Deacon officially signed for Wigan according to the T&A - hardly a surprise but now seems to be confirmed.

Well i'd like to say well done to the Bulls for bringing a class act over I'm looking forward to watching him play just hope he has at least two mares next season against us

A bit like Matt Gidley then?

[url=http://www.bradfordbulls.co.uk/news/4484/BULLS%20AND%20DEACON%20AGREE%20TO%20PARTCompleted[/url

A little off topic but how far are we (squad wise) off say, Saints who have named their 2010 squad:

1. Paul Wellens
2. Ade Gardner
3. Matt Gidley
4. Sia Soliola
5. Francis Meli
6. Leon Pryce
7. Kyle Eastmond
8. Nick Fozzard
9. Keiron Cunningham
10. James Graham
11. Tony Puletua
12. Jon Wilkin
13. Chris Flannery
14. James Roby
15. Bryn Hargreaves
16. Scott Moore
17. Paul Clough
18. Matty Ashurst
19. Chris Dean
20. Gareth Frodsham
21. Gary Wheeler
22. Andrew Dixon
23. Maurie Fa’asavalu
24. Jonny Lomax
25. Jacob Emmitt
26. Tom Armstrong
27. Jamie Ellis
28. Sean Magennis
29. Andrew Yates
30. Jamie Foster
31. Jack Bradbury
32. Lee Gaskell

Not Sykes in the centres, his defence isn't up to it I might give him a go alongside Orford in the halves, with Kearney at fullback and Halley on the wing.

Kearney
Halley
Platt
Nero
Reardon
Sykes
Orford
Lynch
L'estrange
Scruton
Hall
Menzies
Langley

www.wiganwarriors.com/news_full.asp?newsid=5296 Confirmed

www.wiganwarriors.com/news_full.asp?newsid=5296 Confirmed

That would be my favoured line up.

I still think they'll be up there, but 3 or 4 injuries to that squad and they could be in trouble. (I don't know how good the kids they've got coming through are though!)

Agreed.

Interesting choice of words there.

I`ve not seen any mention of a fee, so it gives the impression that we`ve just allowed him to go, the choice of words used by the Wigan chairman seems to suggest this also. It`s pretty common practice to let players who have given trojan service over the years go on a `free` when they semi retire (usually by dropping a division) or go into coaching, though perhaps not quite so common when they move on a playing contract to rival club.

Still, maybe we asked but Wigan refused pay a fee and we didn`t want the whole chain to collapse? Who knows, everyone seems happy though





so maybe it`s just not important.

I'd suspect we needed wigan to take deacon to give us enough cap space for orford. deacon will have been one of our higher earners and I dont think we could have accomodated both him and orford under the cap. That said with deacon off the wages bill I think we've probably got space for one more signing, albeit of a squad filler type player rather than someone of any genuine quality. As such I wouldnt be surprised if we dont use any cap space we have left.

whats the crack with players who have been at the club over ten years, is it 50% or 50K of their salary comes off the cap? and if so is it for that specific testimonial year or for the remainder of his time at the club, so will this now apply to Langley?

I read the Op. Rules on this earlier. I think its ten years from when they first played in a "salary cap" match - in which case we have a bit to go with Jamie yet (was it 2002 he debuted?)

It was 2002 for Jamie. I presume that it has to be 10 years' [icontinuous[/i service. If it were only 10 years from debut, Sykes would qualify.

I agree on the Sykes at 6, Kearney at 1 - I reckon that Sykes could be an outstanding compliment to Orford - but would still have some concerns with Platt at centre. It's a while back but Reardon used to be a great centre in the academy and I'd rather see him or Crookes there with Platt or Sheriffe on the wing.

Also reckon that Donaldson should be pushing for the starting 13 shirt.

The spine of the side - 1,6,7,13,9 - suddenly looks really rather ok.

Continuous, yes. And just re-checked: yes its from debut season. So Sykes would not qualify.

Well, well, well. Its all quite exciting isn't it?

I can't be doing with all the positivity on here though. Bring back the doom and gloom.

Not really read much about the Orford deal as just got in from work but a deal worth £840k over 3 years news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 361832.stm

Not really read much about the Orford deal as just got in from work but a deal worth £840k over 3 years news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 361832.stm

Quote ="vb1981"Not really read much about the Orford deal as just got in from work but a deal worth £840k over 3 years news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 361832.stm'" You always believe everything you read?

Quote ="vb1981"Not really read much about the Orford deal as just got in from work but a deal worth £840k over 3 years news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 361832.stm'" You always believe everything you read?

the next question is how long is it going to take for orford to get a visa and how much of a part will he be able to take in pre-season. When we signed bird it was exactly 4 weeks from him signing to the visa being refused. I'd guess that an approved visa would take a week or two longer so we could be looking at mid january before orford arrives. I suppose if we did warm weather training in early january before the leeds friendly, there would be the option of him joining up with the squad overseas, where the visa restrictions are not as strict and gaining an extra week or so to work with the squad that way.

I would like to see Donaldson given a good chance at 13. Push Langley into the 2nd row with Menzies which will give Hall more chance to play at prop, where I fancy he'll be more effective.

I like the way that ever other teams fans can somehow twist the signing of a Dally M medal winning half back into being a sign that the club are on the slide. It's all the ensorsement I need