Liam Kay, 47 tackles against Leeds, highest of the season.

Must be a different Liam Kay to the one that gets steam rollered in every game he plays



The completely knackered/injury prone Ashurst, not worth more than a one year deal is ever present and the clubs man of steel.

So if we do sign Gale, then going on fans knowledge (myself included) I expect 5 try assists and impeccable kicking in every game he plays



Lineham err let's forget about that one.

Coaches aye, what do they know

They should know not to sign Minn or Mimm I can’t remember or the chap from the armed forces or even the one from London who had been injured for the previous season. We then have the supporter who wanted the club to offload Fifita to Catalan because he was clearly not interested in playing for us. This same supporter is now trying to sell the virtues of signing Gale. Yes it is possible to quote Finn but what about Atkins who we resigned towards the end of his career.

You really do lack any sense of humour or any ability to read the room. Please note the winks at the end, oh and the (myself included).

So just to help you through your paranoid, self obsessed, deluded nutterdom, I was including everyone under the basic premise that ALL fans know far less than they think they do and the people running the club/coaching know far more. And that if the coaches in particular ever read what was on here most would end up with a hernia from laughing.

I mean seriously, a player gets injured in a previous season so they should never be signed or play again, well Catalan have dropped an almighty b*llo*ck then, except they probably haven't. As I fully expect to see you on here next season expounding your rage as to why we let TJ go blah blah blah.

It is all great fun pontificating and chewing the cud on here, but when you take yourself too seriously then you've lost it. When did you first notice you'd lost it, oh sorry you hadn't, oh dear

And Brough who was also a flop bar a few decent games at start.

Regarding Gale I honestly hope we look at alternatives but if he does come I will give him a chance before I make my mind up.

I've never got the Brough thing. Until he got injured against Wigan he was going really well. he was sublime against Leeds at Headingley. It was always a slight risk as the number of games he'd played must take a certain toll and maybe it should just have been a year (I can't remember if it was longer). But had he not broken his hand I reckon we'd have had a good season out of him.

The sad truth about injuries is that they are truly random. We could sign a 22 year old with no previous injuries and see him start a catalogue of injuries with us, it's just how it goes. Taufu came in after an injury but it wasn't that injury that got him it was just a broken arm and was totally unrelated. Ditto Sid I believe.

On the flip side Mr Injury himself Lee Gaskell has actually been pretty much injury free by his standards, and has put in a fair stint, who'd have thought.

Players are not like cars, mileage, make and model and regular servicing makes little difference, they just break when they break, so every single player signed is a risk IMHO.

I have never got and never will get this age thing. The only thing you lose with age is speed whilst picking up a bit of wear and tear. In every other respect older players are generally superior.

They are generally stronger, calmer and more focused, with far more experience, they are mentally far more resilient, and much less prone to distractions outside the sport. Whilst their skill sets and ability to read a game are in general far superior.

The greatest myth in RL and modern society in general is that youth is an advantage and age is a disadvantage, we really need to drop it as imho it's only superficial in most respects. Up until the late 80's most teams were predominantly made up of players in their late twenties early thirties, and in many ways were better for it. It was only the Aussie fitness obsession of the late 80's that stopped it in the UK. And that was purely because RL in the UK was still mostly part time and the infrastructure did not exist then to allow older players to catch up on fitness and they went out of fashion. Such a shame because we lost all our skill sets in pursuit of muscle and fitness whilst the Aussies kept theirs as their older full time players could stay fit.

We'd all love to be young again but almost all of us would want to do so knowing what we know now. Same with a player and if an old player is just on the right side of fitness and injuries, they will always IMO be the superior player other than in speed, and some players don't even lose that, amazingly.

Anyway that's how I see it.

And when did you realise you had to have an opinion on everything and I mean everything even when they are based on who knows. I guess you need to stay on the right side of the club or there will be no tea and sandwiches for you and your history suggests you like to be part of the outer circle of the club just like in the past. I guess you have your uses to them but don’t be fooled you are anything more than that. I think to do this you have forgotten you are a supporter so think of your fellow attendees and ask is whatever is proposed or done actually benefits us or covers for those running the club.

I can't see why you think it's so bad for someone to talk to the club. You'd think he was breaking a picket line or something.

It’s pure jealousy and malice and a clear desire to attack those who run the club and those who wish to help. Pimp is a walking tragedy who’s only capable of seeing everyone as the enemy. All part of a great conspiracy that only he can see and only he can fight against.

It doesn’t matter how many times I say I’ve only met the two directors once or that my main point of contact is via the clubs contact e-Mail. The same one available to anyone else.

He ignores the fact that I barely know MC or JM and couldn’t even tell you if I actually like them as people. I’ve had longer conversation with shop assistants. Slight exaggeration but you get the idea. You’d actually think I went to family events or sat on board meetings, I clearly don’t but he won’t let that worry him.

You can’t win with people like him because they are full of misery, they get a kick out of it. Never mind.

I was kinda hoping Scarlett would answer the question.

One thing an older player gives you, is experience, but for me, personally, it's a blend of youth and experience.

Taking the Ashurst example, he's had a good season, and by far his best since 2018, you can understand, from a fans perspective there, doubts about the length of the extended deal.

Gale is a bit of a risk, and has missed a lot of games in the past 3 seasons, due to injury, and his discipline hasn't bee the best this year either. He may be a good organiser, which we need, but if his last 3 seasons are anything to go by, he could ve doing a fair bit of organising from the stands.

Would we get value for money?

If we were to bring him in, I certainly wouldn't be gambling on a long term deal.

Cogger and Norman are also names that are being brandished about too.

One thing you have to ask, is signings are going to be tight for next year, but it's only a few weeks ago, we were hoping to bring in AF, how would we have paid for him?

Apologies. That really would be a first. Let’s see.

I honestly can’t see Gale on anything but a one year deal with perhaps a one year option.

I have heard Gale is keen on a coaching role so this may come into play. Looking at our coaching roster there are no HBs so in that regard he’d be very useful.

Now I’ve no idea about the last bit or even if he is on our radar. But sometimes older players bring in more than just their game face.

British HBs are an endangered speccies, be nice if we could use someone like Gale to bring one through, or is that wishful thinking

Relying on his wish to play with Dave being stronger than the money side of things?

Greetings old boy.

You're absolutely right, signing any player is a lottery regardless of history / age, granted some may carry slightly more risk than others purely based on there current fitness but that's just obvious, the biggest factor really is not always the Injuries themselves but how a player responds. The biggest example for me is Watkins, after a couple of big Injuries he looked shot, done, a shadow of his former self. I remember Salford fans bagging the signing on the basis he was a crook and for me he has been one of the best centres in the league this year, I learnt my lesson with that one and there are examples of that all throughout the game, if we're honest it's completely down to luck and circumstances surrounding recovery.

For all the kick back from fans, I wouldn't be against the signing of Gale, sure I'd prefer to unearth another promising aussie half but I just have a feeling a Gale at the club is going to be exactly what we need for next year.

I’m hoping a younger half back option/‘gem’ is unearthed else where with the World Cup imminent…….

I'd be happier in a one year deal. Maybe the longer term plan is to either look for someone off the radar in the WC, or to pick up a player mid season, which we have sometimes successfully dome so.