Re: Rumours 2 : Thu Dec 27, 2018 10:56 am  

I'm not reading too much into this. It has previously been reported that we aren't 'fully spent' against the salary cap so, together with whatever would be saved should Smith leave for Salford, we would have the chance to make another signing but with no specific target in mind. Alternatively, there could already be an offer on the table for somebody but negotiations are on hold over Christmas.

In either case, I'm not expecting a big name. Just a bit of cover.

Re: Rumours 2 : Thu Dec 27, 2018 11:10 am  

At this stage of the season, elite players tend to have contracts. There aren't many top players who get to January out of contract still scrapping to find a club. The only way you're going to get an elite player at this point is if something happens like they have a bust up with their club or if the club is in severe financial distress and needs the money.

More likely at this stage of the season you will pick someone up who is at the fringes of a squad and their club is willing to let them go to help the wage bill, which is fair enough if they provide something different to our squad, but I wouldn't expect a major signing.

Re: Rumours 2 : Thu Dec 27, 2018 11:17 am  

....or we could get someone whose season would finish halfway through ours. Someone playing another code perhaps?

Re: Rumours 2 : Thu Dec 27, 2018 11:28 am  

You can get a lot of player for little money by just vulturing around the relegation club at the back end of the season.

Re: Rumours 2 : Thu Dec 27, 2018 12:36 pm  

ratticusfinch wrote:

....or we could get someone whose season would finish halfway through ours. Someone playing another code perhaps?

I'd also heard this rumour, but no name and no inside knowledge. A Union player who has never played League would be classed differently according to the Salary Cap, at least in their first year. Of course that reflects the fact that they are going to take time to learn the game.

This was probably the thinking behind the Prell signing. We had the funds to enable us to take a chance as long as we could manage within the Cap.

[Winslade's Offload]

Re: Rumours 2 : Thu Dec 27, 2018 1:02 pm  

Some time ago Price said he would like to make two more signings - both outside backs. Since then we have signed Jake Mamo, so I assume the outstanding signing is space for the other outside back (which he is 'not rushing to fill'). Will Tom Lineham leave at the end of 2019, because we have heard nothing about a contract extension ?

The wording of the Guardian write up on the topic was however curious, unless I am reading too much into it;

There may yet be more new faces to add to the six recruits the Wire have already confirmed for next year, but it is likely to be no more than one signing

A singular signing but plural new faces. Can somebody join the squad but not sign up ? The only exception I can think of is where we take a player on loan from another club. I am not sure why we would do that as I think they would still go on our salary cap.

Re: Rumours 2 : Thu Dec 27, 2018 1:17 pm  

Uncle Rico wrote:

Definitely has legs.

I was at a club function early December and there was a (no name) buzz about a major coup for the club for 2020. Widdop was my guess at the time and still is based on these reports and if true this and Price extending his contract is great news IMO

Happy Christmas

Ive heard done deal

Re: Rumours 2 : Thu Dec 27, 2018 2:22 pm  

rubber duckie wrote:

You can get a lot of player for little money by just vulturing around the relegation club at the back end of the season.

Is this a successful approach for a club that has ambitions to win the title?

The only time I can think of us doing it was when Steve Anderson was here and he hoovered up Laughton, Fozzard and Weston from Huddersfield.

Re: Rumours 2 : Thu Dec 27, 2018 4:01 pm  

sally cinnamon wrote:

Is this a successful approach for a club that has ambitions to win the title?

The only time I can think of us doing it was when Steve Anderson was here and he hoovered up Laughton, Fozzard and Weston from Huddersfield.

With a slightly different slant, we had two such players in the Grand Final from Leigh that were confined to the championship.

[Winslade's Offload]

Re: Rumours 2 : Thu Dec 27, 2018 6:47 pm  

Its an interesting point about picking up players at bargain basement prices, whether that be from clubs that are in financial difficulty or otherwise. Looking back over recruitment over the past decade or so;

2007 Morley, V Anderson
2008 Hicks, King, Monas, t'other Anderson
2009 Higham, Carvell, Mathers, Brian Carney
2010 Myler, Atkins, Solo
2011 Hodgson, t'other Monaghan
2012 Waterhouse, Ratchford, Hill
2013 Nobody
2014 Russell, Asotasi, England, Kevin Penny mark2
2015 Clark, Simms, Wheeler, Sandow
2016 Gidley, Lineham, Hughes, Westerman, Dodds, plus err, Jordan Cox and Ryan Bailey
2017 Brown, Cooper, Crosby, Savelio, Blythe mark 2, Ryan Jones, Tony Prell, Ben Pomeroy, Peta Hiku (alas we lost him).

Have we taken players from ailing clubs ? I don't think there have been so many. There seems to be a couple of obvious trends. The first is something that we already know - we are a club that pays good money to recruit top class players. The second is something odd happened around 2013. For the remainder of TS's tenure there seems to have been a lot of higher risk recruitment such as Russell, Penny, Wheeler, Cox, Bailey, Blythe, Prell. Did the money dry up, or did TS decide he was an alchemist ?