Re: Where do we go from here? Two weeks off! : Thu Apr 14, 2016 12:11 pm  

Need to make sure we've got all our homegrown players in the 1st team squad signed up for next 2 seasons as priority.

Secondly we meet to make sure Gaskell is also signed up for another two seasons
I can see why he would go to Leigh, but in Rugby terms the chances of Leigh or us going up are equal, and that's slim. If its a toss up between Leigh and us then I hope he would choose us, however I wouldn't begrudge him a move because he has shown some loyalty to us recently.

First choice players like Sidlow, Purtell, Lovegrove, Clough, Welham, Caro, Williams, Clare and such need to be signed up, and the potential quality needs to be tied down. That list includes the likes of Clark. Kavanagh, Fleming, etc.

Ulugia, Lauaki, Crossley, Uiesele, Mendieka, Halafihi, Mathers, Thomas, Blythe, JPB need to go because they don't bring much to the table. Replace them with hungry homegrown players.

After we have tied as many as them down we need to hunt down a Scrum half and a full back because they are what we are lacking, although I feel James Clare could turn into a good one.

Re: Where do we go from here? Two weeks off! : Thu Apr 14, 2016 12:40 pm  

I know I'm a bit "Woe thrice woe" of late but even making allowances for that, what is the point of talking about signing up all our best players for another two years?

Unless you somehow believe that in the absence of promotion we can miraculously keep on spending similar through 2017 and 2018 season in the Championship, in front of 1500 crowds? Or that players who had a choice would even want to stay with a midtable Championship also-ran, anymore than the majority of the fans left would?

Re: Where do we go from here? Two weeks off! : Thu Apr 14, 2016 12:50 pm  

I didn't realise we were getting 1500 crowds?

Can you really see it coming to that?. I would imagine everybody you see now is pretty hardcore and would probably stay the same as long as we are in this division.

What's the other alternative to not trying to sign them up? Just let them all go now and bring others in who are not as good?

We are going to have to build the squad through the junior system and I would imagine they're the cheapest on the table and would at least show some loyalty to the club.

If our hand is forced then fair enough, but we have at least got to show some ambition that we want to make an impact.

Re: Where do we go from here? Two weeks off! : Thu Apr 14, 2016 12:59 pm  

apparently JT (that's Justin Timberlake rather than the other one) used to play HB for Rhode Island Rebellion & is in training with the Bulls following his house move to Eccleshill. He's got the guest bench spot for Sunday. You heard it here first.

Re: Where do we go from here? Two weeks off! : Thu Apr 14, 2016 1:10 pm  

Bulls4Champs wrote:

Can you really see it coming to that?. I would imagine everybody you see now is pretty hardcore and would probably stay the same as long as we are in this division.

I don't think what is left now will stay if we are still in the Championship and still charging the same amount for season tickets and gate prices.

Fans will pay a premium at first, as they understand it's to try and finance a better team to try and win promotion. However they won't do it forever, and every year that promotion doesn't happen, more fans will decide it's too expensive and not pay it.
Which means either that figure dwindles, or the prices fall to keep the attendances at that level, and it has the same effect anyway of less money in the coffers.

Re: Where do we go from here? Two weeks off! : Thu Apr 14, 2016 1:28 pm  

Bulls4Champs wrote:

I didn't realise we were getting 1500 crowds?

Can you really see it coming to that?. I would imagine everybody you see now is pretty hardcore and would probably stay the same as long as we are in this division.

Did I say we were getting 1500 crowds?

I would imagine you imagine wrong. 2014 was an easy sell. We had teh choice of paying top dollar and getting a SL-level F/T squad which hopefully would go straight back up, plus we had the feelgood factor of a new ownership etc.

2015 was a hard sell, but people stuck with it in reasonable numbers on the basis that without the money, there is no chance at all of getting out of the division.

But what will be the sell for 2016? Very clearly we'd have proved, two years running, that we have no realistic chance of promotion. Very clearly we would lose our best players and would have to reduce our budgets. The rest of the scenario is exactly as per Hamsterchops and I don't need to repeat it here. A rapid and probably terminal downward spiral.

The only point I would add, which I've made before but which people somehow remain in blind denial of, is that WE CANNOT STAY AT ODSAL if this slow death decline continues as WE WILL NOT HAVE THE MONEY TO DO SO. We are I'm certain greatly struggling even on this year's crowds, and another 1000 off the gate would i think be totally unsustainable. And that's even if there was a will to sustain it for another season, which i'm far from convinced about.

Bulls4Champs wrote:

What's the other alternative to not trying to sign them up? Just let them all go now and bring others in who are not as good?

Not a case of "not trying", more an exercise in futility.

Bulls4Champs wrote:

We are going to have to build the squad through the junior system and I would imagine they're the cheapest on the table and would at least show some loyalty to the club.

But doing that is the same as abandoning all hope of promotion, ever. You won't get a title-winning, let alone MPG winning, squad in that way, and your leading juniors will be regularly cherrypicked by SL clubs. You're dreaming.

Bulls4Champs wrote:

If our hand is forced then fair enough, but we have at least got to show some ambition that we want to make an impact.

Meh. The only way to show continuing ambition would be to splash the cash, and increase the subsidising, and continue to pay the price for being at Odsal. I would dearly love to see somebody with the means and willingness to bankroll us in that way but I don't think it's remotely realistic.

Re: Where do we go from here? Two weeks off! : Thu Apr 14, 2016 1:34 pm  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

2014 was an easy sell. We had teh choice of paying top dollar and getting a SL-level F/T squad which hopefully would go straight back up, plus we had the feelgood factor of a new ownership etc.

2015 was a hard sell, but people stuck with it in reasonable numbers on the basis that without the money, there is no chance at all of getting out of the division.

But what will be the sell for 2016?

You're living in the past mate. It's 2016 now.

Re: Where do we go from here? Two weeks off! : Thu Apr 14, 2016 1:58 pm  

So basically what you're saying, FA, is we are f####d, regardless of what we try to do?

Re: Where do we go from here? Two weeks off! : Thu Apr 14, 2016 2:07 pm  

Bulls4Champs wrote:

So basically what you're saying, FA, is we are f####d, regardless of what we try to do?

I think everyone can realistically see that what FA said is true, alas.

Superleague teams with a smaller fanbase, and less income than ourselves are propped up by central funding. We are not. This buying power actively prohibits real competition, and barring a huge upset means that the illusion of promotion remains just that: an illusion.

By giving certain clubs huge amounts of money, but not not others, the RL has reinforced the existing SL teams, to the detriment of cross-league promotion and the development of clubs which could benefit from a change in the existing financial status quo.

Re: Where do we go from here? Two weeks off! : Thu Apr 14, 2016 2:14 pm  

tigertot wrote:

apparently JT (that's Justin Timberlake rather than the other one) used to play HB for Rhode Island Rebellion & is in training with the Bulls following his house move to Eccleshill. He's got the guest bench spot for Sunday. You heard it here first.

What happens Sunday? We've got the week off due to being out of the cup. As per the title of the thread.