The level of speculation of who is leaving and joining has been ridiculous this season. I hope the fans listen to Gentle and just wait and see what happens.



I would also add that I don't understand the uproar about a lot of the players leaving. We have a lot of players who have been with the club for about 5 years, in this time we have won absolutely nothing, and at times have looked a long, long way from winning anything. A lot of that can be blamed on Agar, but also that the players weren't good enough in the first place.



I also think some fans live in a 'fantasy RL' world where the entire Aussie and Kiwi line-ups are desperate to join a mid-table SL club who haven't done anything of note since 2006, and play in a city that has a dubious repuation in the media. Signings like Crookes, Watts and Elima may not be exciting signings...but they are realistic signings and are all either young, or in the case of Elima proven, consistent SL performers.

Thats right, we need players that are going to be consistently good, that is the only way that we will be able to challenge.

Good post, spot on.

Nail,head.

The game agaist wakey really hammered the nail into the coffin of some players gentle was unsure whether to keep or not.he feels there is no one in the squad who can play off the cuff if needs be or smart rugby players(whiting apart).expect plenty of players to leave this off season,and a fair few to come in

Bravo

Another thought I have had on recruitment is that we are following the 'model' McRae used back in 2003/2004, where he added unknown signings from the SL reserves and the Championship to existing quality players like Jason Smith and Ritchie Barnett and young talent such as Cooke, Horne and Yeaman.



players like Raynor, Carvell, Dowes, Whiting and McMenemy were all signed with little fanfare, but turned out to be some of the best players we have had at the club in years.



That side was very unlucky with injuries in 2004, and obviously went on to win the CC and appear in a Grand Final in 2005/2006.



The years that followed we seem to abandon that way of building the squad, and instead seemed to pick anyone who was a 'name' in the game, such as Berrigan, Dykes and Long...and we know how that ended up.



A team next season built around the quality of G Ellis, Briscoe and Yeaman, the homegrown stars like Houghton, Bowden and Crooks and lesser known players such as Elima, Crookes and Arundel could have a similar impact to what we were doing in 2004.

Gentle seems to be favouring bringing in most of the new signings who are already in this country as they know the game,the country and the weather!!he doesn't want another mckinnon scenario happening.we will bring in a couple of players from over seas though

anynames?

Of the signings from the nrl?no,I aren't getting names,just been told a front line nrl prop and a halfback.

We've been speaking to watts for a while,crookes,mcdonnel was definately given an offer.there will be a few 'suprise' signings I think,we tend to announce players that no one has mentioned at all.

Comments in the HDM are merely there to give the fans some hope.

When IMO it would seem more like rats deserting a sinking ship.

Is Liam Watts a better replacement than Manu ?

A very dreary troll. At least try for God's sake.