Will leave at the end of the season to join NZ Warriors

Big loss, but at least we have enough forwards to fill the void........oh wait

It's a shame we won't see the best of him under the current regime. Good luck to him, I hope he can end on a high with us

Devastating when he wants to be.

What will be will be

Go after McMeeken at cas

If he played for us the same way he plays for Tonga, I'd be gutted. But he doesn't. Get him and Currie off the salary cap at the end of the season.

of the same opinion.... as brilliant and destructive as he can be.. its never really felt like he was happy and loved his RL at Warrington.

I'm sure we will look back at him fondly... But the move is probably best for all concerned.

Looks on paper to be about to have his most successful season...but I think he was content with making Wembley and winning last season, his form collapsed afterwards.
Hope to see his recent, free agent-to-be, super form continue until November.

Thanks BMM.

Some big spending required for a BMM replacement and 2 other props.

So disappointed that we didn’t make good decisions for 2019 and 2020 which leaves us needing to make multiple signings. That assumes that non of the current group of second tier props we have step up into becoming top performing first team players which seems unlikely.

I’m afraid (like many of our players) that McMeeken’s last good season was 2017. He’s done nothing for the last two years.
If you only see highlights of our games you might see him scoring tries late in games on the right edge, but they are usually made by Trueman who puts him through a gap without getting a finger laid on him. He can go through repeated sets without touching the ball and can often be found ‘recovering’ on the wing when we are bringing the ball out of our own half.
McMeeken is a decent player, but he’s not been worth the big money contract we gave him back in 2017. He’ll be lucky to find any club who will match his current deal.

How old is he now?

He’ll be 26 in May, so he’s not a young player with massive potential. I’m sure he has it in him to improve, but if he’s not doing it under Powell then I wonder who can get more out of him.
He’s certainly not earned a pay rise, and if he’s asking for one I think Cas will be happy to see him leave and spend that cap space on someone else. To be honest, he’s probably not worth the money he is on now, given his current deal was signed in 2017 when he looked like a world-beater.
He’s one of those players that I’d be okay with re-signing, but okay with him leaving too.

Can't say I'm proper upset by this but he will be a big miss, his defense especially. We never saw the best of his attacking form but he's always stood up to be counted in D.

There's going to be ALOT of money free'd up on the cap and we now have a chance to bring a couple of known performers from SL rather than a big money splash in the NRL.

Ben Currie is posting some impressive stats but for me just isn't doing enough to warrant the money he's on, I'd get shut of him an all.

BMM is a 13 all day long for me so I'd look to replace him with someone like Adam Milner and Currie replaced with someone like Matty Ashurst or Oliver Holmes

How much is Ben currie on???

More than Holmes or Ashurst I'd wager.

So you don't know and assume??

He has been very good this year and probably playing above his pay scale. I think many would be supridmsed at what he is on and also how much if it counts on cap. Ben crmurrie going will not free up loads of money to bring in a replacment

What is it with chasing average Cas players? First McMeeken, now Milner (penalty machine) and Holmes (nothing more than average when he plays, and that isn’t often).
At least show some ambition and chase the likes of Liam Watts. Grant Millington and Jesse Sene-Lefao are out of contract too and both are far better than McMeeken, Milner or Holmes.

What does it matter how much he earns and if it's less that what most people would think. The question here is:

Would our cap be better off if we brought in (for argument sake) Holmes and Milner, compared to our cap with BMM and Currie.

I'd be willing to bet that the wages demands of the former would be much less than the latter.

Lol you kind of state that what he is on matters in your post....and no even a post injury currie is a better option than Holmes or Ashurst!!

i think we keep currie, but we cut his money, he's been a lot better this year so far, again as i've mentioned elsewhere, if the props were punishing in the middle, the edges would be getting pulled in a bit more and the gaps that he exploits and thrives on would be there.

honestly, i can't see us releasing him

I said Currie isn't doing enough to warrant the money he's on. He could be on a grand a year, the simple fact is he's not doing enough.

And I respectfully have to disagree. Ashurst is doing a brilliant job and posts team carrying performances regularly.

Currie is improving, admittedly it’s not quick enough but then the rest of the squad aren’t exactly pulling up trees

Thought Currie looked good on Friday. Played a key role in setting up our only try and broke through a couple of times in the second half, I feel he's growing in to the season, where as last year he never really got started.

He's head and shoulders above where he was last year and I'm confident he'll be offered a new deal. His last contract was announced 6 weeks or so after his first ACL, whether it was signed before or after his injury I don't know. If it was signed after you would think the risk associated with such an injury would have been reflected in the contract offer - there wouldn't have been anyone else at that stage looking to sign him up.

It's a shame but I'm not surprised, the rumours have been there since the world cup. My biggest fear is we carry on with our recent form of recruitment, we have plenty of time to scout and broker a deal with a decent replacement and don't leave it last minute to sign a player that can't get a look in as he isn't fit.

As for Currie, his form is picking up, I think he'll get another contract.

I was talking to a friend about a lot of the current SL players who aim to play international rugby and with Tonga being expelled from the international game I said that Konrad Hurrell, Tuimoala Lolohea, Ben Murdoch-Masila would all be looking elsewhere should they aim to make the NZ side.