Rather than trying to keep up with the odd comment in other threads...

Thoughts on whether or not you think the club should sign them to contracts?

Personally, I'd definitely sign Caprice and I'm still undecided on Jacks.

With Jacks, I think it's very difficult to judge if he's any good based on 120 minutes against lesser opposition. The half he played against Leeds was mainly their reserves, albeit some bloody good reserves, and the Cas game there was only Ryan Hampshire that really stood out. For a halfback especially, it's difficult to judge how good someone is until he's playing good opposition and has had time to settle in to the side. From what we have seen, I think Jacks has shown glimpses of some good play, but doesn't seem as involved as you'd like him to be, although again that could just be a lack of time with the team so far.

Caprice is very raw. A couple of things he did against Cas showed that he's clearly new to the game (one tackle especially looked more like clipping the bloke's leg than tackling him). However he is very fast and is very eager. He clearly wanted it badly and was putting every possible effort in to prove himself. If you could get him knowing the basics well and ensure he's not a defensive liability as new players to the game often are, he could be special. Certainly worth at least a 12 month deal to see how he progresses.

Think jacks has shown enough to be worth a punt. Halfback takes longer to gel than other positions so I wouldn't expect him to be having a massive influence just yet but he's looked solid defensively and keen to take line on. Another plus is he gives us more cover at hooker. If he was taking our last quota spot up I'd give him a miss but as we have 3 spots free and it's a specialist position we can take a punt and still have options later in year.

Caprice we really haven't seen enough of to make a judgement. No quota issues to worry about and isn't there som salary cap dispensation for union players switching codes?. Probably will come down to money whether he sign him or not but if he's not asking silly money I'd take him on.

Both one yr deals with options for extensions in clubs favour.

I would give them both deals. Jacks showed glimpses of what he can do, i'm sure as he becomes more confident he will become more involved. He's only spent a bit of time with the players and probably doesn't know the group well enough to start barking instructions at them. Plus in friendlies with rolling subs it's near impossible to get some cohesion.

Caprice looked raw, but there is something there for me. He has genuine pace which you can't coach. He took his high kick well and i thought defensively he did well not getting sucked in. Tackling he can improve but again, this can easily be coached.

I'd like to see them both get a full 80 against Swinton.

As I said in the other thread:

Is Jacks a better scrum half than Addy? We all know that Addy should be In the pack but if hes a better Scrum half than Jacks then I'd keep him there. We have plenty of other options for loose forward. If Jacks isn't better than Addy then is there any point signing him? As backup? We already have some backup options so is it worth spending money on yet another squad player?

I'm really disappointed with our scrum half recruitment again. Any signing in that position should come straight in and command that position. If we're having to debate whether or not he's good enough to take a punt on then he clearly isn't of the calibre that we need to lead our team. If that's the case then save the money and see if anybody becomes available later in the season.

I've not seen Jacks play yet so I can't comment on how he looks. I do know that Addy can do a job there though.

I think money comments are fair. Neither player looks a world beater right now, so if they're asking for large money, pass. However usually someone willing to take a trial deal isn't asking to be made rich. As long as they're willing to take a deal not at the top end of the pay scale, I think a year's contract is fair. Then if they prove themselves worthy of a pay rise, that can come in the next contract. And on the flip side if they don't prove themselves, they can be released.
We're unlikely to be privy to the financial info though!

As I've said elsewhere, I think both are worth a 12 month deal with an option in the club's favour to extend by a further 12 months.

Jacks needs time to bed in at half back as well as adapt to the full time environment and try to form a partnership with Gaskell. We should know, baring injuries, if they can play together by around week 10. If they're clicking then great, if not then we can still keep an eye on who might be free for the back end of the season.

It's a similar situation with Caprice - he's switched codes and I'm not sure the 40 minutes or so he got on the wing is enough time to make a decision on his future. Again, he's got time to learn the game during the regular season as well as provide additional cover and competition for back line places.

Difficult decision given we don't know the financial or cap details (or how they've been going in training). If we have enough cash spare and enough cap left after signing them for a potential game changer signing ahead of the 8's then I think I've seen enough in them to warrant giving them both a 12 month deal, that's more of a hunch with Caprice given I've only seen him for 20mins. If signing them both takes us to our max then I wouldn't.

If we did sign both we'd have a large squad again, (despite what Ferris said in the off season) So I'm guessing some people will be heading out on loan again.

