Re: Players for next year : Wed Aug 22, 2018 10:15 am  

Bullseye wrote:

Yes we've got him for 2019 too.

However I don't think playing the three of them at once works, too many cooks and all that. One has to sit it out I'm afraid.

Ta.

Perhaps the best option is to allow Chisholm to leave and not offer him a new contract. Have Keyes & Lilley as the first choice, with the younger lads like Milnes banging on the door to give them some competition. Maybe even have Pickersgill as the backup option, especially if Hitchcox ends up signing as he could go to fullback (assuming McNally is unavailable again). If Butterworth were to come back too (although seems unlikely), that gives another half option. Seems to me there are plenty of choices there to really not need Chisholm, especially considering his erratic form.

[Bullseye]

Re: Players for next year : Wed Aug 22, 2018 10:32 am  

I agree. I think Chisholm has drifted through this season. He's on big money apparently and I think he's too comfortable, hence Lilley coming in. However competition for places only works if someone actually gets dropped.

I think if Chisholm and say Smith and Gibson were let go it'd free up plenty of money to get some better players. Webster is already a big improvement in the centres. I think we still need 3 genuine halfbacks competing for two places before we start playing makeshift players or backup players. The last time we had that we had Sammut, Jeffries and Gale in 2012. We could get by in L1 with two but if we go up we need 3.

As for fullback we look well covered. A lot depends on how McNally comes back from injury. If he continues to have bad luck then Hitchcox is definitely my choice. Pickersgill has had a great year but I think lacks a yard of pace for championship.

Unfortunately I think Butterworth is Cas bound for good.

Re: Players for next year : Wed Aug 22, 2018 11:33 am  

What about this for a back line next season. McNally/Pickersgill.Moss. Webster.Hitchcock.Ryan.Lilley. Keyes.

Re: Players for next year : Wed Aug 22, 2018 11:35 am  

Davc1h wrote:

Think you have got a gem here. Many Cas fans would have been happy to see him go round again in SL.
I hope he goes well for you guys and then comes back to Cas in some capacity.
Real fans favourite at Cas.

When Powell signed him I thought it was a huge gamble, given his injury record. But he has been a revelation. Chuffed for Webster & Bradford.

Re: Players for next year : Wed Aug 22, 2018 12:22 pm  

Unless I've missed something we haven't announced anything regarding Hitchcox yet. Last I heard Widnes were in for him as well.

I hope you guys wanting rid of Chisholm know what you're asking for. You need to start coming up with alternatives and Lilley isn't up to scratch as far as I'm concerned.

Re: Players for next year : Wed Aug 22, 2018 12:28 pm  

Moss? Where has his name come from? I’ve heard nothing about him coming back... nor Hitchcox

Re: Players for next year : Wed Aug 22, 2018 12:45 pm  

Pyrah123 wrote:

Moss? Where has his name come from? I’ve heard nothing about him coming back... nor Hitchcox

There's a rumour about Moss about once a month since he left. Never seems to happen. I wouldn't expect it to stop until he's about 47 years old and it's finally accepted he's not coming back.

Re: Players for next year : Wed Aug 22, 2018 3:33 pm  

If Chisholm played consistently like at the level that he can when he’s on fire, then he wouldn’t be playing for us right now. However if we are paying silly money to him, then perhaps there is a case for going in a different direction. Overall from the bits I’ve seen which admittedly isn’t a huge amount, he cops a bit of unfair criticism for some reason. I expect he will look a lot fitter next year if he can get through 2018 without injury and manages a full pre season. I often see fans saying so and so is average etc.. and think we sometimes forget that we aren’t the club we have been.

Re: Players for next year : Wed Aug 22, 2018 4:14 pm  

You can just imaging how Chalmers was feeling on Sunday evening. He had signed Webster and was holding back the announcement to sweeten the news that season tickets are to rise substantially next season. All we have to do then is finish the season with 5 straight forward wins and put the bunting out and watch the people lining up to buy there tickets.
Then came Sunday and all of a sudden fans are talking about waiting to see what happens in the play offs - in 7 weeks time. Bang goes the mad rush for tickets.
We will still go up but how much needed income will we miss out on in the next 2 months. He will still get it hopefully - but in October and teams offer them now because the kitty is nearly empty. I bet Chalmers wasn't a barrel of laughs on Sunday night.
Oh, to own a rugby club.

Re: Players for next year : Wed Aug 22, 2018 4:54 pm  

Smith? Who is this Smith that some of you speak of?