Mrs Barista wrote:
Fair point, but in the case of Broughton, I guess we got offered him through the Hetherington relationship, and at a time when we already had a lot of teenagers playing and were typically without 8 first teamers, Broughton represented a better option than what we had available and we could fit him under the cap.
But again, he was 20. Is that so much better than a teenager? What exactly made him a better option than what we had available when none had seen first team action? IIRC, Broughton wasn't even full time with Leeds at the time, and they hadn't even given him a squad number. And also, Thackeray was 21 at the time. In hindsight, Broughton has gone on to more success, but I just don't understand why we seem to prefer to try Leeds youngsters than our own at times. Williams was another we had that season, and he wasn't up to much at all yet we preferred him to our own.
Mrs Barista wrote:
Tuffour is an interesting one - quite liked him and he looked OK last time I saw him in the championship. Something to do with not wanting 4 wingers in our 25 top earners, maybe?
What really baffles me is the huge disparity in the treatment of the 2 players. One sent on his way without even being given a first team opportunity, the other a 3 year deal? Tuffour was also the bigger and stronger lad, which I would have thought could have put him slightly ahead of Lyne in his readiness for first team rugby. I would have thought you should at least have a look at both before making the decision. We had 4 games of the season left and only 1 fit winger, why didn't Lyne and Tuffour get 2 games each?
Can't see it mattering about the 25 man thing, we've picked from only 22 different players this year, with 2 of those being brought in after the season started (3 if you count Phelps, but then he's a direct replacement for Tansey).