Re: Preview of 2013 squad - who's left plus rumours : Wed Oct 10, 2012 7:13 am  

According to T&A a decison will be made sometime in Dec with regards to Purtell. As i've said before i wish Purtell all the best but personally i'd rather keep Sammut, especially now we have Blythe on board for next season.

That would give us balance in the halves and back line and hopefully Ainscough can re-sign.

Manoukafoa is a crucial signing and if we can bring Fielden in the pack looks fairly solid.

Re: Preview of 2013 squad - who's left plus rumours : Wed Oct 10, 2012 9:31 am  

happy with the Matty Blthye signing. Now we need to get Donaldson, Ainscough, Addy and Nas resigned, plus Sammut if its true about his dispensation. We're then just a couple of props (Fielden + another young prospect like Blythe on loan) away from a competitive 25 man squad squad IMO.

Re: Preview of 2013 squad - who's left plus rumours : Wed Oct 10, 2012 9:49 am  

If our props next year are Scruton, Nas, Fielden plus one other loan signing we will finish in the bottom 2, particularly if the majority of your second row options are 23 and under. We need Nas, Fielden plus 3 more.

Re: Preview of 2013 squad - who's left plus rumours : Wed Oct 10, 2012 10:14 am  

M@islebugs wrote:

If our props next year are Scruton, Nas, Fielden plus one other loan signing we will finish in the bottom 2, particularly if the majority of your second row options are 23 and under. We need Nas, Fielden plus 3 more.

Depends how good the signing is I guess and we could move Langley to prop. I'd also like 3 new experienced sl quality props, I'm just not sure they're available or affordable.

Scruton, Nas, Fielden, Good new signing (or 2 Id agree), McAvoy (to be eased in if ready), and Langley might be as good as we can expect for front row options and if all stay fit will be competitive, if not world beating I'd agree.

It is definately the most important area of the squad to fix as it is today.

Re: Preview of 2013 squad - who's left plus rumours : Wed Oct 10, 2012 10:25 am  

3 and Langley is a decent set of props for a team looking to crawl into the top 8, although another experienced head and Langley remaining in the back row would be better.

[Bullseye]

Re: Preview of 2013 squad - who's left plus rumours : Wed Oct 10, 2012 10:58 am  

We had Hargreaves, Burgess, Manoakafoa, Kopczak, Scruton and Joseph all figuring at prop at some stage last season with Langley filling in occasionally too.

We started with 5 bona fide props. I'd say we need at least 5 to avoid being utterly stuffed by injury in 2013.

Not bothered about losing Pryce or Joseph. Pryce for all his natural talent isn't the sort of bloke to give 100% all the time, I expect that's why he's been let go. Joseph isn't good enough and we'd be better giving a run to a young player with more of a career in front of him.

Happy with the Blythe loan.

Re: Preview of 2013 squad - who's left plus rumours : Wed Oct 10, 2012 11:00 am  

We need to actually sign McAvoy before we can begin easing him into the first team

Re: Preview of 2013 squad - who's left plus rumours : Wed Oct 10, 2012 11:08 am  

Nothus wrote:

We need to actually sign McAvoy before we can begin easing him into the first team

indeed, but a conversation only about our current signed up props for 2013 is quite a short one.

Re: Preview of 2013 squad - who's left plus rumours : Wed Oct 10, 2012 12:17 pm  

Do we need props? In the modern game the scrum is not contested and the hooker does not need the support of the props to "hook the ball". If it's the need to utilize props to return the ball after the kick off or to stop the opponents props. Surely a better option would be fast, agile, strong centres to run rings round the props on the return and multiple players in the tackle.

Re: Preview of 2013 squad - who's left plus rumours : Wed Oct 10, 2012 12:45 pm  

Sitting Bull wrote:

Do we need props? In the modern game the scrum is not contested and the hooker does not need the support of the props to "hook the ball". If it's the need to utilize props to return the ball after the kick off or to stop the opponents props. Surely a better option would be fast, agile, strong centres to run rings round the props on the return and multiple players in the tackle.