I'm sure I read somewhere that Briers has signed a two year contract with Widnes. Has that been confirmed any where yet?

o'brien, cooper and laithewaite are musts to keep hold of, moz i think is passed it now, solo through injury, not sure about hodgson, would like to see ratchford at fullback if he does retire. williams, mitchell and higham i personally dont want to keep them for any longer with people like evans, dwyer and currie coming through we dont need them and would like briers but ive heard that he is close to signing for widnes but its not certain yet

I would be shocked if he did join widnes. He's got more chance of silverware with us and he loves the club.

As a matter of fact it has, not sure where you've been.

Widnes coach Neil Kelly expressed his delight at the capture of the stand-off: 'Lee is a player we've admired for many years and we're delighted to have him at the Vikings.'

'Lee brings a great kicking game and is the best passer in the league. We think he'll form a great partnership with Owen Craigie, who we're bringing over from Australia.'

a link? proof? as far as all news i've seen lee himself is quoted as he will end his career at warrington

All sensible stuff, apart from the first sentence. Players of Briers's and Hodgon's talent and rep won't settle for 'pay as you play'. Hodgson showed when leaving Giants that a decent contract was essential, and he could move to any number of SL clubs, probably even get another two year deal. Briers would feel regally shafted to be offered such an arrangement. If Hodgson does not retire, I expect TS will want to keep him playing some games while Ratchford learns the trade in others. Briers will probably get another year and a promise of a coaching position.

All to stay

I agree. These incentive based contracts will only work for players that are stuck without a club and have huge clouds over their injury record so they can't get a club to take a chance on them.

Also how do you budget the salary cap for a "pay as you play" deal? Do you base it on the player playing 15 games a season, 20 games, 25 games, what? What would happen if we had Briers on a pay as you play deal and had left enough money in the cap based on him playing 25 games in the season and he was fit and in form all year, do we have to leave him out in certain fixtures so as not to exceed the salary cap. Does the chairman have to knock on Tony Smith's door and say "sorry coach, best leave Briers out this week, we can't afford to pay him else we're over the cap"

Alternatively we could budget for him playing every week....in which case why not pay him that as his contract anyway...?

briers = worth another year
morley = worth another year
hodgson = worth another year
laithewaite = longer term
O'brien = longer term
mike cooper = longer term
The rest = Mitchell will go, Higher too hopefully, Williams may have to go.

OR

Whatever Tony/the Club think is in the best interest of the club!!!

morley
hodgson
solomona
higham
mitchell
rhys williams
Are the one's i'd let go.

Briers Another year please
Morley Mmmm I feel a traitor but.............
Hodgson Another year please
Solomona Another year please
Higham Another 2 years please
O'Brien Long term contract
Coops Long term contract
Williams Long term contract

I think that would be my pick FB but I would have Williams on short term.

are you being serious? we dont need higham when we have a good youngster like dwyer coming through and he is well passed it now, makes to many unforced errors and waste chances!
williams is not needed either with players like rhys evans back fit and going to the be one of the most exciting young talents in superleague, he dont need either, they can both go

Yes off course I am serious. I would not joke or take risks with something as important as our team.

Mickey is a quality player with vast experience. If we had let Mickey leave at the start of this season what would we have done for the past 11 games that Monas M has missed. Please don't say play Brad because he is young & still learning his trade, what I have seen of him is good but that's for the future & not now.

With regards to Rhys W he has not made many starts this season and he is not currently my 1st choice winger but he does deserve another contract.

At the moment I would consider releasing Morley, Hodgson, Solomona and Higham but I'm open to changing my mind on any of them. I think we need to make sure we don't hold onto players a year too long and they are all on my 'at risk' register of that.

If moz thinks he can go another year,then sign him up. It's an honour to see the guy captaining our side.

I love Dwyer, I think he will be great in a few years, BUT he needs time to develop and keeping Higham around seems a good option to me. Lets not forget Monaghen is also ageing and we can not expect him to be injury free in the next year or two. As for Williams, he is a good stand-in that allows other players a rest. Why should we give him away ? Sign him for 1/2 yrs and sell him on for a modest fee. After all, we developed him.

After I typed it I realised do pay as you play contracts exist? and sally is right how do they fit into the salary cap? im not sure if they even do fit into it. If so Briers and Hodgson should be offered an extra year, but I have a feeling they may want longer contracts. The incentive of a coaching position at the end of their contract may sway them.

I think there's a dilemma with Higham. Before the start of the season most would want him shipped out but he's played his best rugby while with us so far in 2012. Thing is Dwyer isn't our only other option, a certain Simon Grix has being doing a pretty nice job at hooker lately. It's a tough call on quite a few but I would let go:

Solomona - Getting on a bit and with the emergence of Currie and apparent arrival of Bateman we're well stocked here. You never know though, could show some real form when he's back from injury and he really offers something different.
Higham - See the main bulk of the post
Mitchell - Not up to it and don't think he ever will be
Williams - Occasional flashes of something good but not sure he's up to it. God seems to rate him though so I wouldn't be suprised or that disapointed to see him here next year.

While I'm 50/50 on:
Morley - Would wait until the end of the season to see how his body and form is
Hodgson - Again I'm worried that he's injured a lot. Would probably give another year and give a bit of extra time for Ratch to learn at FB

It's nice to have such a dilemma in a way though, better than debating whether we should give Paul Noone another year.

As supporters and club we need to take sentiment out of the team selection, merit has to be the way forward and not sentiment.

Briers - He has proved a real asset since Smith came in and is worth an extra year but this has to be on merit.

Solomona - No way, too old and out of shape, which wont help on the injury front. Loads of young talent available at the club. He has been a good signing, but the time is right.

Higham - 50/50 here he is a good steady player without whom we would have been "in stuck" whilst Mona M is injured. Again we have good young talent emerging.

Mitchell - Liked this guy early on, but sadly he has not emerged as the talent i thought and as with Solo we have an abundance of talent waiting in the wings.

Williams - Not seen one spark in this kid. Let him go.

Hodgson - Been a great signing but is too injury prone for my liking.

Morley - This guy is a one off, still one of the only props in the world that strikes fear into the opponent. If he is up to it then extend for one more year but not out of sentiment. It has been an honour and privilage to have him at the club

People should seperate sentiment to the cold hard facts. Morley has been a great player but every which way you look at it, Stats wise he's falling away each year, he doesn't dominate in possesion or in the tackle like he used to, Hill looks like he makes more yards these days. I'd keep him on a vastly reduced contract so that we could bring somebody else in. I've always been of the opinion of letting a player go a year earlier rather than a year late.

I love Morley but I struggle to see the case for keeping him on purely as a player, he simply doesn't appear to have the dexterity to get down for the tackle these days and ends up waving his arm head-high at opponents.

Higham is touch and go for me, I certainly wouldn't be giving him two years but, if no-one better or cheaper is available, of course you give him another year because he's been a safe pair of hands this season.