Now these have gone, your depth is even thinner. Has Sandy made any noises regarding bringing anyone else in? And who is your back up halves? Fat boy Murrell did before, now he's gone. Hall? Who's your U20s half, are they ready?

We are going to be thin on depth of experience, it's true. We're limited in how many players we can bring in from outside as a good few of the departures came from our club-trained (qualified) contingent. O/T this might become an issue for Hull btw in 2014, if Horne retires and Briscoe goes to the NRL - you'll hope Crooks, Lineham et al kick on, obviously.
Anyway, Withers and Hall will cover the hb positions, I imagine. I notice Hudds are putting Robinson back at 7 and Hull used Heremaia there at the end of the season just gone - a trend I can imagine SL will see more of, given the shortage of halfbacks around. Beharrell (sp?), one of our young halfbacks got some decent reviews iirc - but it is very difficult to extrapolate up to SL, especially at 6/7. Top Championship halfs have come up to super league and made little or no impression - Kyle Briggs, Gareth (?) Moore, Jamie Ellis.
Hopefully (from our POV

) improvements in other areas will mitigate the effects of having a thinner/less experienced squad, but it is bound to be an issue at some point. Unless we've got a couple of medium-large signings up our sleeve, but I doubt it - there's nobody available.

As others have alluded to, our first choice 17-20 isn't too bad. However, it would be pretty naive to think we won't get injuries - so our depth will be tested at some point.
I'd guess the chances (right now) of anyone with any real SL pedigree being available is pretty slim, so I'd hope we aren't just going to make any signings just for the sake of it. Maybe we can look to sign/loan players as and when required during the season, if we don't have the resources available in house. Wigan being an obvious target. This is of course, also the cheapest way to go.

Moving on to more important issues for next season.

Whoever is in charge of Rovers' prematch/half time or any form of entertainment. Pls can the Robinettes be put out to pasture. They're rubbish. The money we have gained from transfers, should be used to target the Wakefield Dolls or some other International Dolls - I believe we should have space on our quota for this.
Secondly, the music the players enter field is and has been jenk for sometime. Emo/Metal or whatever we've had is not a crowd winner in my eyes.
Thirdly, all remaining budget should be put aside for Rufus to learn how to skydive.

On Hull in 2014, I would hope he have enough to cover Horne's possible/probably retirement and Briscoe going to NRL. We have Crooks, Lineham, Kent, Green, Bowden, Nicklas, Cunningham who have all shown promise, some ore than others, this season when they have had their shot.
I think you're in a similar situation to us a few seasons back, with minimal experienced depth proving very costly as the season goes on.

I find myself at a crossroads. I see no significant improvement in league position but find myself tingling with anticipation for the first time since we entered superleague.
The team has a youthful look about it, all English back division, two tenacious halves and the prospect of a massive mobile and off loading pack.
The pressures off as FC are the 'team' to watch.
I quietly think we may finally have a buggar them mentality about our team.
Looking forward to a hungry, snapping, come and have a go Rovers team.

I think in a nutshell CS has assembled a far younger, bigger, stronger, faster and more durable set of athletes but there are question marks about how good some of them can be as Rugby League players.

As long as they put in an honest shift in, that's what matters to me mostly.

Far bigger and stronger?
Watts 106kg
Clinton 105kg
Taylor 103 kg
Netherton 104kg
Wheeldon 105kg

Paterson 102 kg
Tuimavave 105kg
Walker 110kg

Webster 100kg
Gleeson 91kg

Green 89kg
Burns 86kg

The wingers look bigger, but to say the squad overall is "far bigger and stronger" could be stretching it. Arguably.

Are they all "far more durable?". Tuimavave for example. In 2009 he suffered a serious injury and did not play until Round 21. In 2010 he tore his achilles in round 10 which ruled him out for the rest of the year. In 2012 injuries and loss of form meant he made only 3 first team appearances. "Since then, Tuimavave has battled a nagging foot injury and been in and out of Newcastle’s NSW Cup side."

Paterson has also had issues, in 2010 he battled an AC injury playing with injections until July, when he had a season-ending shoulder reconstruction. In 2011 he had knee surgery, and later that year, although cleared of serious vertebrae damage, he suffered ligament damage resulting in needing a neck brace. In 2012 he played only 3 matches "due to injuries and indifferent form".

References to perhaps Walker being injured earlier this season, as he was expected to get more first team action.

Younger and faster, fair enough. Apart from Walker, who's a plodder apparently but a like for like with Clinton therefore.

Ah well jobs a good 'un then, you shoukld stroll the derbies. Enjoy, we always did back when we were the top team in the city.

Look, according to Zod you have the competition's best half back pairing plus Hall as one of SL's most gifted players at FB. Gleeson's going to be the comp's best centre, it says in the HDM. Add in this massive and robust pack of yours and a coach who's not made a single error in a year and I think your dominance will be regained. Just challenging a couple of the rather sweeping generalisations by my very good chum, the Zodster.

Mobile and off loading. Did you miss that point?
Hows your halves compare with ours?

I wasn't replying to you. Did you miss that point?
You have the best halves in the city by a country mile. Now that McGoldrick's gone, anyway.

Must be the opinion of all Rovers fans then. Do I take it you thought Rhys Lovegrove being injured during the televised game against Catalan was funny, as Sebaseenos post at the time was obviously speaking for all you FC fans by your reasoning.

I think you're trying to de-rail from the topic which is Rovers improvements. But responding to your question, no. In my defence, no Rovers fan ever challenges Zod so it would be fair to assume his opinions are representative of the Rovers massive.

In terms of squad depth, have you increased your ginger quota year on year, or do Taylor and Gleeson play a draw?

Marvin Lee and Macca Hallett have added to our ginger quota.

Also, in defence of Zod i think that we will be a bigger and more athletic side across the park next season. Better...we will see.

Get the shizzle out, I've been taking the waz out of him for years.

You've been making heightist jibes and mocking his goal kicking. That's not really the same.

Note to self.

Up your game.

You forgot "Cheaper"

Cheaper or better value for money? Time will tell.

Challenge away, but his opinions are certainly no more best case than a number of Hull FC fans. He'll likely be wrong about some things but even you and I who tend to caution by rarely [ioffering[/i opinions or filling them to overflowing with caveats, get caught out. Yes Mike Ratu and James Rule, I mean you.
Each board has its own dynamic, and perhaps we have a curmudgeon deficit, tending towards the optimistic. But on the other hand it has, generally speaking, been a good few years. You win some, you lose some, but you might as well look on the bright side - there is a floodlight and it never goes out.

You sure about that? Good job Scooter Nik's not around this week...

This is because there is a media blackout on anyone criticising or disagreeing with the General in public.
If anyone is caught for such treachery all current/future posting rights will be removed on Rovers' state tv/forum. As a punishment you are forced to read RLfans or in severe cases HDM comments section.

When the General speaks, he speaks for every single one of us. We love the General.

The two are not mutually exclusive.

Thanks for pointing that out, I never realised.

I thought it was because he bores most people to sleep meaning they can't respond