Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Oct 19, 2014 5:08 pm  

to clarify st pete, I wasnt talking about brough being a back up half, but starting with smith. however as he is such a similar player to smith, he would give us cover if smith was out (a weakness of our squad at present).
in the scenario that either brough or smith were missing, then hampshire in at SO with either of those i would see as a nice reserve combination.
my comment about winning teams is as phuzzy has stated, that brough and the giants have gone missing in the big games over the past 3-4 seasons which is why their trophy cabinet looks like it does.
however, he is such a good player that he would flourish in a team which is used to winning the big games eg leeds or wigan

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Oct 19, 2014 5:09 pm  

The Great Tom Vol wrote:

I Said it all Season Smith is Not A Goal Kicker when Under Pressure.

No argument from me.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Oct 19, 2014 8:14 pm  

[quote="St pete"]Brough as cover for smith? Brough was man if steel last year and a top top player. Surly he'd be playing in the halves.


I have watched this thread for a couple of days and it worries me and it is obvious to me if Brough came in it wouldn't be as cover, he would be at standoff (my opinion) with Smith at scrumhalf.
This is now my worry, Wane seems to have made his mind up that Hampshire is the future at fullback but with the halfback positions (if Brough was to come) fixed .
This to me means how much game time would Hampshire get if the only chance of first team rugby was to give Bowen a break, when it was said that Green was going home it was said that Hampshire would get more game time at standoff waiting for the fullback position when Bowen goes home. Remember Hampshire is a Leeds lad and I think that if there any signs of unrest there are clubs waiting to jump in to sign him as a standoff.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Oct 19, 2014 8:55 pm  

Brough is 32 at the start of next season so he wouldn't get more than a 2 year deal anyway.
Hampshire will play a lot 2015 as Bowen is going and we need a full back ready to go 2016.
Agree with the talent we have but I'm in doubt about the physical ability of Hampshire/Williams/Powell to play a full 30 game season with the C Cup and SL semis. Half backs are coming in with 25-35 tackles a game and that is a heck of a load when they have also to do the attack stuff too.
Brough is a player who does seem to cop some knocks these days and maybe he's a good fit with his ability yet will miss a number of games and will need a quality replacement players when he's out.

This is just a rumour anyway. Last Monday's trade press had a rumour that Taylor may go to Hudds on loan. Now it's Brough to Wigan that's a rumour.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Oct 19, 2014 8:57 pm  

Cherry_Warrior wrote:

Burgess was offered the Brisbane contract 2 months ago after Wigan had offered him a derisory contract. This is from a very good source from within the coaching staff. This same source also said It is 90% certain that Charnley will be going to Rugby Union in the close season and they want Tommy Makinson to replace him.

Do not dismiss this a rubbish because i was informed of the Burgess deal 2 months ago and it's happened even before anyone had a sniff

Like I said, Josh to Sarries, Makinson has signed.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Oct 19, 2014 9:50 pm  

Last Son of Wigan wrote:

Like I said, Josh to Sarries, Makinson has signed.

For 2015. Sad to see Josh go but Makinson is a good replacement

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Oct 19, 2014 9:54 pm  

So how much are Saints accepting for the last 2 years of Makinsons contract?

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Oct 19, 2014 10:06 pm  

Showed Tommy this thread before he went to Mexico. News to him!

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Oct 19, 2014 10:41 pm  

Not a rumour just an observation, we need a half back and a Prop, both must be 30+.

For Wane to claim we don't is just wrong. Our biggest weakness this year is a lack of leader in the Props. We also lack the quality to replace Green internally.

Ironically Flower may well become our Prop leader as a result of his recent exoeriences but that is a longer term development.

Brough would be a perfect signing, but we would still need an experienced Prop, Simms for me would have been perfect. Wire have recruited very well with him and Clark.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Oct 20, 2014 7:48 am  

Nothing has been signed yet as far as Burgess go's but its obviously a possibility he will go. There's no secret he has been offered a contract at the roosters and lets be honest who wouldn't be tempted regardless of age, money etc to go and play in the NRL. Just hope the club are sensible if he does go and try to convince him to come back to us if he does come back. That said some of the figures about what he is being payed/offered are way off the mark.


On the subject of props James has signed with Swinton, not sure what that means to his coaching situation with us.