I like him, would I be devastated if he went, no, he was bigged up more than Satae and he has certainly hasn't been as good, but a sold performer who plays good minutes, make yards and has an offload.

Like most of our starting pack, he plays too many minutes due to the awful bench decisions by Hodgson.

I really like Sao - no nonsense Prop, with good aggression, mobility and ability to offload. Had to do a lot of minutes this year too!

He isn't the same kind of player as Satae so cannot be compared to him. I have looked at his stats compared to someone like Prior - a prop that does a lot of minutes, and who has had a great year for Leeds, and his stats look good.

Sao:

Tackles - 538
Tackle Busts - 25
Carries - 229
Metres - 1722
Average Gain - 7.52
Offloads - 23

Prior:

Tackles - 613
Tackle Busts - 26
Carries - 214
Metres - 1559
Average Gain - 7.29
Offloads - 14

I'm another that likes Ligi and think he's been a decent signing.

As DaveK, mwindass & Irregs have said he has done a lot of minutes and in most of the games too many with the lack of Taylor & Bowden its been down to him and Satae to get us on the front foot which he and Satae have done.

He's pretty consistent too and think a lot of the errors he's made are down to fatigue and frustration. He's never going to be a barnstorming player in the way that Satae is but when they are on together they compliment each other. Both Sao & Satae need some support as so they can be utilised better but with both Bowden and Taylor being missing for a good chunk of the season we have been far too lightweight.

I also seem to remember Sao was going to play LF for us but ended up been used as a prop due to our shortage in that dept.

As Irregs has put when you compare his stats to Prior (who many seem to think is one of the best in SL) then Sao is more than decent.

We need to look at the Taylor/Bowden/Matongo situation as we have 3 players that have missed an awful lot of game time due to injury. Fash does a ton of work and is reliable and has role to play but we have lacked long term rotation in terms of fowards as once Satae & Sao come off we loss momentum due to lack of size in the middle coupled with the slow speed we tend to ptb.

I like Ligi. Often has to play big minutes, to his detriment.

Like Dave K said, Hodgsons bench decisions have been baffling at times. Think Ligi has been a victim of that.

There again, Chris71 makes a good point in that with us missing three of our bigger units, we haven’t been able to spell Satae and Sao enough (without a huge drop off).

I just put it out there because it's an opinion that I rarely ever see or hear. Is he a poor player? No. Is he a big part of our failings? Definitely not. But I just think he's nothing more than a solid pro, and is that the sort of player we want to be using our quota places (and no doubt a decent bit of cap) on?

I think it's a fair point about him being used the wrong way or being asked to do play too may minutes in the trenches, because he does show glimpses of being a dangerous player. Just not often enough for me.

Ligi & Big Chris have been a match for almost everyone, they’ve carried our side all season, and the wonder is their efforts are only now looking jaded, the big question can Tag ever reproduce that performance which would absolutely complement these two, will we ever have him back.

Secondly even without Tag, Big Chris produced game after game, which we dominated up front, but the most alarming thing for me, was not our forward power, but the inability of our halves to capitalise on this, smartness and craft, has been completely absent, we epitomise the proverbial rudderless ship.

It’s getting a bit monotonous now, but a top hooker required, not an experimental nine, but one to push Danny off the scene, unbelievable we have been so poor, yet we are not that far away. Get the nine sorted, if finances allow it.

I get what you mean ZH. I think if you could find a comparable English player to do the same job, you wouldn’t use a quota space on him.
Just a dearth of quality players across super league at the moment, so Sao looks a good signing in comparison to others out there.

We still seem unable to break teams down in their own 25. Reverted back to kicks to the corner or barge overs. Connor is the only real threat we have.

There again , most teams play the same way, with the same moves. Makes our game really uninteresting at the moment.

I was really impressed with the ball Wakey attacked at the weekend, they moved the ball quickly and accurately, one thing we cant do.

Is it new coach syndrome? I can remember we had that under Agar for a few weeks!

