LeytherRob

I don't think we'll be weaker next year. Of all the overseas players being moved on, I think only Kai O'Donnell and maybe Sam Stone would be missed. Inu will be 36 next year and not up to the pace of SL, Ioane/Nakubuwai/Hitchcox have done decent enough jobs when needed but would be comfortably below average in SL. Aekins is a solid but unspectacular fullback. None of them are irreplaceable.

Leigh currently have 1 available quota spot for next year, with Ferguson, MacDonald, Asiata, Lam, Amone and Ipape under contract for at least next season. Any others are all one deals expiring at the end of this year so Leigh don't need to rely on any other clubs whatsoever. They aren't in any sort of 'doo-doo' whatsoever and the continued narrative that Leigh are going to be screwed because of the quota next year is pretty funny to me considering we have more(and better quality) players signed for next year than we've ever had going into a (potential) SL year. This time in 2020 we had 0 players contracted for the following year and didn't even know which division we'd be playing. Whilst this is a thread of rumours, in terms of the players that will be coming in to replace the ones we aren't resigning.. Rob Mulhern, Matt Davis and Jack Hughes are rumoured to be done deals from Wire, whilst we are speaking to Gareth O'Brien and Tom Briscoe. I'm sure there are probably more(which Adrian Lam has alluded to a few times in interviews) but I doubt any will be announced til the conclusion of their respective clubs seasons.

Inu or Hitchcox would take up a quote spot we don't have. Tom Briscoe as a squad player providing cover for our first choice wingers(Ferguson and Charnley) would be a handy acquisition.

I think Sweaty has just done a decent enough job explaining the current state of sponsorship at Leigh, and I also provided all the info you need on fans. So feel free to elaborate on the worthwhile sponsorship Toulouse bring and why....

The last time Leigh were in a non-covid interrupted season in 2017, they averaged around 6500, higher than Huddersfield, Wakefield, Widnes and Salford. Last year was lower, but so was everyone else because the were no fans allowed at all for several rounds, severely restricted capacity on others and even when it did all open up. A lot of fans tended to stay away due to the continued fears over covid. Based on the numbers i could find(which is difficult when these things don't tend to be collated/averaged until the end of the year) Toulouse are averaging 4,617 so far this year. Regarding sponsors, how to you define a worthwhile sponsor? Which of the sponsors you refer to on the Toulouse website would you categorize as worthwhile and why?

Of all the bad faith arguments I see put forward on this site, this is amongst the worst. Which new fans and new sponsors have Toulouse brought this season? Very little since the CEO of Toulouse himself has been publicly stating the crowds have been poor. But it's irrelevant, because it's not the job of 1 club coming up from the championship, that already has enough on it's plate trying to bridge the gap, to solve the games ills. There is no magic club waiting in the wings that will suddenly elevate the sport and judging clubs against criteria that only a handful of the clubs in SL are achieving despite millions of additional central funding is just daft.

Dunno on the injury, but I'm sure Lam and Chester would be factoring that into their interest. Nene Macdonald was still coming back from a horrific ankle break/dislocation when we were chasing him mid 2021 so we probably never would have signed him if we'd taken that attitude.

Story is that we're letting him go providing we manage to secure a deal for Ricky Leutele to replace him, which wouldn't be a bad piece of business to be honest

Week 1 - 3v6 and 4v5 Week 2 - 1 vs the lowest ranked winner from week 1, 2 vs the highest ranked winner of week 1 Week 3 - final

I think outplaying a pack with 2 PR/2 SR on the bench with a bench of 1 hooker, 2 SR and a HB does make it more impressive, especially considering we lost one of our only 2 out and out props in the first quarter. I wasn't particularly confident when I saw our bench and thought it was a very risky move at the time from Lam considering our dominance against Fev in previous matches has predominantly come through the middle of the park.

Me too. I was suprised by how much he got more out of McDermott considering his mood, way more than any of the sky commentators used to manage when he's in that mood.

They showed it in later replays(standing on his hand), think it took them a while to figure out what had happened although I don't think they had a replay of Hepi punching, just Macdonalds punch.

Which part of what I said wasn't factual?

He was sent off for punching, but the incident that sparked everything was Hepi moved his foot forward to stand on McDonald's hand when getting up to play the ball.

Burton is having a torrid time at the back for Bradford

I'm sure Cas think it's a shame Wakey were missing Tom Lineham too!

.

Both statements can be true. Wakefield played well but Cas were woeful from the start.

Wakefield have played well and with the intensity you'd expect in a derby but Cas have played with little intensity or cohesion.

Cas have had an absolute shocker here. Barely strung 3 passes together all game.

We've had a cat 3 academy for the last few years linked to the college on the LSV campus. There is an u15/16 team due to launch in November and trials have taken place.

I suspect most if not all of them will have known for quite a while they weren't staying on and the performances have only gotten better through the season, so i wouldn't expect it to suddenly drop off now. Even players like Jy Hitchcox who hasn't had a sniff of a game in months can be seen fully engaging with the team in behind the scenes videos etc.

Very true and i think a lot of the credit should go to Lam and Chester for that. Many were wondering at the start of the season whether Leigh would go the same way as 2018 when the team was nothing more than a group of talented individuals with no real cohesion.

No one wanted Jackson Hastings either before he ended up at Salford. There are many reasons why clubs wouldn't/couldn't put an offer in especially in the UK - wage demands, lack of quota spots etc. Ultimately, it doesn't matter and caring about things like that is for the more insecure types. More fool them.

Who cares? The guy is a class player and his ability is undeniable.