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 .

We need a clear out to rid the club of the
‘cancer’ that McCrae mentioned.

It’s a culture issue and it’s embedded totally

If it was me - Boom - get rid of 17 of the 20

then bring in 12 of the Reserves and 5 new signings

I’m telling you - believe in young players aged 19-22 !!! they hardly ever let you down and within 2 years you have a nucleus of amazing hardened players

Going to be a funny game this one.

If the ball sticks for Hull, I see a convincing victory. If the ball sticks for Leigh........ I see a convincing victory !!!

Hull need to chance their arm like Wire did against us on Friday. They were devastating. When the ball stuck though, Leigh tore them apart too !!

Not touching this on the coupon !!

I was informed that Tony Smith was told in July that the job was his and he was making the signings from that point? Maybe that’s why Hodgson looked like a rabbit in the headlights round about that time.

Good to see Carlos and Sutcliffe named in the 21. Would personally go:

Hoy
Swift
Sutcliffe
Carlos
Litten
Lovodua
Clifford
Satae
Houghton
Brown
Griffin
Savelio
Fash

Sao
Taylor
Dwyer
Cator

On paper it looks as good as we can get, wouldn't be shocked to see Scott on the bench to slot into centre's if Carlos is still not ready for a full 80, or vice versa.

I'd spring a surprise and play Sutcliffe 6 he's done it before and it's only short term
Hoy
Litten
Carlos
Scott
Swift
Sutcliffe
Clifford
Satae
Mint
Fash
Dre
Griffin
Sao
Subs
Brown
Taylor
Dwyer
Cator

Pretty much what I'd go for though personally I'd have Scott in the centres and Sutcliffe in at 6 instead of Lovodua as he offers nothing there.

Issue with Sutcliffe at Leeds was they kept moving him around and he became a utility player, so I'd keep him at centre, tough on Scott, unless you can find a spot on the bench for him. I wouldn't be surprised ti see either Carlos or Sutcliffe miss out.

Strong team that, probably the best 17 we have put out in a long time, so excuses, we should be winning this at home.

Think Carlos will be on the bench and will be eased back rather than thrown straight back in after almost 10 months out.
Problem is who drops out? Good headache for TS.