Jake the Peg wrote:
And millington
We've had some major disruption with injuries this season though with 5+ first 17 players out pretty much every game for the last couple of months but even at full strength we're probably looking at a bench of green, bowden, washbrook and connor/thompson which lacks a bit of impact for me.
On faster summer pitches when the injuries start stacking up wouldn't you want players that are more mobile, able to do more minutes/better endurance, get to the tackle quicker, be able to back a break?
This is why I don't think Pritchard was that effective, we already had the advantage of the best pack in SL and most of all not being injured so whilst pritchard did offer some impact in games it was for an all too short a period of time and he really didn't have much more 'impact' than the likes of Thompson who he was only just ahead of in tackle busts yet made massively fewer tackles than Thompson did.
A bench of Green, Bowden, Fash and Hadley IF we retain him and he isn't in the starting XIII which I hope we do is one that i would be happy with.
it's just that fans seem to think they have to be a big bustling runner in the mould of a Jamie Thackery or South Sea islander to be an impact player, I think impact is being viewed in much too narrow a way.
Naughton I can't see being kept, Lancaster has gone, I'm not sure we will keep Talanoa either.
So LR will have to decide if we find a replacment winger or decide if he keeps Talanoa or Michaels services for another year, both are much cheaper than Fonua, both are known quantities each with their own strengths and weaknesses. I prefer Michaels myself as he is pretty reliable, can cover centre or wing on either side and is defensively much better than Talanoa.
That means we have Rawesthorne on the left and Michaels on the right as an example.
Not forking out for a top winger would enable us to have either JA or Hadley back but I'm not sure if either will be coming back for 2018.
Then we have Ellis's money, some of that is already down for kelly's extension/upgrade which will be significant.
I don't think that would leave us a big amount in the pot for a top player even with the increase in salary cap IF we were actually going to play Hadley next year. never mind Hadley and JA.
ATM the big problem we have is Griffin, he's going to be on a decent wedge and he's not firing on all cyclinders and well short of expectations, we're stuck with him until end of 2019 so he really needs to crack on and prove his worth or he is wasted cap and a fair chunk of it too.
I also think LR sees Washbrook and Hadley very alike in what they offer, whilst Washbrook has done well when taking more responsibility I think Hadley is a slight upgrade on him. However taking Hadley back and keeping Washbrook too effectively pushes Jez litten to fourth choice dummy half and Radford's preference is to use a running second rower such as washbrook/Hadley type as a stand in and both have experience in that role, Hadley particularly at wakey is used that way.
It's a big conundrum for sure as to how LR sees things and how he wants us to go next year, sign a big 'impact' player that costs a lot or go with a ball playing 13 and more than adept forward who can cover the back row forwards positions and dummy half.
So
1. We release/leave on long term loan Hadley and JA and sign another forward (don't see the point personally because we aren't going to have big bucks left for a big name anyway)
2. On top of above re JA and Hadley we release michaels or Talanoa (or even both) and sign a bigger named/better standard 'impact' forward and a winger in the style of Fonua but a no name (not sure that's feasible money wise anyway)
3. We retain both Hadley and JA for next season, release Talanoa or Michaels, sign an unknown winger and the 'impact' forward is a non starter and we rely on our own lads to make the impact, just not in a smash bang wallop kind of way.
Can't see it being more than 2 signings either way, I'd prefer to play JA and Hadley next year, keep Michaels, release Talanoa.
