Mark Riley was better than Nathan Cleary, Andrew Johns and Allan Langer combined.

Ok, objectively, to an impartial observer, maybe he wasn't. But I'm neither objective or impartial

One of the great joys of the Roy & Barbara Close days was you never knew who would turn up from down under who nobody had heard of & be very good. Peter White springs to mind as one such player.

But where are today's Londoners like Martin Herdman, Steve Guyett or Colin Fenn?

Just thought, getting back to Mark Riley, we could field a team entirely of scrum halves we've had so many over the years. That's your mission Benny should you wish to accept it, 13 scrum halves starting with:
1. Reg Bowden

I've still not seen any announcements on Cake's two promised assistants.

I know this is the off season, but I think this may well have drifted off-topic.

Still, challenge accepted. And probably failed.

2. Dennis Moran
3. Jarrod Sammut
4. Glen Air
5. Shaun Edwards
6. Josh White
7. Jamie Soward
8. Danny Orr
9. Leo Dynevor
10. Luke Gale
11. Craig Gower
12. Kevin Langer
13. William Barthau

And no mention of Riley. Because he was too good to be contained by any list.

That list does unfortunately show when I started following the club and that, as an old man, I think everything was better in the past. It also reflects when I started getting confused about who was playing scrum-half and who was playing stand-off (and sometimes hooker). I've probably got a few wrong here.

I tried to explain rugby league positions and what each position did to someone I dragged along to a game a few years' ago. Who fed the scrum for us throughout that game? Kieran Dixon. Not the scrum-half like I'd suggested.

I doubt we'll see the likes of some of these players again. Unless someone else takes over the club.

Agreed, once the rules changed & scrums nolonger pushed you could probably swap hooker, lock, SH & SO without problems. Any list will always be limited by who you have seen so newbies will not have a large pool of talent or any talent to chose from. For what it's worth in no particular order, my list:
Reg Bowden
John Dalgreen
Ray Ovens (taken from us far too young sadly)
Johnny Plath
Mark Riley
Josh White
Shaun Edwards
Denis Moran
Mark McLindon
Danny Orr
Craig Gower
Jamie Soward
Jarrod Sammut

Bench:
Like Gale
Dave Cruickshank
Mike Davis
Tulson Tollett

Not sure many teams have had that array of talent, shame most didn't stay very long.

Lordy Lordy how could I have forgotten Tommy Leuluai from that little list.

Glen Air, Luke Dorn, Karle Hammond, Scott Hill

Didn't include Luke or Scotty as thought they were more No 6 than No 7. Both wonderful players though. As you mentioned earlier Buzz, doubt we will see their like again which is a real shame.

Kieran Murphy was a good 7 and didn't Brett Daunt fill that role too before he moved north, talking of which Tuliatu has joined Newcastle

As part of our one in, one out announcement policy. Tuliatu to Newcastle.

Completely forgot about Daunt, deffo a good player as was Murphy. Didn't he come from Notting RU? We seem to have given up on local RU talent who at least knew how to catch & run with the ball. You might think with Union in a spot of disarray financially, there might be some options there at least for a decent goal kicker.

No sign of these other World Cup players we have made offers to. Hope Cakeman hasn't confused the League WC with the football one.

Maybe they are looking for more than an accidental coach without assistants.

Pity, I thought he was pretty effective at times last season.

You would think the the financial issues that RU are suffering, you would think that some decent players might be tempted to come over to the dark side.

They probably cant take that much of a pay cut

I see a plethora of players shirts from 2022 are available. Didn't the masses of sponsors want their shirts?
Speaking of sponsorships, I see they are sell8ng well according to the weekly sales bulletin and.no.mention of turn goldnloungenthis week.

Was tempted to buy one to burn it but seems a waste of money.

You would think they would want to hold on to them as we don't know if we have a new one yet, just in case

The way things are (not) going on the recruitment front they may need to get in a few more junior sized shirts.

Absolutely nothing. Not a huge shock.
Has anyone got a response from the club after using the contact form on the website? Ever?

See the club have launched the Broncos Bar in an attempt to fleece more from fans. For anyone who already paid for membership to secure themselves discounted tickets the club are wanting £200 more (early bird price) to give you 'an unrivalled view of the game' from a padded seat with private bar.

In better news, the club annouce a Fan Village in the south east corner of the ground and the return of Buck and Dusty (why did they ever go away ?).

Also, unless I have misunderstood, seating will be in the opposite side of the ground next season.

I'll wait for the discounts.

All of this and more should have been planned and organized in 2021/22 before the move, but as usual, posta in the ground and a KO time was it.
NOW.......it's not just me banging on about it, but IMG and they will care little for Hughes and his ego. I'm still worried they don't have an operations manager to run all this, or the staff needed to facilitate it.
As has been said, I await the discounting later in the year

A month to go and the 2 coaches they said would support Eccles have not been announced(have they?) and the squad seems thread bare. Is there any imminent news?

I'm expecting some last min loanees from other champ or L1 clubs, to add to the numbers. Doubtful if they will add much quality though