And if we lose to Leigh ( and they shouldnt be underestimated) there will still be people on here that think the likes of Taylor and Griffin should be given contract extensions.
Please Hull FC no more sentiment.
Having 20 players off contract at the end of the season is such bad management but then we have seen it before with long contracts handed out to players.
We have to hope Pearson and Clark have at least learnt some lessons and get this rebuilding right.

So, in effect, you're saying that should we lose it will be down to Taylor and Griffin. You're like a singer who only knows one song.

Paul Cooke writes a great article on FC last week and Leigh match

for me - dump at least 17 of the 20 players ooc at end of season !! keep the best 3 and the 17 , regardless of who they are can just fook off for me

Agree need a mass clear out no matter what

The only players I would keep are hoy, Clifford, Sutcliffe, satae, dwyer, fash, Trueman, swift, mitch

The rest I would let go ( obviously some are tied to contracts ) but any of the others out of contract should be bye bye

Do people really think we can just sign 17 players of better quality than we have, that's near impossible, look at the OOC players list, very little quality available and some of the ones that are OOC won't sign for us.

We need to realistic in the recruitment, target 4 players who will really improve our 17 and add in a couple more for the squad. This might mean we need to keep a couple for another year than normally we would replace.

I think Simon Jordan has done a great job in backing Powell at Wire in breaking up an aging team and bring in fresh blood . I'm hoping Pearson can let TS do the same . Not going to be easy as there is other clubs (Cas been one ) with a big roster to rotate .

I can understand where Bonaire is coming from in terms of getting rid with a mass clear out which I agree is needed. However I also see Dave K’s point in that with such a high number of players that A, we need rid of and B, are out of contract unfortunately the player pool available is relatively small and hardly full of quality. I think the likes of TS and AP have to be really smart and target a small number of quality players that are an upgrade and will also improve us for the 2024 season. Then most likely promote from within, possibly a couple of players from the championship and extend a few deals to supplement things. We can’t just go out and get 12 or more players as it just isn’t that easy.
Can’t argue with Bonaire in his summary of the state of our recruitment/retention policy and how we could have allowed to have up to 20 players OOC is rank mismanagement.
I think 2 forwards at least 1 top quality 2nd rower, possibly another hooker and a winger with genuine pace are a minimum requirement. Ideally I’d like a lot more but we have to be realistic. I’d hope that wheels were put in motion if not already underway in terms retention/recruitment as soon as BH was removed and TS approached with deals for new players for 2024 already agreed or at advanced stages.
Hopefully AP has learned from the mistakes made since Motu left, time will tell as they say.

Agreed, they seem to have got recruitment right, but they only brought in about 5/6 players to improve their 17, they didn't do a major overhaul like some are suggesting we do and would be virtually impossible without making the squad worst.

Key is getting quality from our imports, Lovodua and Evans as it stands are not good enough to be quota players.

Welsh RU is currently in a mess , Possibly a great opportunity to sound out some players over there . Ellis Genge wants to give League a go apparently . Never seen him or heard of him until I read the article .

The 20 players ooc is also a slight misnomer as a number of those are academy players who, probably reasonably, were on fairly short term contracts and are unlikely to feature anytime soon or at all.
Its still a large number of the first team squad ooc at the same time but its not quite as bad as some are making out.

Absolutley. Our overseas recruitment has been pretty patchy over the last few years, some real disappointments in there.

I have been saying for ages we should be looking at RU players a lot more.The RU game has changed lot with more running with the ball and defence much more in line with R/L.
Huge changes coming in RU
Many Premiership sides have been living hand to mouth, a situation that worsened as Covid-19 annihilated matchday income. Some UK£59 million (US$67.7 million) of the UK government’s UK£300 million (US$3444 million) ‘Sport Winter Survival Package’ in November 2020 was allocated to English top-flight rugby union clubs.
We have already seen whats happened to Worcester and Wasps and high wage bills cannot now be sustained so inevitably there will be some high quality players come available.
We certainly need someone with RU connections acting and advising the club of players availability

I assume we have as we signed that young lad from Welsh RU on a trial, Jermarie Chatham, although I believe he's at Cornwall now.

Just reading about him and apparently he was with us for 2 years but was released last year which was when he went to Cornwall.

I agree we should always be looking at young players in case we turn up a gem but i am talking about players in the RU premiership whos deals will finish this year and due to major financial problems in the game will have to either take a huge salary cut or look for another club.
Some hopefully will come into our game.

A sweeping generalisation on my part, but their technical skills - catch and pass, are very poor. Watching the 6 nations and the amount of ball that hits the floor, or the spin a pass out when it doesn't need it, or the runner has to stop as the pass is poor, is plentiful

It's not. Ex-England coaches Eddie Jones and Stuart Lancaster have made reference to this that the core skills of League players are far superior. That's why so many ex-league coaches are employed by union.

That's not to say that they are union players that could not be top League players. Some of the outside backs are brilliant and would excel in league. The front rowers and the lineout jumpers wouldn't stand a chance.

A costly legacy of Hodgson's tenure.

It's Simon Moran but yes I'm hoping Pearson gives Smith time as well. If Smith cannot build and improve us then I'm not sure who can.

For info Simon Jordan is the talksport opinionated dandy who talks like he has swallowed a thesaurus.

He is also Michelle Dewberrys long time partner.

Forget about the internationals try and watch some of the league games.
Bristol play very exciting attacking rugby and if Ratu hadnt have picked up his lengthy injury he would have been at the top or near top of try scorers.
As Marcus mentioned some of the half backs, outside backs and full backs are brilliant with bags of pace and with huge clearouts coming in Rugby Union and the UK no longer seen as attractive to overseas RU players there has to be room for some of these players in S/L.
Just wonder if the rumour about Ratu has any mileage as its still not clear whether he actually signed an extension to his 2year deal or whether he will be released.

The problem is despite the parlous state of union finances even the fringe players are on huge salarys. League clubs should be scouting union academy players. If I'm right the first season doesn't count on the cap?

I hope the Ratu rumour is just a rumour. I thought he was brilliant for us especially when you consider he was a union 7's player and signed for us in his mid 20's. Not sure he's ever played league before.

It wasn't all bad there was...errr....there was...hmmm....maybe it was all bad...
Were Hoy and Clifford signed before Hodgson departed?

Pretty sure Hoy was signed under Hodgson as well as Sutcliffe, Trueman and Dwyer but Clifford was signed under Smith.

I stand to be corrected if I'm wrong.

I read a piece on the state of the union game and its current finances , It was more or less saying , The current levels of wages cannot be sustained and wages need to be cut .
That would play more into or at least get nearer to SL levels for fringe players or even possibly even better skilled players should our own Salary cap increase .
It would be nice to see the flow of players change back from one code back to League .