SL website says Finch is going back to Aus at the end of the year.

I'm also led to believe Widnes have been beat in the chase for Tickle (providing Hull accept an offer). Thought it was from Saints but maybe not.

P.s. we are linked with Meli and Clough from you guys too.

Liam Watts has been given permission to talk to other clubs despite having 18 months left on his contract, and may even be available for an immediate transfer, according to the Hull Daily Mail. Worth a look?

Perhaps. He sounds like he needs a good influence to sharpen him up, but an impressive player. He also has a bit of fire in his belly, which I like and he's britsh talent, which is always preferrable.

You can have Meli. Keep your goddam dirty fingers off Clough though!

Why? He's becoming less and less impressive by the week as he gets older and is now an out and out plodder with no real impact, either defensively or with the ball. There is little Clough does that an academy prop like Forster couldn't be doing for a lot less money.

Definitely. English props don't come along on a free very often, I'd be surprised if we weren't having a dabble. We MUST have cap room available as well.

I think you bring this up time and again and then some one usually comes on to show you that the stats don't bear this out.

Bit like the people who where saying it's the defence or the forwards were we are struggling because Wigan beat us.

Check out Clough's stats before whinging. Think Chairmaker mentioned them in another thread, possibly the Manu one?

Been told that we are after Millard from Catalan anyone else heard this

Would be a terrific signing but he's quota and non-fed so we'd have to lose an Aussie.

My slightly outsider view is that his development has been severely hampered by the decision to try and turn him into a prop? Rather than just accepting the need to sign 1/2 that Saints always tend to ignore.

Don't listen to Saddened! - Cloughie is definitely a prop and performs consistently well in that position.

He does okay against the minor sides, but tends to be mullered by the big sides. But he's too small to play prop and has no impact on games at all. He's a workhorse, his stats are racked up by taking ball after ball and doing very little with it.

I'm not saying he's a bad player, but I don't think we'd miss much if we promoted Magennis or Forster into his position in the side either.

Clough is, after LMS, our best prop going forward. His stats are similar to Laffranchi's (slightly better in fact). He averages nearly 8 metres per carry. Magennis, in comparison, offers nothing, and we've hardly seen enough of Forster yet to assume that he would instantly become our second most effective go-forward prop if he took Clough's place in the squad.

Saints/Brown have definitely spoken to Omari Caro. No firm offer had been made in the week but that could all change

Pah, whatever. Maybe if he had better hair or something?

That's not the name I was given.

Will Sharp?

Rhys Williams?

What do people think about the news today and it's wider meaning at Saints? Does this show a change in direction and emphasis from the club that we've been crying out for? The previous years under McManus have all been about the stadium. Coaching, recruitment, retention, all these things seemed like afterthoughts.

But now we're seeing news reports linking us to several players, we've got the likes of Dixon being released, the likes of Foster, Gaskell and Shenton being offered to other clubs whilst under contract and a big star arriving from another SL club who it appears we outbid.

Are the lights finally back on at Saints in terms of trying to win things and be successful, rather than trying to make do?

Another thing, it's great fun to read back through this 2 year old rumour thread. Pleas of 'get him signed up' when someone mentioned Shenton out of contract at Castleford and me moaning about us ending up a mid table side if we don't improve the recruitment.

Dont think gaskell been offered to anyone just think it's is agent seeing who would take him if saints let him go

Nope, he's off contract.

Watts has only ASKED for a release, HKR haven't granted him one.
What if we were to offer Wilkin in exchange? HKR lad through and through, I'm sure he wouldn't mind finishing his career off there and as discussed in other threads, not everyone thinks he's worth what we probably pay him.
If we could get Watts on the straight and narrow, he could be a monster for us.

Wilkin for Watts? Seriously?