulk him up a bit again. With another stone I'd sooner see him as the bench 2nd rower.

Thinking about it though, our bench next year looks pretty thin so far. I realise that our recruitment isn't over, but if the only other forward we bring in is a prop, we're probably going to be looking at:

Moa
Radford/O'Carroll
Washbrook/Whiting

That's quite a drop in quality.

The only other thing is maybe we'll try and get Manu to play 80 minutes along with Tickle (which I really hope is not considered).

But with interchanges going down to 10 next season then players are going to do more minutes

Exactly how I see it. I think the calls for Sharp to be replaced are very premature. With a good centre and better sliding defence he'll look a lot better IMO.

But in the long run it won't really affect how the game time is split between those starting the game on those on the bench. The stints will be longer, but overall the share of minutes will be roughly the same.

I know it may not mean anything but Gentle has said he's looking forward to working with all 3 next year. So maybe if this is true, nobody has told him yet.

So he's taken 4 years to improve 5 of his players? What about the other 40+ who have played under him and gone backwards or stagnated. 3 of those you mentioned are young players who would have improved no matter who was coaching them and 1 is only just rediscovering the form he had before agar took over.

How many players under agar's coaching have consistently played the best rugby of their careers with him?

Plenty of players are Wigan/Hudds were deemed 'simply not good enough' and a new coach/approach worked.

Considering Sharp played on the left for quins,it's not too surprising that he has been caught out of position at stages playing on the right,plus,many a time he has been left to cover 2/3 attackers due to players jumping the line.A good pre-season with Gentle and a quality centre could be the making of him.

I see enough potential in Sharp for him to be given a chance, I also don't see anything better and available to warrant binning him off.

End of 2013 I think , Another exciting player to watch with plenty of pace. He scored the try of the season in 2010 against the Roosters imo. It was on Youtube.

Just watched that try, wow. Scored. Similar one against Penrith aswell.

I'm with you. Hopefully Gentle can improve the areas of his game that Agar was clearly struggling to. You can't teach pace like that and his appetite for work seems to remain high even with the potential damage to his self-belief some of his performances could have inflicted (and, worse than that, over-reaction from the terraces blaming all of defensive frailties at that side on him).

What i'd like:-

McKinnon
Sharp
NEW CENTRE
Yeaman
Briscoe
Horne
Seymour
O'Meley
Heremaia
Moa
Tickle
Manu
Westerman

Radford/O'Carroll
NEW PROP
NEW BACK ROW
Houghton

Whiting
Washbrook
Ellis
Lyn
Turner

Phelps - Expect to leave
Obst - Expect to leave
Dowes - Expect to leave
Lauaki - Expect to leave


So three to come in, centre, Prop and Backrow. I doubt that will happen though, I can see two coming in which will be centre and prop.

Have to agree 100% to that, he is a grafter AND a decent winger BUT if left exposed he stands no chance as has been the case on a number of ocassions recently when teams have ran through him , when left exposed its going to happen to any winger, on at least 6 ocassions the defence didnt slide to help simple as that .
He is quick as they come and fearless too , will take the ball up once every set and almost always leaves at least one on the ground behind him and you cant ask much more than that , in defence he just needs a quality centre to cover his ass when needed nothing kore and that is on the radar so i see no reason why he wont be a class act next season and scoring lots of tries

Thats how I read it . He said he has coached Heremaia at Western Suburbs . Mckinnon at Wests , and coached against Seymour many times.
Sounded like all 3 will be here.

Scores a great try if you search 'Fnl1 Titans v Warriors (Hls)' on that tubey thingy.

I agree with that 100%, pretty much every player in the squad deserves a clean sheet now they will get to work under a proper coach and I expect we'll see a huge improvement in the likes of Sharp next season. I really hope Lauaki stays for the same reasons.

My only issue with Washbrook is that it could be too late, what is he now 27/28? If you haven't realised your potential by that age then there's a school of thought that says you never will.

25/26 isn't he?

Just about to turn 26 according to wikipedia.

To be fair, Washy is a much more complete player and is a similar age to Sharp. I'd rather see what affect a decent coach and game plan can do to Reece Lynn. Having both of them on the salary cap doesn't make sense and Lynn is quicker with far more potential purely because of his age.

I really like to see Sharp given a chance with a top class centre inside him. Like others have said, any winger would have a major problem when the defence doesn't slide. We just haven't been able to cope when up against a team who can move the ball quickly.

Cas was a good result but we got out of jail on a few occasions; partly because Rich Whiting can read the play so well and also Cas' execution was so poor. Youngquest should have had 3 walk in tries if the pass had been better.

Watching Warrington was fascinating to see how their centres and wingers interchanged. It seemed that a number of occasions Atkins would run outside Riley to allow a pass back inside.

Sharp has looked far more comfortable in the games I've seen him play with Gleeson inside him. I just worry about his confidence though...especially in home games, it's almost as if he can feel the crowd expect him to make a mistake before he actually has. Guess this season has been a learning curve for him, after all he played in front of 3,000 at Quins so the expectation levels at FC will have rocketed. Looks like he's still coming to terms with that IMO.

Disagree with that. With the likely money that Lyne is on, carrying a spare winger is absolutely fine IMO. The Riley at Warrington example a couple of posts up is a good one, and Wigan actually have 4. Most clubs have a couple of fringe 3/4s, it's only like when Richie Barnett Jr was here.

The only places I personally think we are overstocked next year is at hooker and possibly centre if we bring one in.