Good solid prop Ligi and is certainly a handful who makes good yards, I also think both him and Satae get through a mountain of work in defence. As a few have said we need to find a couple of Props who will compliment them, really want Brown given gametime now and trusted as a bench option so he can develop.

Who are the best Props in the championship that haven't been signed?

Any NRL/reserve grade props with a non quota passport

Non quota passport doesn't matter it's all non fed now, so they have to have played junior rugby here, so we have one quota spot.

Need to be a European forward or use our last non fed spot.

Cheers Dave il admit I've lost track of it all now haha!!

Bored so had a nosey in the championship, slim pickings, lots of super league veterans in the prop department, one that did catch my eye was Joe Bretherton from Toulouse, Wigan lad. Anyone seen much of him?

Whilst i understand where you are coming from as pointed out by several posters Ligi Sao has been flogged to death with very little interchange and that also goes for Moa,Danny Houghton and most of our forwards.
The make up and utilization of our bench under Hodgson deserves to be criticised even given the lack of available players and is probably the reason we have found it difficult to compete later in games.
Taylor is finished in my opinion and Bowden plays so few minutes without breaking sweat needs to go but who is at fault here when he is only on the field for 13 minutes each half yet we have the likes of Sao trying to make up the minutes for unfit or cant be bothered team mates selected by the coach.
If we had Brad Fash in a Bowden body then we would have a player but again as hard as he works would he get a regular place in any other S/L team i doubt it.
For me if we had a couple of big mobile front rows to replace Bowden and Taylor we would have a very decent pack.
It would still work at 9 with Houghton as the starting middle and Jamie Shaul coming off the bench.
My concern is half back.We have an ineffective 7 and a crocked 6

They also have a decent half back a guy called Jacob Miller

Aren’t Wigan looking at Miller?

Miller. I blood. dy hope not.

Stopped reading when you thought that Sam Moa still played for us

If we can get another big prop. If Taylor gets fit. Only the people at hull will know that. Throw in Brown and Fash and we should be ok at prop. . Again if Reynolds comes back fit him and Sneyd will be fine.

We need two big mobile front rows.Hodgson has said we need one but i think two are necessary.
Bowden will be on his way out and Taylor we have lost now to injury two seasons in a row.
Last season played only 11 games
This season is worse only eight league games and one cup match.
Out of the eight league games he started only four with the other four off the bench.
my opinion is he is finished as a top front row.
If we can find two big experienced forwards then we have a pack that can compete with most teams.
Reynolds is another doubt due to past injuries and whether he goes another season will depend on how bad this current injury is but he has intimated his possible retirement.
The less said about Sneyd the better.We have a non running,erratic passer of a ball who can kick goals but cant tackle so my concern is at halfback because we are stuck with Sneyd but could lose Reynolds.

Cant really disagree.

Bowden is finished as a SL forward, does a 10 minute stint and goes through the motions. I really want Taylor to be the player of old, but as you say this is 2 seasons of injuries now. Think the years of carrying the pack has taken its toll.

I've been told we've signed 1 overseas prop and a SL fed trained prop, but no idea who or if this is true.

We need cover at half. Ben McNamara isn't ready yet. I've mentioned Hampshire in a previous thread who would be perfect for us. If we can get someone of his quality I'd loan McNamara out for 2022 or let him develop in the reserves.

Hooker is a massive issue for us too.

Announced earlier that Sene-Lefao is leaving Cas, could he be the fed trained player? I've long since lost track of RL's quota rules!

Federation trained player is any player who came through a federation academy (basically an UK based academy). JSL came through at Manly and is this a non fed player.

Also one of the Cas players commented “good luck at the dragons you’ll love the sun” or similar on his Social media announcement posts - assume he will be a like for like replacement for Joel Tomkins

He blows too hot and cold for me. Consistency is an issue for us, I'm not sure he'd help us fix that.

He's better in the 2nd row than at prop anyway so don't we need him.

Hull Live reporting that Turkish Media are reporting that the TV Tycoon's takeover of Hull City is in the final stages and he wants to come and tour the MKM and training ground.

Cross your fingers everyone!