Milky121086 wrote:
If rovers continue to do well with Injuries then they will be in and around top 2 or 3 again i think but Wigan would be my pick for 1st and Saints will be back next year 100%.
The problem Rovers have is they don't have a plan B... If they pick up 3 or 4 key injuries such as wigan did this year they would be in serious trouble. Rovers are in a real key period IMO, Matt Shaw said as much on the recent HOL podcast, they have players on big contracts who are eventually gonna get too old, peters wont be staying forever as his aim will be to get an NRL job like most Aussie coaches that come over and at some point unless they really ramp up their youth and have a few hull lads coming through they will get found out. They cant keep just replacing one big player with another, no club can sustain that, not to mention its pretty much known across most around Mikey Lewis friends and family that he will go over to the NRL in the next 2 or 3 years so again whose the next on the conveyor belt? We at FC can have a healthy line of players to replace many positions in the coming 5 or 6 seasons, as do Wigan, Saints etc etc, so it might seem a million miles off at the moment but don't be surprised in the next few seasons to see Rovers start to fall down the ladder and us being back up there
I'll help you all out. 2026 recruitment is already well into the final stages, we have back up and good back up in every position with a group of 5 young kids all been nurtured to play 2025/26 and not thrown to the wolves, all part of the progression at Rovers. When we lose a player like Minchella for two games we had Dean Hadley who covered and we won both games against very good opposition. There are no real weaknesses in the Rovers squad and with MM and JWH we have some proven leaders/winners that will take us through 2025 in a better place than this year. Martin in the second row and his goal kicking solves a problem when we lost 3 games to goal kicks, we only lost 6 games in the league all year. Replacing Ryan Hall is a biggie, he has been immense but as Catalan don't really use wingers as wingers, Hall's replacement will be more than adequate. Signing the young forward from Bradford was real coup for the club fending off Warrington, Wakefield, Leeds and the mighty Hull FC? for his signature. Bill Leyland after a year with the Robins will be a shrewd deal given his Matt Parcell similarities. I don't think we have any worries about being in more finals in the coming years. The trophies will come before you lot living in the past join in but the more important thing is the sound financial position Rovers are in, (Cold Play how do we do it) players wanting to sign for top teams as evidenced above will only be enhanced with the signing of the best prop forward in the NRL, JWH. He has already help attract 2 significant signings for 2026 of the caliber you can only dream of. And then there Myler's Misfits, I'll leave the post there for you to drool over