Re: Recruitment & Retention Latest : Wed Jun 01, 2016 11:20 am  

Bullseye wrote:

If he improves the side then I don’t care where he plays. Just because he's not the highest priority shouldn't preclude us trying to recruit better players.

IMO Clare is better on the wing.

If we couldn’t get a scrum half in the close season or in the first 5 months it’s pretty unlikely we’ll get one when the business end of the season approaches since anyone worth their salt is going to be signed up…unless Smith can pull a rabbit out of a hat.

A pacey fullback that can chime in the line and be a link is something we’ve missed since Mullaney left and he’d take some heat off Gaskell.

I agree, another attacking threat will help take some of the pressure off Gaskell and TBH, we didn't do too bad last year without a 7 but with a decent 1 and 6.

I think there ARE 7's out there, but I think they're beyond our price range, so unless we can off-load some of the dead wood from the squad we're between a rock and a hard place recruitment wise

Re: Recruitment & Retention Latest : Wed Jun 01, 2016 11:52 am  

Bullseye wrote:

If he improves the side then I don’t care where he plays. Just because he's not the highest priority shouldn't preclude us trying to recruit better players.

IMO Clare is better on the wing.

If we couldn’t get a scrum half in the close season or in the first 5 months it’s pretty unlikely we’ll get one when the business end of the season approaches since anyone worth their salt is going to be signed up…unless Smith can pull a rabbit out of a hat.

A pacey fullback that can chime in the line and be a link is something we’ve missed since Mullaney left and he’d take some heat off Gaskell.

Absolutely, we might well have 3/4 players who can play FB but how many are SL quality. Clare is probably the only one and even then I think his best position lies on the wing or centre.

Halfback, fullback, centre were my priority signings and in that order so I'm happy if we managed to sign a quality FB. I don't know anything about this player but it seems Rohan very clearly knows plenty about him and that's enough for me at the moment.

[Bulliac]

Re: Recruitment & Retention Latest : Wed Jun 01, 2016 4:47 pm  

Bull Mania wrote:

Honestly i don't think we are going to see this mystery SH unless Smith pulls something out of the hat. Ferres hasn't managed to get someone for 8 months and i don't believe he is capable of getting the RIGHT man for us at this late stage. We're in JUNE and just 2 months form the middle 8s starting now. I think we've got around a month left to get a 7. Getting someone in just before the 8s would be a ridiculous situation. It would take him the middle 8s just to get used to playing with the team.

Yes the SH is a priority but that doesn't mean we can just ignore the other areas we need to improve in the hope that our mystery 7 appears in the next few weeks. We've moaned about our defence out wide all season. Caro had a shocker on Saturday and Blythe (who played well TBF on Saturday) has been poor all year. I think Moss will either go out wide, or he will go at FB and Clare will move into centre/wing to try and solve that weakness.

To be right BM, I wrote that more on the basis that others were regarding the new signing [if indeed he turns out to be that] as being the intended solution to the scrum half problem, which was why I used the term 'fillers in'.

I agree full back and wing are not priorities but if funds allow [ie, we still have enough to sign the half], then yes, let's improve as best we can. At the end of the day we have to trust the coach's judgement and one of the things we hoped was that he's use his contacts in Aussie.

Not sure about defence. I've felt that systems were maybe our biggest problem rather than individuals, though Matty Blythe [along with a couplem of others] hasn't exactly been rock of consistency and he looked decent on Saturday, so you never know where you are to be honest.

[Bullseye]

Re: Recruitment & Retention Latest : Thu Jun 02, 2016 8:11 am  

I'm hearing more rumours about Leon Pryce joining us next year - possibly taking on some coaching responsibilities at some level too. Nothing concrete or signed yet though.

Re: Recruitment & Retention Latest : Thu Jun 02, 2016 8:51 am  

Bullseye wrote:

I'm hearing more rumours about Leon Pryce joining us next year - possibly taking on some coaching responsibilities at some level too. Nothing concrete or signed yet though.

That could have changed with Rohan taking over,

[Bullseye]

Re: Recruitment & Retention Latest : Thu Jun 02, 2016 10:03 am  

Maybe - my source said this was very recent - took place when Rohan was in post.

Re: Recruitment & Retention Latest : Thu Jun 02, 2016 10:11 am  

Bullseye wrote:

I'm hearing more rumours about Leon Pryce joining us next year - possibly taking on some coaching responsibilities at some level too. Nothing concrete or signed yet though.

Well we're probably looking for a u16's coach if Beattie steps up to u19s as suggested in today's t&a. Was a strong rumour Leon was set to sign for this year a few weeks back but then hull got an injury to one of there half a and decided not to release him early.

[Bullseye]

Re: Recruitment & Retention Latest : Thu Jun 02, 2016 10:20 am  

He's fed up with the commute apparently.

Re: Recruitment & Retention Latest : Thu Jun 02, 2016 10:34 am  

Bullseye wrote:

He's fed up with the commute apparently.

Perhaps he should sell up and move back from France!

[Bullseye]

Re: Recruitment & Retention Latest : Thu Jun 02, 2016 10:35 am