Decent first choice pack but there's no depth there, particularly in the back row. We could lose mini, manu, westerman, hadley, washbrook and your list only has us replacing them with jones and thompson. We can't expect ellis to be playing week in, week out. I'd like us to keep green as it would give us the option of playing a prop at 13 but can't see him being here next year. Hopefully the kenny edwards rumour is true. A back row of jones, thompson, savelio and edwards would give us some real punch if it happened but probably stretching the salary cap too far to expect that

I haven't followed Catalans all that closely this year tbh but Kenny Edwards had a mare the other night and from reading various comments that just seems to have been the norm this year. Apparently he is having a really bad season.

I thought that Edwards signed for Cats because he couldn't get a visa in UK due to past problems. Has that situation changed?

Id rather we signed Thompson and went with Thompson, Savelio, Jones and Lane as our main second rowers, backed up by any academy talent.

Evans and Sao for the prop/LF roles

And id say were good to go, possibly with a quota spot to spare. Possibly less numbers higher quality

If Westerman, Manu, Minichiello, Hadley and Paea are all leaving I would definately keep Green and just play with another prop at 13. We don't really have anyone else who can play the Westerman role, so we may aswell just play to our strengths and go big. I have seen suggestions that Kelly or Connor could play 13, but I'm not sure either have the engine or are strong enough defenders. Both can tackle, but defending in the middle is a whole different prospect. It might be worth an experiment, but I aren't mad on the idea.

Shaul
Naulago
Connor
Tuimavave
Faraimo
Kelly
Sneyd
Taylor
Houghton
Evans
Jones
Thompson
Sao

Savelio
Green
Bowden
Griffin

That's a hell of a 17 imo. You also have Ellis to go into that equation, but I wouldn't have him playing week in week out, just pick and choose his moments and make sure he is available for the crunch games. Still a quota spot there aswell, may leave the door open for Paea unless there is someone else on the way?

Agree about Chris Green, he has shown energy and a fair bit of speed on his return, keep him.

Since Watts left I have always said that he is our 2nd best prop. The main issue was his injury record. He is starting to string some games together now and we are seeing what he can do. He makes good yards, hardly ever makes an error, and is very good at controling and slowing the ptb without giving up many penalties.

We would be daft not to keep him and if he does leave he would make a good signing for pretty much anyone.

Edit: Just looking at Green's stats. It's a small sample size, but in 5 appearances in the league he has only made 1 error and hasn't conceded a penalty whilst his average carry is 7.91 metres and he has 9 tackle busts. That's a better average gain than both Walmsley and Thompson.

Do we have any backrowers waiting in the wings? Like a lot of people I've lost track since the merger.

With only lane and brown coming through who are forwards , and I can’t see brown playing that much for a while , I think we need to be going like for like in terms of numbers in the forwards . So if we release 6 , we need 6 new forwards for me .

We leader and in his prime. The other linked in my opinion
need to get the Thompson one past the line. Good player and a Evans- could either be a Sam Moa on prime or a Paul McNicholas, so jury is out
Sao- Never seen him so can't judge
Edwards- IMO no improvement on Manu. Would like to see a few more names linked and yes I would take a gamble on Watkins but not as a marquee

Evans? Have I missed something? When did we sign Tex Evans?

Why would you take Watkins? We have three very good centres as it is. Would be a total waste of cap!

Connor will be playing in the middle sooner rather than later. Griffin can cover back row if Hadley, westerman, Jordan Thompson and washbrook go. I admit Watkins has been garbage this year but he is still a quality player and playing in a poor side. I sent saying we should sign up but I wouldn't be upset if we did.

No thanks to Watkins, 2 years ago, then yes, but too many injuries, loss of form and would still command a huge salary.

I'd expect Wigan to sign him

IMO Wakey or Cas.

I've watched Evans for a while now. Not good enough in my mind. Mark Jones only he's even softer. He will be a nice bloke I'm sure. We need a big mongrel type front rower

I've only seen him 3 or 4 times but I've never been particularly impressed. Don't think he's any better than Green but he's probably more injury resistant.

Certainly hasn't played the number of games & will be WAY more expensive.

We were first linked many years ago to help him with his development, IMO he hasn't developed !!

Ben Matulino anyone? Been shipped round to English clubs.

No chance at Trinity, wouldn't get in the side with Tupou and Lyne. Even leaving the money thing to one side I'd even have Arundel over what I've seen of Watkins since injuries.

I’d like to see Jordan Thompson stay, can only see him being on cheap wages and if we sign some quality players that take up a lot of cap then he would be a versatile cheap player that while never looks amazing, never lets anyone down and can basically play anywhere, other than on the wing in Australia against Wigan lol

He’s garbage, wasn’t good enough in his first spell with us, hence us getting rid and he’s even worse now. Btw he wasn’t with us for the Oz trip.

… he wasn't "garbage" when he played @warrington, but hasn't been picked since.

The term “Garbage” is used far to often on here. Whilst I’m not a fan of Thompson and wasn’t in favour of his re signing I wouldn’t describe him as “garbage” nor Adam Swift even before he’d signed

Okay he’s not good enough for a team that want to be challenging, whether he’s in the 17 or as a squad player.