Re: 2017 Squad : Mon Oct 17, 2016 9:45 am  

Just thinking out loud. Without knowing what AoB's contract is, would anyone be that surprised if we allowed him to leave if a suitable offer came in? RS does seem to be interested in people who can cover hooker, the Fev game showed his thinking, even if he made a public retraction afterwards. He has to be one of our higher earners if his agent did his job properly when negotiations began back in April when Jimmy was in charge. If RS believes he can get a hooker who does the job he wants for the team on much less money, has he gained enough coaching credit to weather the storm if AoB was sold?

Re: 2017 Squad : Mon Oct 17, 2016 9:54 am  

Highlander wrote:

If RS believes he can get a hooker who does the job he wants for the team on much less money, has he gained enough coaching credit to weather the storm if AoB was sold?

Yes. He'd need AoB's replacement to work out but we don't have the budget for sentimentality. I put replacing Odsal with a purpose built, ~10k capacity, all-seater stadium in a similar category. It would sadden me but it would be A Good Thing, and a statement of intent.

Re: 2017 Squad : Mon Oct 17, 2016 10:06 am  

Half or three-quarter seater, please

Re: 2017 Squad : Mon Oct 17, 2016 10:10 am  

Highlander wrote:

Just thinking out loud. Without knowing what AoB's contract is, would anyone be that surprised if we allowed him to leave if a suitable offer came in? RS does seem to be interested in people who can cover hooker, the Fev game showed his thinking, even if he made a public retraction afterwards. He has to be one of our higher earners if his agent did his job properly when negotiations began back in April when Jimmy was in charge. If RS believes he can get a hooker who does the job he wants for the team on much less money, has he gained enough coaching credit to weather the storm if AoB was sold?

I'm pretty certain AOB will still be here. Think people are obsessing over the Fev game. With only 2 props that day which says everything about our recruitment) i could maybe see why he went big with Addy and Howarth, but it was a flawed decision that he got wrong. Afterwards, OB played big minutes for the remainder of the 8s.

I think RS tactics will be to play AOB for 70 minutes, have 4 big forwards on the bench, and maybe have one of them do a 10 min stint at hooker to give OB a breather. I think RS is of the opinion it's pointless wasting a subs bench on an out an out hooker like Lumb or Halafihi to only do 10/15 minutes.

With Haggerty looking like he's going and if we do sign Leary, it looks like a straight swap.

Re: 2017 Squad : Mon Oct 17, 2016 10:36 am  

I think your current coach sees AOB as dispensable.

Re: 2017 Squad : Mon Oct 17, 2016 11:22 am  

Bulliac wrote:

Hmm, retiring eh? at 27? I'm sure he'd like to better his coaching CV but I can't see him retiring at his age.

We all know you can't keep a forced recruit, so if he wants to go we'll, no doubt, have to allow him to skip the last couple of years of his contract. Thing is, as the saying says, "you're long time retired", so I can't see him not wanting to play again, certainly no more than I can imagine that Toronto wouldn't want him to play either. That being the background, if he goes, we need to hold his registration until we get some transfer fee.

If we can find a suitable replacement then I wouldn't be putting obstacles in the way of releasing him. He's had some stand out games but he's also capable of some massive brain farts that usually lead to us being penalised.

Re: 2017 Squad : Mon Oct 17, 2016 11:29 am  

AOB is one of our key players, we would be absolutely mad to let another gem go. Mind you, I've spent half my life watching us let great players go, so it wouldn't be big change.

Re: 2017 Squad : Mon Oct 17, 2016 11:34 am  

If a SL club comes in and triggers the release clause we wouldn't be able to do much about it. No point worrying about that though, such is life in the Championship.

Re: 2017 Squad : Mon Oct 17, 2016 11:44 am  

Nothus wrote:

If a SL club comes in and triggers the release clause we wouldn't be able to do much about it. No point worrying about that though, such is life in the Championship.

What about a straight swap for Scott Moore, only asking like

Re: 2017 Squad : Mon Oct 17, 2016 11:56 am  

Nothus wrote:

If a SL club comes in and triggers the release clause we wouldn't be able to do much about it. No point worrying about that though, such is life in the Championship.

I've got a feeling that they may not be a SL release clause in his contract.

O'brien is Bradford through and through and i think he would want to see us get some kind of compensation if he were to go. He doesn't seem the type of player to have requested a SL release claue in his contract. Someone would have come in for him now if they just had to offer him a contract and pay no fee.