Sound like a couple of the East Morton set who go for country suppers in the Busfeild Arms with Bullseye.

Anyone know what's up with Étu and Baille. No mention of injuries but no sign of them

LOL. You sound worryingly familiar with the types that frequent that place. Was that you in the pink shirt and mustard coloured cords on Saturday?

Like the cravat?

Pretty sure Etu had surgery on off season. Presume JPB picked up an injury in the build up to Leeds game

Etu was certainly at the game against Leeds, albeit as an observer.

Agree 100%.

No Jacks then

Nope. Bit of a shame as I don't think it would have hurt to give him a 12 month deal. But clearly the club have eyes on someone else

Yeah.... Addy!

I hope the club aren't just pinning their hopes on 'someone' magically becoming available later in the season because that isn't guaranteed to happen, and even if it did your scrum half is not a position where a player can come in and immediately gel with the rest of the side. It takes time to build the cohesion and if we sign a 7 right before the middle 8s there won't be any time for that.

The alternative is we just go with Addy and Thomas, and if I'm being brutally honest, that is not good enough for SL. I like Addy a lot and think he has enormous squad value, but he's not a 7 despite the club's best efforts to turn him into one. Thomas I have no idea about, he's obviously not impressed at fullback because the club have resorted to bringing a crap 32 year old fullback out of retirement to paper over the cracks.

We've basically had an entire off season to scour the whole market and find a 7. It took a phone call from a friend to direct us towards the one scrum half that we did look to sign, and even after all that Jimmy has decided he isn't good enough and we're back to square one.

Can't say I'm overly bothered about Jacks not staying. If he'd have really stood out in the games he played, then I might have been. But a few flashes of potential obviously weren't enough. I did think for someone who was bigged up as an organiser with a good kicking game, we didn't see a lot of that. But you don't know if that's just a lack of time at the club or if he just wasn't as good as was hoped for, and I guess now we'll never know.

Can't help wondering if club were planning on going with addy all along. Just went through motions with jacks to boost ticket sales. Addy isn't good enough and won't get better. We need an organiser, chances of one becoming available during season are slim to say the least.

The club have definitely done the right thing knocking Jacks back if they didn't think that he was good enough. I'm surprised that some seem disappointed that we haven't offered him a deal which is strange considering the whole Siejka panic buying saga, unless it's misplaced frustration at being in exactly the same situation as last year. I'd be asking for a few answers if I were Mark Green.

If they had spent a bit of cash bringing in the right player then I think that they would have made that money back with extra season ticket sales.

Disappointing we've not given him more of a chance. Not sure what people are expecting, he's been here around 3 weeks and some think because he wasn't putting in MOM performances in a game and half of rugby then no point signing him. His flashes showed that there was something there and if we give him a run then he will get better and more confident. He shower more in his 2 games than Siejka did in the whole of last year.

Addy is not the answer, though i've an awful feeling Lowes thinks he is. I'd prefer Thomas at 7. Pretty annoyed and i'm guessing Caprice will also be released as he didn't stand out in his whole 15 minutes game time

That's another reason why I'm less bothered about him not being given a deal. The Siejka signing last year was a disaster and a mistake to be learned from!

I’m also surprised and dismayed that we haven’t managed to recruit a half decent scrum half in all this time. It’s been an obvious weakness in the squad since the beginning of last season when O’Brien blew us out.

I understand that potential targets will want top dollar and that the club could well end up having to pay over the odds. Trouble is that situation is the way it is and it’s not going to change. Chances of an bargain coming up are extremely slim.

Choices seem to be:

Pay over the odds for someone that is able to do a job.

Recruit someone not good enough.

Get someone on loan.

Promote a youngster and give them a try.

Carry on with utility players doing the job and hope someone we can afford becomes available.

Seems we’re carrying on with that last option. It strikes me as an unrealistic option as nobody that fits the bill for us will be available at the price we’re prepared to pay. Green has said he won’t go back to the “boom and bust” days and fair enough. That does mean that we won’t be signing proven players as they would require a big investment from him. Better get used to Addy and Thomas playing at scrum half then.

I think 3 weeks training and playing with the team most days should be enough time for a coach to form an opinion on whether he wants the guy in his team or not. I understand the frustration but this goes deeper than whether Jacks is given a deal or not. This should have been sorted well before Jacks was even mentioned.