what a stupid comment, have you never heard of Micheal Jordan and many many more 6' 6" and over men in the NBA, now those guys have agility

Lennox lewis ?

It isnt stupid at all. I think its a perfectly valid point.

Tall be in good at basketball shocker!
How many 6' 6"ers in rugby league?

I think basketball requires a certain level of agility but it's definitely different to a rugby league centre. I honestly can't think of a 6' 6" rugby league centre.
6' 9" forwards in rugby union have agility for the line-outs and they move about the field reasonably well but I wouldn't want Wigan to sign one.
McDonald who played for Wigan, Leeds and Saints was 6' 7" but not impressive. Saints also had a tall player who could head the ball but had no pace off the mark.
Stupid or not, that's my opinion and I don't mind if you don't agree. You are entitled to your opinion, which incidentally I don't regard as stupid.

There's one union player (whose name escapes me) but he played for Leicester in the back row, mid 6 ft, and I remember a stat saying that he was the 2nd fastest player at the club behind one of their wingers (probably the fastest in the league). He would have made a fantastic centre, big, strong and very quick. EDIT: Tom Croft - 6ft 5. news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/7179460.stm From a couple of years ago but sums up what I was saying.

There's one union player (whose name escapes me) but he played for Leicester in the back row, mid 6 ft, and I remember a stat saying that he was the 2nd fastest player at the club behind one of their wingers (probably the fastest in the league). He would have made a fantastic centre, big, strong and very quick. EDIT: Tom Croft - 6ft 5. news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/7179460.stm From a couple of years ago but sums up what I was saying.

Quote ="inside_man"There's one union player (whose name escapes me) but he played for Leicester in the back row, mid 6 ft, and I remember a stat saying that he was the 2nd fastest player at the club behind one of their wingers (probably the fastest in the league). He would have made a fantastic centre, big, strong and very quick. EDIT: Tom Croft - 6ft 5. news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/7179460.stm '" We had one of our own. Barrie-Jon Mather, a flying 6ft6 centre. An RL star in every way, except that he had an RU attitude. Could have been remembered as one of the greats, but chose not to be remembered at all.

Quote ="inside_man"There's one union player (whose name escapes me) but he played for Leicester in the back row, mid 6 ft, and I remember a stat saying that he was the 2nd fastest player at the club behind one of their wingers (probably the fastest in the league). He would have made a fantastic centre, big, strong and very quick. EDIT: Tom Croft - 6ft 5. news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/7179460.stm '" We had one of our own. Barrie-Jon Mather, a flying 6ft6 centre. An RL star in every way, except that he had an RU attitude. Could have been remembered as one of the greats, but chose not to be remembered at all.

There are plenty of 6 foot plus giant centres with great athleticism running round. Sadly they are all kids who once they enter into the pro environment will be thrown into the back row and ruined.

Not in Aus though. Joel Tomkins would have been brought up as a centre in Aus.

Also heard the brett kearney rumour today, where would we play him though?

Assuming Leuluai would move to hooker permanently, would we put kearney at fullback and sam back in the halves or simply put kearney in the halves? Also cant believe he is only 27, thought he was in his early 30s.

I think Kearney is a very good player. You can see him easily fitting into the side at FB. The guy has a good rugby brain, he's got a good skill set with his passing, running and kicking game. A very good signing.

If we got Kearney could we still go 2 the NRL for a centre or would we be up 2 the quota?

What about the prop Hill from Leigh?

He's easily the best prop in the championship and still only 22. A work in progress but probably further down the line someone like Ben Davies.

Do we need a prop? We've got 4 healthy ones at the minute that are doing very well, we're losing Coley but we have Fielden coming back in. Also have Dom Crosby knocking on the door, as well has Ben Davies hopefully at some point.

I wouldn't feel we needed to stock up anymore on props, a centre + a hooker/FB/HB please.

Depends really if Hill has the level of potential he's supposed to have then I'd say take a punt on him. It has to be said I've not seen much of him but I've heard he's been consistently good for a few years now.

At 22 get him in the system now so we can work on him for a few years.

At 22 he needs to be playing first team wherever he's at. Saints are rumoured to be after him. Where would he fit in with us? I wouldn't have him over any of the 5 first line props (atm) so that would mean shipping him out on loan.

That could be an option. Sign him up and send him to Widnes in SL next year.

Depends on who stays and goes. Our current quota players are Hoffman, Lima, Finch and Amos Roberts. IL sounds like he is resigned to losing Hoffman so we should have room for at least two overseas players to come in, taking us up to the five. The future of Roberts seems uncertain too as he currently appears to be surplus to requirements so we could get ourselves another free quota spot if we decide to release him from the last year of his contract

But why would he do then when he could just sign for Widnes in the first place, be their first choice prop and as such probably earn more money? Makes no sense for him or us if we were to sign him then send him out on loan.

No point signing a 22 yr old if they aren't going to be a first team player.

If we were going for a prop with SL experience then Adam Sidlow may be worth looking at. Been mentioned on here before, he's 23 and around 6'3" probably 16-17 stone too.
Not great at Salford but maybe with good training here he could well improve.
Seems preferable to a 22 year old who's never played SL.

The positions we do need replacements for though are centre.
No new signings this year so IMO Goulding has to be given a chance. He seemed to go ok at Odsal and should play 3 before Joel. At least he should be tried there. Last year he was outside Gleeson and I'd imagine he'd have learned quite a bit.

As for half back. If Deacs retires then Joe Mellor takes his place as bench h/b. At the forum IL seemed to think Finch would see his contract out. So if he goes end of 2012 then Mellor to start and Sam Powell will be the bench h/b.
A lot of youth and some experienced players will be needed, that will be the hard bit with the new TV deal down under.

I know chris hill quite well, last I heard he was on the verge of signing for Saints, not 100% sure whether its a done deal though (hopefully not

)

Kearney would be a good signing IMO if we use him as an out and out fullback and moved Sam back into the halfs. He has been very good for Bradford but he's been asked to do too much in a poor side.

I look at our halfs long term and I worry a little tbh. We've got Deacon on the verge of retiring, Tommy who should move to hooker and Finch who may not be here that long. We have a couple of cracking prospects in Mellor and Powell but they need easing in and when they do play they could do with having a settled patner that will be at the club long term and that man is Sam. In the long run keep chopping and changing our halfbacks will do us more harm then of we have to try out a few options at fullback.

Kearney and a centre would do very nicely for me.

Kearney & Ratchford?

Kearney
Charnley Joel Ratchford Richards
Finch Sam
Fielden Leuluai Prescott
Farrell Hock
O'Loughlin

Hansen Lima Mossop McIlorum

I'd be happy with that. Neither should cost the earth either.

If we signed Kearney and Ratchford that would also leave enough money to try and sign an experienced forward to replace Hoffman(and possibly Coley). We've got Hock coming back in and some good youngsters coming through but to lose a couple of leaders like Hoff and Coley and not replace them may leave us a touch short of experienced heads especially with our 2 most experienced backs retiring aswell.

I've heard Saints and Wire both linked with Waterhouse and he wouldn't be a bad shout. He's had years worth of experience playing for Penrith, Australia and NSW. Another player out of contract we could make s move for would be Mark O'Meely. He's a tough grafter of a prop that could replace Coley and allow Hock to take Hoffmans place.

I would not be a fan of signing Kearney to play full-back because he is not an improvement on Tomkins IMO.

No idea about signings this year, I am confident the club will do a good job but there isn't really one player standing out who I really want us to sign unless it was a top name.