I'd be extremely disappointed if Sandow, Dwyer, Julien left. Philbin is worth developing and arguably Bailey has got another year left in him.
Cox seems to have fallen out of favour so he'll probably be released.
Keep Dodds - still only mid 20s and all players get injuries.
Need Penny to keep Lineham on his toes (or get Sio / Mantellato)
No need for whole scale changes.
Morgan Smith is a good prospect but with a Reserve grade comp he can develop there. Don't think he could play week in week out at SL level without performance dropping off.
I know many aren't keen on Evans at centre or wing but I think he's ok and besides there aren't too many top class replacements.

With Cooper coming back our front row looks fine - especially with Bennie able to play there from the bench with King.

I think we'll be able to strengthen through the youngsters developing - and wel need to if we are to get silverware next year.

There are some at the club with dreadful attitudes but they are on a protected pedestal and made of teflon.

And they are not on your list!

Is that based on here say / gossip or knowledge?
Not having a ' pop', just be surprised if that really was the case.
TS has shown the door to alleged bad apples.

From what I have heard I agree with mark and there are some bad apples in the group up to no good.

Smith isn't as close to the day to day dealing as you might think.

And there is an outside influence on the comings and goings of players that is going to cause problems in the near future.

Care to elaborate on that and your previous posts? Always plenty of rumours flying around to be taken with a pinch of salt but you seem pretty well informed and certain. Youve just left us all hanging a bit with what you've said though?

I suppose it's what you mean by dreadful attitudes... I would guess Ben Westwood has a dreadful attitude to training, recovery, and diet, but hes super Ben so who cares....

Adrian morley had a bad attitude towards drinking his well known drink driving ban was before he joined us but didnt he also get busted for being mickeyd up in tenerife just after he was made Wire Captain...!!

I'm sure Mickey higham had a bad attitude towards money and "honouring" contracts which was why Smith held a dim view of that particular "transfer"

if any current players have a bad (lazy) attitude towards playing it was only noticeable with Tom Lineham and he was dropped as a result, and while he hasnt come back a work horse by any stretch, our team is better for his return.

I'm sure the days are gone when the whole team gets faced the night before a game and loses spectacularly.

you'll never get 25 players with the attitude of a Buddhist Monk....but i'm guessing some rumours are getting out of hand now.

Players drinking doesn't really bother me, so long as they are sensible. I'm sure most of us on here are capable of having a few pints this afternoon and still being able to function the next day. It's when it turns to 5am scraps on Bridge Street that the problems start. It isn't rocket science that you are going to be recognised!

Smith persisted with Asotasi for two seasons, despite the fact he was without doubt one of the laziest footballers I have ever had the misfortune to watch. Westwood hasn't been anywhere near his best since 2013, at least not consistently. Does he do enough to justify the big salary?

To be fair, we don't know what Benny is on for next year - I think a lot of older players get a cut in their salary as they age. He has certainly slowed down a lot and that has made him a bit of a liability in defence, but surely as a 'prop' he can still add a fair bit to the team next year.

Goodness me, why let the truth or tangible evidence get in the way of a bit of gossip, eh? If having some bad apples, unsavoury influences and lazy wage-stealers gets us to two finals and top of the table, then we would have needed a bigger trophy cabinet for most of the 80s and 90s.

I'm some the levels of attitude,personalities, work ethic, effort, and commitment vary amongst the squad - it does in any workplace. I'm sure Jordan Cox and Ryan Bailey don't train like Chris Hill, and I'm sure Ben Westwood doesn't sit down with Tony Smith to discuss Dostoevsky. Asotasi was one of the laziest people pull on a rugby shirt in recent memory, but he actually seemed very popular with the other players.

