Oh well that settles that - hopefully Johnson will stay and push JOC for reserve to Ackers.
Think is CJ hasn’t shown enough to be first choice 9 at any SL club yet so he’d just be going from reserve here to reserve somewhere else, unless he went championship.
I do wonder if we have enough resilience as a squad without this extra prop but let’s see what we can do…
I'm hoping for an uptick from mik, hopefully freer from injury with a proper preseason under his belt. Ditto Tom H who I hope will continue his progress. Lisone finished the year better than he started and hopefully picks up where he left off. But I don't think any will go through the season uninjured and unconcussed. Or indeed suspended, given the near impossibility of playing a high speed contact sport under the current set of rules while keeping a clean record.
It'll need quite a few things to fall our way if we're to hit the heights without reinforcements up front.
Thing with Walters, in my opinion, is that he was the forward who most exceded expectations. Prior to 2023 he'd been pretty hit and miss; big lad but athletically limited while growing into his body. Last year he started to deliver on his potential and sadly probably signed for Wigan before it became apparent that he'd be a big miss for us. That said, he was probably our 4th best prop. Oledski and Holroyd both do the tough stuff far better, Lisone ( as he settled) was more explosive. It is a great shame that's he leaving, but the fact is he's gone and he's definitely not irreplaceable.
4th best prop , Oledski was garbage and Lisone a flat track bully , as for Holroyd he was good for a while and then faded towards the end of the season
With likely one more to come. But fair enough, feel free to have a moan, like many did about our failure to recruit spine players. How did that turn out? Or you could just give them just give them the benefit of your ongoing doubts.
People had a right to criticise our failure to recruit spine players as we needed to , so not sure on your point there . The more critics , the more likely Hetherington would do something about it .
Honestly fascinated to see how we go in 2024; I just have the feeling we might need some further fine tuning to really challenge but if we get luck with injuries and form there’s no reason why we couldn’t be in the mix.
This off-season, with the funding we’ve secured, probably the most progressive (and necessary, and overdue) in a very long time indeed.
It should be fairly obvious looking at RS's rebuilding plan, he is looking for good solid workmanlike pros throughout the side with as small a drop to the cover guy in the reserve, Hopefully believing the sum of the team exceeds the sum of the indervidual, His only "X factor" player is Lachie Miller who it looks to me is one he and GH wanted most of all, presumably paying a fee and buying him out of a contract, Miller could and hopefully will be our Jai Field,
Regarding another prop, RS will be aware we are light but if we get another one in its very unlikely to be a big name, forget Kasiano, Burgess or Satae types, it would be a solid reliable starting player for a SL team thinking maybe someone like Lookley at KR or Massey from Cas, I am not sugesting we get either of these players just there type, solid, dependable, durable pro's.If someone comes available, I believe we would make space for this type of player.
4th best prop , Oledski was garbage and Lisone a flat track bully , as for Holroyd he was good for a while and then faded towards the end of the season
Oledzki had a poor season in comparison to the standards he had set over the last couple. "Garbage" is an extreme way of describing his performances, which for me were still full of effort and endeavour, but short on brains. The same could be said of the vast majority of team performances. Holdroyd, all in all, had a cracking season and recieved some international recognition on the back of it. He's a far more natural prop than Walters, who doesn't seem to see himself in the position. Lisone started to give us the kind of impact we gave missed for a while when he settled. The crowd certainly get excited when he charges the ball in, which isn't a bad indication of his progress. Walters had some great individual moments and I wish he was still at the club, but I'm not going to make a mountain out of a molehill about his departure like you want to.
If, and I know it’s an if, we replace him with Wilson as well, I think it’s a wash potential wise with Wilson been a much more natural prop. Just my opinion.