Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed May 19, 2021 4:36 pm  

I like to see a forward who can pass the ball as Shorrocks is not going to smash through the middle. It does look like we may end the season with a turn over of 5 props for the season if we count Burgess, probably Clubb, Clarke and possibly Bullock and Kilner ( if the rumours are true). However good the young lads are we will need some incoming muscle because playing nothing but converted and small backrowers upfront is not a championship winning strategy.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed May 19, 2021 4:47 pm  

Wire have signed James Harrison for next season, so that’s Bullock off there and a reasonably priced option to replace him off the table as well.

I hope we have a few tricks up our sleeve. None of the exits worry me too much but we can’t strip back the depth of the squad much further than this year. We’ve had a lot of years where 2 or 3 ins have been played off against 5 or 6 exits but I don’t think the depth is there for that this time. Every exit will need replacing pretty much.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed May 19, 2021 5:24 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

Wire have signed James Harrison for next season, so that’s Bullock off there and a reasonably priced option to replace him off the table as well.

I hope we have a few tricks up our sleeve. None of the exits worry me too much but we can’t strip back the depth of the squad much further than this year. We’ve had a lot of years where 2 or 3 ins have been played off against 5 or 6 exits but I don’t think the depth is there for that this time. Every exit will need replacing pretty much.

I'm not too worried about Wire tbh. They seem to be at the opposite end of the spectrum to us. We've got a couple of great prospects and they've got some older heads.

Pretty weird when you put it in writing, but if swapped Hill for Bullock - both clubs would be happy.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed May 19, 2021 5:26 pm  

A few weeks ago Hill was the worst prop in SL and should have gone back to Leigh. Now he’s some sort of messiah and we ought to be in for him!

I’m genuinely absolutely staggered some would take him here. He’s well past it and a shadow of his former self. He shouldn’t be touched with a mile length of timber.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed May 19, 2021 5:58 pm  

100% Warrior wrote:

A few weeks ago Hill was the worst prop in SL and should have gone back to Leigh. Now he’s some sort of messiah and we ought to be in for him!

I’m genuinely absolutely staggered some would take him here. He’s well past it and a shadow of his former self. He shouldn’t be touched with a mile length of timber.

Hills putting some good numbers on the board in terms of the ground he’s making in fairness. He is banging metres out that we haven’t seen from one of our props for a good while. If you want to improve that area of the field, you have to ask if he’s better than what we have? I think he’s still comfortably better than any of the senior props we have.

Just for some clarity his metres gained in the last 4 games are 97m, 138m, 154m and 120m. His discipline gets questioned but he’s given one penalty away in those four games. Maybe he is done but it doesn’t look like it going off that.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed May 19, 2021 6:22 pm  

100% Warrior wrote:

A few weeks ago Hill was the worst prop in SL and should have gone back to Leigh. Now he’s some sort of messiah and we ought to be in for him!

I’m genuinely absolutely staggered some would take him here. He’s well past it and a shadow of his former self. He shouldn’t be touched with a mile length of timber.

I don't think anyone has even come close to saying he's the messiah.

It isn't about if he's the player he once was - it's about if he's better than what we have. Imo he's playing well and would improve us. He's also available too. Those three as a starting point, are enough to have a reasonable conversation about him.

He's not the sole answer, but if we got him + another (and maybe one more too) then it would be a shrewd Deacon type signing.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed May 19, 2021 7:10 pm  

sergeant pepper wrote:

I don't think anyone has even come close to saying he's the messiah.

it isn't about if he's the player he once was - it's about if he's better than what we have. imo he's playing well and would improve us. He's also available too. Those three as a starting point, are enough to have a reasonable conversation about him.

He's not the sole answer, but if we got him + another (and maybe one more too) then it would be a shrewd Deacon type signing.

Absolutely, and as NickyKiss said above his stats either show that he isn't quite done yet or our pack is worse than we think.

I wouldn't sign him as our cornerstone, but he would IMO make a good support player to another dominant forward.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed May 19, 2021 7:29 pm  

Might be coincidence but it's funny how Hill's discipline issues seemed to coincide with him being made captain at Wire. Not captain this season and the penalties seem to have receded. Wouldn't be skipper if he came here...

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed May 19, 2021 9:05 pm  

sergeant pepper wrote:

He's not the sole answer, but if we got him + another (and maybe one more too) then it would be a shrewd Deacon type signing.

But it would only be a shrewd signing if it came off but there's no evidence to support that Hill could be the answer, to me he is well past his best

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed May 19, 2021 9:32 pm  

hengirl wrote:

But it would only be a shrewd signing if it came off but there's no evidence to support that Hill could be the answer, to me he is well past his best

I’d say it’s one of the only positions you can get some evidence of where he’s at because it’s a simple job in many ways. Does he make ground with the ball? does he have the engine to defend in there? Is he making a lot of errors? (Showing he’s flagging) and is he giving lots of penalties away? (Again possibly showing he’s flagging). All of those numbers are very good, so if he is done and some sort of liability now, then our props are even worse than we fear.

If people would turn there nose up at Chris Hill for a season or two, then I think they’ll be pretty disappointed with what we’ll probably end up with because unless they go totally against the grain of our usual prop signings, they’ll get nowhere near the level he’s been at recently.