17 replies to this topic

[Blakemore]

http://www.bbc.co.uk...league/20555295

Local lad played against him and hes a great talent! But obviously never had an offer from swinton!

[Barnie]

I think Barrow will be a tough team to beat this year. They have signed some real quality. id go as far to say that they have a better squad than us.

[bigtony]

Not counting d/r players from wire swinton ave 2 props in mills and holland and from what ive been told they have signed 2 props from ru club sedgley park so these 2 will be unproven at champ level, you need at least 5 props plus what ever wire send. I think this seasons pack is going to be weaker than last seasons pack

[PhillH]

People shouldn't forget Barrow were only relegated due to the off field antics of Des Johnston. Prior to that, on the pitch their record was very competitive in the Championship, having finished far higher up the table in 2011 than the Lions managed in 2012. Plus they ripped Swinton to shreads 32-16 at Craven Park in the Northern Rail Cup early last season. The Lions are entering 2013 with a weaker squad than they had in 2012, whereas Barrow have strengthened.

All points to one conclusion - Barrow's current squad is considerably stronger than Swinton's.

[mark richardson]

People shouldn't forget Barrow were only relegated due to the off field antics of Des Johnston. Prior to that, on the pitch their record was very competitive in the Championship, having finished far higher up the table in 2011 than the Lions managed in 2012. Plus they ripped Swinton to shreads 32-16 at Craven Park in the Northern Rail Cup early last season. The Lions are entering 2013 with a weaker squad than they had in 2012, whereas Barrow have strengthened.

All points to one conclusion - Barrow's current squad is considerably stronger than Swinton's.

So in conclusion barrow had good season's due to cheating and having players they shouldn't have had if they played by the rules
Ste Mc said two weeks ago he wanted six new players. I'm prepared to give him chance to do so
Our current signed players are all quality.

[marshy1]

Phil, without seeing the new squad of players play how can you state the squad is weaker. We have changed the way we do things in the transfer market due to the Warrington link. You have to reserve judgement till they have played a couple of matches.

[Barnie]

I can see Phils point. the squad we have this season is remarkably shallow. i know we are looking at bringing in more players and this takes time, but we are less than a month away from our first fixture and we are running at less than the bear minimum.

[mark richardson]

Phil's point is massively flawed using barrows previous seasons as comparison. They were better than nearly everyone because they cheated
At present their squad may appear bigger but we signed their best player in Ballard.
We all know too well the gulf in class and the way players take time to adapt.
Time will tell. Mystic Phil may be proved right. It's easy odds on a win or lose.

[marshy1]

Barnie until we know who Warrington will release to us under the dual reg then the quality of our squad is an unkown quantity. This situation was explained by SM at the lasy

[marshy1]

Last open meeting I was going to say........God I hate these smart phones.

[marshy1]

One thing I did learn from speaking to the players at Watto's do last night was that they are loving the training at Warrington, who's coaches were suitably impressed with our coaching staff.
We won't however be getting Phil Joseph back as he told me he has signed for Widnes.

[mark richardson]

Shame about PJ

[PaulT]

Good luck to Phil at Widnes, hopefully there he'll get a better crack at Super League, quality player.

[Bryce]

Agree with the original post, we've missed out here.

[Blakemore]

at least bryce speaks on topic!

[mark richardson]

He always looked like a giant child in the gym
However I've never seen him play
Always nice though to have local lads on board...so yes a shame we've missed him.

[Bryce]

at least bryce speaks on topic!

I can't help myself, i see a thread on topic and I have to comment!

[Blue Monkey]

He always looked like a giant child in the gym
However I've never seen him play
so yes a shame we've missed him.

Perhaps he'll change his tune when he's had a bellyfull of trudging up to Furness almost every weekend.