Having just returned from abroad after a few months I'm not too sure of who's contracts were renewed or who were still on contract at the end of season, so im not 100% sure of who he re-signed. Anyway one of the great attributes of top coaches like Alex Ferguson has always been that he knew when it was time to let players go. Looking at some of the faces still in our squad this season has left me wondering about our man in charge. Chuffed as I was we had signed Kafusi and Mark Bryant I was a little surprised we gave another season to Karl Temata bearing in mind the doubts surrounding his fitness - and i have been a big fan of Karl for a long time. Chad Randall is not the player he was and i was amazed to read that Andy Ellis was allowed to leave and Chad's contract extended? Howell has not had a good season and there are obviously doubts about whether he will be as good as he was before his injury and seems a risky resigning imo. Randall and Howell are both Overseas Quota players which means we could have used their spots to recruit another prop like Kafusi and another NRL SOO/Int. quality player.
Maybe i am missing something but there is no room for sentimentality in sport. Having kept these older experienced players around may suit his comfort zone but I think he's made mistakes here and he's bottled it. He could have raised the bar in terms of quality for us but has settled for less. Lets hope we don't miss the playoffs.

Some of those players you mention may have been on existing contracts (Karl excepted). I suspect he needs a few years to model a team to what it is he requires.

Given we are spending full on the SC you would think he has to produce result sharpish or it could be an early exit. Is Hughes ruthless enough maybe is the other question

Ellis was offered a new deal, took too long over deciding to re-sign or not, and we took it off the table. I'm fine with that, he's gone to a worse club, even if he was a very good player for us.

Hughes will give Powell this season IMO to be competitive.

Wasn't it Rammo who said that if we had offered Ellis the same as Randall was on he would have re-signed?

If true, then that's probably more of a sign that Randall is on far too much, than Ellis was on too little.

Not sure you can compare the manager of one of the worlds most successful sports teams with London. Most of the managers you will be thinking of will be in charge of teams that have large budgets and a heritage that means almost any player in the world will join if you offer them a competitive salary. When you have this behind you, it's alot easier to get rid of star players like David Beckham when you can replace him with a Cristiano Ronaldo.
I dont have any problem giving KT another year, but he has to play a large number of games, and he has to be competitive.

Howell was inherited on a 2-year deal so nothing that Powell can do.

One more year of Te Mata is good business IMO - he went well last year and played a lot of games.

Randall over Ellis - perhaps a mistake; perhaps a lack of ruthlessness. But Randall may well bounce back this year after having to do a lot of work at 7 towards the end of 2010 and start of 2011.

A lot has been written by myself and others about the departure of Ellis and the retention of Randall. I can understand fully the desire to retain experienced players - every team needs them - and there's no doubt that Randall offers the team something. Ellis, however, completely outshone him last season and gave us a real sense of speed at the play-the-ball which we had lacked in previous campaigns. I don't think either Randall or Rinaldi will offer us the same spark. Rinaldi is a solid player, no doubt, but my worry is that when we have possession we will become flat and predictable. Unless Randall raises his game, which one can only hope he will.

Yeah - I agree with you. I'd have chosen Ellis over Randall last year. I'd have liked both mind you as Ellis was great off the bench.

Randall in his prime or Ellis last season? Tough one