King to wakey, Moore to Bradford?? Just guessing, might not happen. I think we are looking at a few options of available props or props who might be available for a small fee. Not too many of these around this off season that are fed trained and of a proven SL standard.

Whats the current situation with Danny Sculthorpe? Anyone heard where he's off to next season? Or Thackray for that matter.

Think Sculthopre will stay at Huddds.

I hope we're not looking at Sculthorpe or Thackray, we really would be scraping the barrel of rejects then. I would say Moore could do us a job but not the other two. I'd rather we just worked with Crossley this pre season to give him the best possible chance of breaking through.

Why is Richard Moore even being discussed. Is it just a name thrown in to a forum discussion as a "for instance" or is it a rumour.

I just can't see Wakefield letting him go. He is under contract, we need him,
and he isn't worth (to Bradford) the extreme money that Wakefield would want for him at this stage, given they would then have to go replace him. It would cost Wakefield more than his value to replace him as there aren't that many of his standard around (English players I mean). They wouldn't want to reduce qulity so would have to get someone better. Bulls might as well do that themselves.

Fo your own sake, don't even discuss Sculthorpe......it might turn from a rumour to a fact and you DON'T want that!!!!!
Thakray, maybe, but the young lads Bradford produce would be a better option if you ask me.

I agree they're both unsettling influences by all accounts and you only have to watch how easily Catalans took care of him, Greg Bird in particular, to realise he's all mouth with very little to back it up. Thackray has pace and runs hard but he's way too much of a risk. There are very few quality fed trained props out there at the moment, which is why losing Sam is such a blow, however Moore is hard working, a good off loader and has shown plenty of courage and commitment to build himself up again after getting Chrones disease. I reckon he'd be a good choice.

I suspect we are [ilooking [/iat any available fed trained prop. Doesn't mean we'll sign any of them. And like you, rather than spend a fair bit on dodgy players like Sculthorpe and Thackray I'd go with our youngsters.

But, that would leave us very light and inexperienced in the front row and we'd have to except a bit of a learning curve for the new lads. But we all know that fans want the team competing from day one, so bringing in an experienced SL prop is probably what the club will look to do and hopefully bring through another 1 or 2 young props during the season, doesn't mean the plan will come off as intended though.

Bit of both really, and he's regonised as being a prop who can make an impact of the bench, has improved over the years and was with us as a youngster, but like you rightly say, it seems a long shot.

But even that long shot looks a better option from this end than some of the other choices available.

it all depends where we're planning on using glenn hall really. when we originally signed him ait looked like were going to use him at prop alongside scruts,lynch and kopczak. at that time we were using sam as a 2nd row mainly. since then we moved sam into props exclusively and have lost morro,cook and solomona from our 2nd row options. we've also obviously lost sam from our prop options too.
given that we need to be giving donaldson and whitehead game time in 2nd row next year, then I suspect we're going to stick with using hall in the props but playing him a bit like we did peacock and dropping him into 2nd row when lynch and scruton are both on the pitch.

as starting props lynch,scuton,hall and kopczak looks pretty strong. only problem area is backup in case of injury where at the moment we only have crossley. Dont know if we have any other props ready to step up this time. may be year too early for george burgess?, RER could probably comment

So ....

[uOuts[/u
Tupou
Sam Burgess
Ben Jeffries
Terry Newton
Glenn Morrison
Semi Tadulala
Matt James
Matt Cook
David Solomona


Ins
Hall
Kearney
L'Estrange



That must amount to some huge spare cap space.

Plus we had the money for Bird.

Not exactly a fearsome pack though is it? I think we need at least one recruit in the forwards. Ideally somebody with a bit of aggression or size about them. I think our current pack could hold it's own against some teams but could be bullied by some too and that's before we think about injuries. Imagine our pack if we lost Menzies and Lynch to injury..

I know few on here will agree with this, but I'd consider Fielden as an option if he'd accept a pay cut more in line with somebody like Scruton. We could then use Lynch and Fielden as workhorse Props and bring on Scruton to provide some impact off the bench. My personally view is that Fielden has become the 'Iestyn Harris' of Wigan. In the sense that he has had some decent games for them but just hasn't repaid the amount of money they're paying him and indeed cost them to buy. I think he'd do a job for us if the price was right.

Don't forget significant contract upgrade for Halley, new deal for Lynch and Whitehead. I agree there should still be a fair chunk of cap though, but not quite as much as your post suggests.

Improved contracts for Lynch, Halley and Whitehead will take a bit and there was a thought that at least some of the Bird money was coming from releasing Tupou but i would have thought just from Newton, Jeffries, Morrison and Solomona going we'd cover all those new/better contracts with some to spare.

Burgess, Newton, Solomona & Morrison will have all been in the top earners bracket. We had enough money to sign Greg Bird, and then still some more players leaving.

Okay we may not have as much as I first made out, but I have my suspicions that we won't be spending the full cap again.

And while our attendances continue to drop then it is hard to see that changing. I think we could sign another 2 top quality well known marquee players and it would still have little impact on our crowds for next year. A trip to a Final may ignite some of the 'glory hunters' appetite again but it is a big gamble.

I'd rather we spent what we can afford and try promote some youngsters than spend more than we can afford and put the long term future in jeopardy. Some positive news on the Stadium would put me in a much more positive frame of mind than any marquee International signing.

Nail meets head.

I heard that we had to basically double lynchs salary to get him to stay so hats a big chunk gone straight away. add in upgrades for halley and whitehead and Id say that accounts for money freed up by tupou and matt cook going at least. hall takes morros wage as a straight swap and i'd imagine l'estrange will probably take most of newtons. kearney takes solos wage and were not left with as much as you'd think.
However I dont think we spent full cap last year and I dont think we will this year either. until gates improve it would be suicide to spend up to the cap. Theres the argument that you spend to acculmulate but if it doesnt bring instant results then your just deeper in the red the following year.

I'd expect the club to anonunce at least 2, hopefully three further signings.

Centre, Impact forward, Wing being the likely 3.

A signing at HB would also be good, I realistically don't see this happening though.

If we can't strengthen our pack and our props in particular then Deacs is going to have 'mare next season.

Orford has not yet signed for the Sea Eagles for 2010... (see para about 2/3 down)

[urlhttp://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/jeff-robson-signs-two-year-deal-with-parramatta-eels/story-e6frexnr-1225784515701[/url

we can but hope

I hear you guys are in for Paul Johnson and Jamie Thackery today on BBC 606.

Wasn't Paul Johnson's last season with us plagued with "injuries"

Heaven forbid!

I'd rather we steered well clear of Thackray, seems to be trouble wherever he goes. Certianly doesn't seem to have settled at any club, I'd be pretty underwhelmed by him coming to the club unless he undergone some sort of personality transplant.

Johnson..very average. We need quality not squad fillers.

Signing Thackray would show we're desperate and completely wrong footed by Burgess's departure. I'd rather us sign virtually anyone but him. As for Johnson he's ok back up but v injury prone.

The source of the rumour leads me to believe these stories are .