TheBritishBulldog

From a player

Given the strong rumours Day and Harrisn are off and not knowing whether Breth will play on I'm particularly annoyed about Farrell. I don't think there are that many better SRs out there at worse clubs that we can afford It's the lack of planning Im most concerned about tho. You compare this to Kear's last year when everyone had signed 2 year deals before 8s to now where we've announced 1 renewal.

Just heard we have told Alex Rowe, James Davey, Joel Farrell and Jason Crookes we will not be renewing their deals for next season. Not because they are off elsewhere but because Diskin simply doesn't want them. We have told the players this, this week. We have confirmed the renewal of 1 contract for next season. This season we finished on 16 points, less than half of what Halifax got. Our squad isn't half as good as theirs but our coach certainly is. Yes we finished 7th but we could have achieved that with Josh Barlow as our head coach. As a supporter I am left asking myself one question do our players still have confidence in Matt Diskin as our coach?

I don't think he will. He did kick the ball dead for a fair few 7 tackle sets. It'll be worth seeing how the boy Farrell gets on when given a shot. Looked a good player for Swinton and looked to have a running game to give us something a bit different

Pretty happy with today's performance. Two bad sides in the first half, lots of dropped ball and scrappy penalties at the play the ball from both. Campbell injected well at fullback, squad looked pretty fit though Crookes in particular looked to be carrying some Christmas weight. Rettie the star man today. Called for a cross field kick from Dom that Brambani executed well and forced a repeat set after a wayward bomb from Patch. Gledhill made yards and was the best prop on the pitch (didn't think I'd be saying that earlier this year). James Harrison should have got over if it was not for a fantastic ball and all tackle from Guzdek. The defence held up really well in the second half only conceding from a forward pass which created a break. As for the new boys... Mikey Ward got through some hard work in the middle both in attack and defence. Holland didn't make that much impact carrying the ball but stood up well in defence. He's a big unit and should come on this year. Felt a bit sorry for Keenan Tomlinson out there. Looked a bit lost at SR but I guess it was to be expected for someone on trial and he seemed more comfortable when he moved to centre. Biggest plus was our defence particularly in second half. Really restricted their forwards through the middle and Ward and Holland showed they could handle the pressure well when they were both reintroduced with us 2 up with 10 to go.

Maher and Hitchcox both in side. Onviously not ideal for us though James Brown may actually play. More interesting though is the other Cas youngsters called up. Will be interesting to see how guys like Egodo Million and Trueman get on and see if they are worth a game for us in the rest of the season.

didn't intend to belittle your clubs achievements. Your club achieved its goal last season and did so playing a very entertaining brand of rugby. Only meant to say his achievements and the numbers he put up would have been good at Leigh last year. I imagine he was one of the top try-scoring centres in the league which given the resources of your club off the field were extraordinary.

Diskin was at Bradford with Crookes. Seems we have a jobs for the boys or rather a jobs for the Bulls culture.

So with Hill out on loan at Oldham. We have Brown, Rowe, Gledhill, Lillycrop and O'Sullivan permanently contracted to the club as props. If we have Maher available that makes six. With Browny out of favour we are down to five props four of which permanently signed to the club. If Cas decide to play Maher one week which they may this weekend (Powell talked about giving some younger players a go in his press conference) this would leave us with 4 props. Does this seem a bit thin to anybody else?

isn't he injured now? or can he not get in the dewsbury side we played at summer bash?

22 year old Hallett scored 17 tries in 25 games last season for a Swinton side that didn't achieve much. He was a strong contender for young player of the year. 27 year old Crookes has had a career plagued by injuries. He has played 84 games in the past 10 years. For now I will declare myself sceptical I hope to be proved wrong.

This is not something that can be brushed under the carpet.

When we played you last time we elected to play 3 props rather than picking Hill. Think its safe to say Diskin doesn't rate him... not that that's a reliable indicator

What I'd like to see 1. Scott 2. Rettie 3. Hallett 4. Cowling 5. Ainy 6.Southernwood 7. Brambani 8. Rowe 9. Leak 10. Maher 11.Day 12. Manning 13. Farrell Subs Lillycrop, Brown Davey Harrison I'm assuming Hitchcox is injured. Also debated starting Brown 13 Moving Farrell back to SR and bringing in Gledhill for Day on the bench both of which I think would be better than the below. Close call on centre but think Cowling deserved to be picked again based on recent performances. Don't think theres much in it between Maher and Gledhill. What I think we'll see 1. Scott 2. Rettie 3. Smeaton 4. Cowling 5. Ainy 6.Southernwood 7. Brambani 8. Lillycrop 9. Leak 10. Maher 11. Farrell 12. Manning 13. Day Subs Harrison, Rowe, Gledhill Davey (with Browny and Hallett watching Oxford)

If we don't want to sell James Brown, I am glad to hear that. James was not only an important player last season but can be an important player this year and he seems to be well liked in the dressing room by the players based on the club bar after the games. I understand that team selection is entirely under the control of the coach and rightfully so but the reason so many supporters are speculating over his destination is because he isn't even making the 19 yet alone the 17. This is the reason why this thread is currently 3 pages long and has nearly 4000 views on the forum at the time of writing. On a different topic; will there be any response from the club over allegations made by several fans over Diskin's alleged actions after the game? A number of people on the forum appear to have a similar view of what took place and obviously the severity of these claims do not need to be stressed to you. Given the number of people that have made claims it would appear an investigation should take place at least internally. Regardless of what opinion we as supporters have over Diskin's coaching abilities he is first and foremost a representative of the club that we all love and obviously if there is any truth to such appalling claims surrounding his conduct his position is untenable.