You are Steve O'Connor : Wed Aug 18, 2010 1:01 pm  

What would you do with this 'imaginary' scenario.

You have already been told you will be in SL in 2012. You have a season left to play in the championship. You do not have to meet any further criteria. You still have to adhere to the 300k salary cap.

Is there a need to spend money unnecessarily by spending up to the cap next season(he's not a millionaire for nothing). Does it matter where you finish in the league especially as you will find out in March for definite.

You have some great youth players coming through, so do you just have a few old heads and pitch the kids in for a season to see which of them could make SL grade.

This is not a troll, just a few questions as to how you see Mr SOC and Widnes will handle next season.

Re: You are Steve O'Connor : Wed Aug 18, 2010 1:12 pm  

All subjective really isn't it. Personally, I'd get the coach to pitch together youngsters with experienced players who can potentially earn SL contracts. I'd much rather someone from the 18s play, than Matt Gardner for instance.

Re: You are Steve O'Connor : Wed Aug 18, 2010 1:12 pm  

I think you are over-estimating how much O'Connor is tipping in. Barring his initial investment which was substantial I dont think he is putting alot of money in each year to mean that we are able to spend the full cap. The club can generate that itself so it would be stupid not to spend the full amount one way or another.

I think most of us are expecting there to be a fair few established players leaving and those that are staying will probably be on the remaining year of their intial deals or on new one year deals and there to give the side a bit of experience. The rest of the side will be young players I would think and giving them some their first game time or more experience in the cases of Grady, Craven, Houghton etc...

Id imagine we will be looking to try and pick up some other players probably from the younger end of the market who we think have some potential to step upto SL. Gareth Frodsham from Saints was one that I saw mentioned and over on the TIW website there is a rumour of Matty Blythe. Certainly that type of player.

You are right in that league position wont mean a thing next year but it will still be a task for the club to handle. It's hard to keep the fans interested (especially our moaners) when the side is young and in-experienced and inevitably not coasting easy at the top of the table.

Despite all this, hopefully we will be able to pick up some sort of scrum half and keep them in for the whole season which would be a rarity for us.

[Nat (Rugby_Aholic)]

Re: You are Steve O'Connor : Wed Aug 18, 2010 8:21 pm  

I think there is a real danger of you finishing in the bottom two and then getting promoted

I would also pick the young ones. Perhaps with a few experienced SL players looking to top up their retirement fund.

Re: You are Steve O'Connor : Wed Aug 18, 2010 10:23 pm  

I think we (Widnes fans) are getting a bit of head of ourselves with all this SuperLeague talk. I think we should just concentrate on the league we are in at the moment and put all talk of who we should or shouldnt be signing to one side. If we get knocked back again then we are going to look really silly.

Re: You are Steve O'Connor : Thu Aug 19, 2010 7:37 am  

HARDMAN wrote:

I think we (Widnes fans) are getting a bit of head of ourselves with all this SuperLeague talk. I think we should just concentrate on the league we are in at the moment and put all talk of who we should or shouldnt be signing to one side. If we get knocked back again then we are going to look really silly.

Not as silly as the RFL.
I don't think any Widnes fan is getting ahead of themselves on this. Even the most optimistic fan is being reined back in by the fact that ultimately we are at the hands of the RFL who will always stick to their agenda. Hopefully this time we figure in that.
It seems unfair though to not allow ourselves some anticipation and excitement when seemingly everyone else in British RL is expecting our name to be announced in March as the new SL team.

Re: You are Steve O'Connor : Thu Aug 19, 2010 10:33 pm  

Take the best 8 lads from our youth system and make them full time for next season. that way they will be getting full time training and a full time environment for a full season to help beef them up and get into the swing of things lifestyle change ready for the step up to SL if we get there.
Say 8 full time contracts on £12500 p/a thats £200,000 left to pay part time players to fill in the gaps in the sqaud.

Re: You are Steve O'Connor : Fri Aug 20, 2010 5:44 am  

SOC would do well to keep his fans happy. A season finishing in seventh or something like that will do nothing for the hardy fan paying £15 a fortnight or do we (the game) just forget about the fans? Nor will it say much for the credibility of the franchising process which is already on its knees. A healthy preparation for SL is what you need. You don't want to go up there with a losing mentality - no matter how many new players you buy for the season after.

In Widnes next year I hope SOC will bring the game back to what should be its sole purpose - on the friggety pitch!! (even though this will mean Halifax having to surrender their dominance over them ).

Re: You are Steve O'Connor : Fri Aug 20, 2010 11:21 am  

I think we'll be fine... remember we invested a lot in youth this season yet still made playoff's and NRC final despite an horrendus injury list so no more chance of us finishing bottom as anyone else?

You may well be suprised and we might pick up a few SL players coming out of contract with a view too 2012 rather than joining a side on the way down!

Re: You are Steve O'Connor : Fri Aug 20, 2010 11:33 am  

All depends on the salary cap really I spose.... but I agree we will be keeping a few experienced players, the lads that have played this year will be a year older and a year wiser and we may throw in a smattering of a few more youth players.
Craven has impressed and seems to have solved our fullback position (no coincidence that we seem to be tighter at the back). Flynn and Grady are another year older and Grady will benefit from the rest he's been given. Kavannagh continues to impress me.. Gerrard could get better from a decent starting point.
For me it is all about what we do in the halves... Hulme and Gilmore or another young combination or maybe a bid for someone like Wynn that might be able to make a step up in 2012 or a cheeky move for someone like Ratchford who seems further down the pecking order over at the Willers. I'm resigned to losing Thacks to be honest.