Another one bites the dust. : Wed Jan 29, 2025 11:22 am  

So Harry Stevens is released from his contract with apparently 2 years to run. While no doubt there are good reasons, I would be very vexed if he turned up at another club, which we all know has happened more than once.

Re: Another one bites the dust. : Wed Jan 29, 2025 12:59 pm  

Thought we were trying to keep blokes, not as if we’ve got an excess of players - how very London!

Re: Another one bites the dust. : Wed Jan 29, 2025 4:33 pm  

Deadcowboys1 wrote:

So Harry Stevens is released from his contract with apparently 2 years to run. While no doubt there are good reasons, I would be very vexed if he turned up at another club, which we all know has happened more than once.

It’s going to be a tough old season and if he doesn’t think he’ll play much, isn’t getting paid much and is of an age where he needs to push his studies or non RL career on you can see how this happens as it must take up quite a bit of bandwidth juggling demands of RL career and everything else. I doubt he’ll go anywhere else as there is no where else but there are likely to be Union opportunities and they may well be easier to get to for him. The real issue is that only leaves Monk, who played well on Saturday, of our expensively assembled production line of young prospects left and it’s unclear where the next batch comes from. There’s no more at Skolars and how many Aussie diamonds playing amateur in London can we expect to find. Real tricky patch this.

Re: Another one bites the dust. : Wed Jan 29, 2025 4:58 pm  

BigTime wrote:

It’s going to be a tough old season and if he doesn’t think he’ll play much, isn’t getting paid much and is of an age where he needs to push his studies or non RL career on you can see how this happens as it must take up quite a bit of bandwidth juggling demands of RL career and everything else. I doubt he’ll go anywhere else as there is no where else but there are likely to be Union opportunities and they may well be easier to get to for him. The real issue is that only leaves Monk, who played well on Saturday, of our expensively assembled production line of young prospects left and it’s unclear where the next batch comes from. There’s no more at Skolars and how many Aussie diamonds playing amateur in London can we expect to find. Real tricky patch this.

While I don't necessarily disagree with you BT, I would have thought he & his parents would have addressed those issues before signing a 3 year deal in 2023 even though our circumstances have changed somewhat for the worse since then. I don't remember us offering too many 3 year contracts. If he's that talented, I wouldn't be surprised if he turned up at a SL club at some stage.

Re: Another one bites the dust. : Wed Jan 29, 2025 5:57 pm  

Deadcowboys1 wrote:

While I don't necessarily disagree with you BT, I would have thought he & his parents would have addressed those issues before signing a 3 year deal in 2023 even though our circumstances have changed somewhat for the worse since then. I don't remember us offering too many 3 year contracts. If he's that talented, I wouldn't be surprised if he turned up at a SL club at some stage.

One thing is for sure DC it’s not good news.

Re: Another one bites the dust. : Wed Jan 29, 2025 7:20 pm  

You can imagine him being a miffed that he didn't get picked on the weekend with trialists ahead of him.

Re: Another one bites the dust. : Wed Jan 29, 2025 7:29 pm  

the-bearded-lefty wrote:

You see him being a miffed that he didn't get picked on the weekend with trialists ahead of him.

It’s all guesswork but I’d assumed the decision wasn’t related to that but the broader picture. As I understand he’s a prop and quite young. I think we have decent coverage in that area, wingers and flair players less options.

Re: Another one bites the dust. : Wed Jan 29, 2025 9:52 pm  

BigTime wrote:

It’s all guesswork but I’d assumed the decision wasn’t related to that but the broader picture. As I understand he’s a prop and quite young. I think we have decent coverage in that area, wingers and flair players less options.

Oops my mistake. I thought he was a centre.

Re: Another one bites the dust. : Wed Jan 29, 2025 10:28 pm  

the-bearded-lefty wrote:

Oops my mistake. I thought he was a centre.

He may well be. I haven’t seen him play and his photo makes him seem more slight than the typical Prop but TotalRL suggest he’s a prop.

Re: Another one bites the dust. : Thu Jan 30, 2025 12:18 am  

BigTime wrote:

He may well be. I haven’t seen him play and his photo makes him seem more slight than the typical Prop but TotalRL suggest he’s a prop.

Depends where you look, he is described as both Centre & Prop. The timing is just a little odd, why go through pre-season training then bail out just as the fixtures start, unless you plan to play something, League or Union elsewhere. If he's giving up rugby to pursue employment or education, then good luck to the lad.