Re: What we currently look like for 2023 : Tue Sep 20, 2022 6:13 am  

Travelling Wilbury wrote:

Have we actually signed anyone as yet. I have been away, dint know if I've missed anything.

It's coming up to 4 weeks since our super league status was confirmed for 2023.

Yes Tuafu and Bowden. Not sure why fans seem to discount these signings. Both of these players will be on next years budget not this and you will have to include them as taking the wage of one of the departed players.

You could throw Butler in also but I’m inclined to think we got a bit of a deal with him as a mid season contingency player.

But that two and a half slots gone already.

With all the luck in the world I doubt we’ve offloads Lineham either.

Re: What we currently look like for 2023 : Tue Sep 20, 2022 6:16 am  

vastman wrote:

Yes Tuafu and Bowden. Not sure why fans seem to discount these signings. Both of these players will be on next years budget not this and you will have to include them as taking the wage of one of the departed players.

You could throw Butler in also but I’m inclined to think we got a bit of a deal with him as a mid season contingency player.

But that two and a half slots gone already.

With all the luck in the world I doubt we’ve offloads Lineham either.

I knew about those.

I meant since we were guaranteed survival

Re: What we currently look like for 2023 : Tue Sep 20, 2022 6:32 am  

vastman wrote:

That was a bit back not heard.much recently.

I read a fairly recent post Ruan has been training with them and secured a deal. Still not seen anything official though so who knows.

Re: What we currently look like for 2023 : Tue Sep 20, 2022 6:43 am  

Travelling Wilbury wrote:

I knew about those.

I meant since we were guaranteed survival

I'd say it's to do with only getting our new coach last week. Judging by the way it was done it wasn't on a whim so there were never going to be any deals until Applegarth was in place. I imagine he's spent the last seven days reviewing all options.

Personally I have never understood the obsession with signings on this forum. Any good coach will take his time and not panic, buy early and you may find yourself regretting it for a long time, see Lineham and Gaskell. Remember, it's not just clubs holding off for the best deal so are players.

More Tricky with NRL players but it's still only mid September, the season isn't even over.

Finally I expect some shrewd signings but can't see any of those Unicorn signings that supposedly sell season tickets. Be great but I can't see Cameron Munster joining us this season. So why rush, let the WC happen and see where we are as we have a good deal of wiggle room.

Re: What we currently look like for 2023 : Wed Sep 21, 2022 8:08 pm  

Sadiq Adebiyi has signed for Keighley.

Re: What we currently look like for 2023 : Wed Sep 21, 2022 8:44 pm  

Keighly are building quite a useful side tbf for the championship. Fair play for them. They seem ambitious.

Injury scuppered his chances with us so good luck to him.

Hopefully we hear some news soon on coaching staff and players. Silence with very little coming out of the club. Not a bad thing of course.

I was looking at the players we have and tbh we have a pretty good set of core players. Certainly capable of performing in superleague. These 5 signings if in the right areas and right quality to improve the positions could certainly create some optimism. Looking forward to seeing who they are.

There’s a fair few players knocking around that could be very good signings:

Players like Hardaker and Ashworth are still available for example.

I saw Isa’s name mentioned as a rumour. Guess we are talking to a wide range of players. Hopefully Apelgarth can get what he wants.

Re: What we currently look like for 2023 : Thu Sep 22, 2022 6:20 am  

Trojan Horse wrote:

Keighly are building quite a useful side tbf for the championship. Fair play for them. They seem ambitious.

Injury scuppered his chances with us so good luck to him.

Hopefully we hear some news soon on coaching staff and players. Silence with very little coming out of the club. Not a bad thing of course.

I was looking at the players we have and tbh we have a pretty good set of core players. Certainly capable of performing in superleague. These 5 signings if in the right areas and right quality to improve the positions could certainly create some optimism. Looking forward to seeing who they are.

There’s a fair few players knocking around that could be very good signings:

Players like Hardaker and Ashworth are still available for example.

I saw Isa’s name mentioned as a rumour. Guess we are talking to a wide range of players. Hopefully Apelgarth can get what he wants.

It’s easy to say with hindsight but Sid along with Army Dave were utterly stupid signings.

We let Gwaze go because he wasn’t big enough, correct decision, so why drag a similar player in Sid all the way from London!

Dave I didn’t get them and never will, total waste of time and if we paid him only a pound it was a waste and cash that could have been spent on Aydin.

Minns was another though at least he has some kind of reputation at least.

We were like a home for strays last year.

Even Evans who can actually play a bit is possibly too old to ever reach his potential but might be useful.

The only one of these punts that may pay off is Butler, he’s young and he’s definitely a big unit, so it’s up to him.

Over all last years signings were pretty poor. I accept Lineham was CC but the rest were Poching.

Applegarth will need to be far more prudent. We want players with a real knowledge of the game and a real desire. They don’t have to be the best, they just have to be honest hard working pros. We need a team first flair later.

I expect to see Applegarth to raid SL fringe players and Championship players for support the Trinity produced backbone of the team.

I expect to see the missing links filled by quota players. The lad is young but I reckon he’s shrewder than either WP or CC. To put it another way he knows the local scene better than almost anyone.

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Re: What we currently look like for 2023 : Thu Sep 22, 2022 6:25 am  

As you say, easy with hindsight.

Re: What we currently look like for 2023 : Thu Sep 22, 2022 6:50 am  

PopTart wrote:

As you say, easy with hindsight.

Yep, but in a way that's what a coach needs. They have to have an ability to see into the future a bit better than the rest of us. Clearly they can't be expected to predict injuries or personal issues but in purely playing terms they should be able to spot those on an upwards curve.

I thought Lineham was a good signing but he wasn't. I thought Gaskell was dodgy but actually he's been reasonably useful. But the thing is these players all came with solid RL credentials.

I don't know the deal with army Dave but if it cost 1p it was too much. I'm not against a punt but this lad was strictly RU third team having never reached any serious level in that game outside the Army. These are the sort of players you expect to see at London Skolars not a SL club. It has to go down as a truly poor signing even without hindsight.

It's just my opinion but I think it was as much Pochings recruitment as his coaching that cost him, but I may be totally wrong. Certainly if I were a CEO it would be that which alarmed me even more than the the results.

I think or hope Applegarth will go down the Toppo/Kelly route, find battle hardened players who still have a point to prove along with a few second chance youngsters from other clubs to fill any gaps our youngsters can't. Then hope that we get a few gems from the NRL.

I'm not sure that will win us many more games but I think it might secure our SL position sooner and avoid a relegation fight. It's sad it's come to this but avoiding a relegation scrap would be a massive success for us at the moment.

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Re: What we currently look like for 2023 : Thu Sep 22, 2022 7:46 am  

Toppo and Kelly signed duds too.
It's just one of those things.

Those signings were squad players. Evans was a punt that worked out for me.