The truth may be less fun than gossip, but I suspect some recent truths are, simply :

Dwyer got dropped because he started to believe his own press and his performances suffered, at a time when Morgan Smith's improved
Sandow, like most "mercurial" temperaments is always likely to attract rumour, but is happy here and is suffering from being rushed back too soon
Lineham is a very popular, likeable chap but not University Challenge material, and needs a regular kick up the booty
Penny is in and out of the team purely because he alternates between the sublime and the ridiculous with monotonous regularity

I'm sure the Wires camp isn't like The Waltons most days, but you don't achieve what we have, in sometimes difficult circumstances, without having a strong, insular, single-minded focus and togetherness at the core.

Good post morrisey. Can we not have a really negative thread in the build up to this saturday please? Ins and outs and gossip can wait til next week surely? The team is clearly full of confidence so things must be going very well in camp.

It is nothing to do with drinking or training. More to do with money and how some long standing players have/are being treated.

Hopefully it won't affect the focus of the WHOLE team and everyone can be professional enough to win what should be our best ever chance at the title. Ours to lose!

Mark_m you've come this far with the disclosure and we are all hanging on every word - let's have the rest

Dreadful attitudes, bad apples, outside influences, trouble in the near future - how about we just cut to the chase, stop talking in riddles and get to the point?

Either that or we stick to facts, do away with the unsubstantiated rumours and concentrate on our Grand Final?

Been told today by a lad i know who works in the backroom staff, that Cox, Dodds and bailey are definately gone and We're trying to Buy Ben Harrison out of his contract. If this is true then we're either signing a few props or we're leaving ourselves REALLY light in the pack. He says we've signed Watkins from Leeds. And we have first refusal on Denny solomona. Now he could be talking a load of S#$T but you never know. He told me about Cooper 2 weeks before we announced it so he might not be?

I would concur that the above is pretty accurate.

There are divisions though in the club at all levels and they would do well to emulate the Wigan mentality on how players are equally valued. Needs to be addressed before it gets totally out of hand.

Or we could adopt the Wigan approach, go on a team-bonding exercise, fill them full of drink and let chaos ensue. So much for divisions in the club.

The only "long-standing" player I can imagine spitting his dummy out at the moment is Penny, and frankly his error rate means he doesn't deserve a starting place. Alternatively, I guess some players might object to Sandow's marquee pay vs performances/alleged behaviour of late but given most of that is based on speculation, I'll move on.

If I want a soap opera plot, I'll stick with Corrie.

Have we not just granted Ben Harrison a testimonial season after spending a year rehabilitating him from injury? To now only buy him out of his contract? Doesn't add up really.

At least you've named your source and got to the point, however.

If this discontent and division from top to bottom is true, it is remarkable we have made both finals and topped the league. Maybe it's a few empty vessels making the loudest noise.

It isn't top to bottom but it doesn't take a genius to work out which players are now on the outside of the split in the camp. It is just a shame it wasn't handled better as it has happened before at the club.

And quite frankly I couldn't care less if people think this is idle speculation as I don't deal in such nonsense.

It is all beginning to sound like a plot for the Jeremy Kyle show.

Didn't we have some dressing room unrest last season too when a couple of players moved on & left us with a gaping hole in the pack ?

Mark I wasn't calling you the empty vessel - more the fringe players on the wrong side of the split. I am sure your information is sound.
I'm no genius so here goes - am I close?

Penny
The New Improved Lineham?
Dwyer
Johnson
Harrison
Wheeler
Cox
Bailey

So Mark is it not down to Mr Smith to root out the bad apples or not?

Frankly don't care if it's a marquee signing or the lowest paid players on the books, if they're destabilising the squad then they can do one.

Also Mr Smith also has to take his share of the blame for bringing in one of the rumoured destabilising factors, on the premise he'd changed

Smith is not a one man recruitment team though so definitely not solely down to him but he does seem to have a habit of bearing a grudge against players, Hodgson being a well documented example.

I think Tony does get some bad advice on player signings and on who to promote from within.

whats the crack with hodgo then, its been 3 years since he's gone, its been alluded to twice this week, what was the story on the breakdown between him and the club.