LeytherRob

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

I think it would've been a much bigger risk not to stack the team with overseas for this year. This years strategy will mean should we be promoted, we'll be going up with the best 7 NFT's in Leighs history by some margin. It's easy to say Leigh should have signed more british players ready for SL, but the past couple of years with Covid and injuries seemingly more prevalent, SL teams have had to stock pile players in greater numbers than previous years and there isn't exactly a wealth of talent to be picked up at short notice that would've been any better than what we signed. Thankfully DB's change in retention policy has enabled Lam and Chester to start recruitment much earlier than usual and we already seem to be picking up fed players for next year with Charnley the first officially confirmed and Rob Mulhern/Jack Hughes/Matt Davis reportedly done deals. Obviously still need more but I imagine there are more signed but not announced yet until the conclusion of the season.

I believe we're currently on 6, so 1 spot to fill. Derek has confirmed it on twitter, it appears he let his son break the news on Instagram. Ipape Lam Ferguson Asiata Macdonald Amone

Will have to see how Toulouse and Wakefield get on, but Warrington definitely doing their best to stay in a relegation fight

Deadline for signings is today, although loan deadline is slightly later I think

The record is 10,556 for the Batley game in the 2016 middle 8's after promotion had been confirmed and DB made it free entry to celebrate, i don't there's any danger of breaking that record. The highest paying crowd is 9,012 against St Helens in 2017. Realistically i think anything above 6.5/7k would be a very good result and a very good atmosphere with the acoustics at LSV being as good as they are.

I think it would be naive to think that there aren't players at every super league squad that can improve Leigh. We have a very good squad, probably the best I've seen in my days watching the club including our previous SL teams, but it's not THAT good.

Off the top of my head.... I would be considering looking at Olly Ashall-Bott, Chris Hankinson, Matty Russell, Joe Bretherton or maybe even a year for Harrison Hansen from Toulouse and Lewis Murphy, Lee Kershaw, Corey Hall and Max Jowitt from Wakefield. Some of those would be first 17 players others I think would add cover/depth.

They'll stay up. It would mean both Toulouse and Wakey would have to win 3 games each, Toulouse have 2/3 possible wins left with the games they've got to play but I can't see Wakey picking up more than one. Certainly going to be an interesting run in regardless and if Leigh are promoted, there are players at each of those clubs who would be worth a punt on once the relegation clauses start activating.

Asiata was signed on a 2 year deal, providing we make superleague. Although from the recent podcast Derek did he seemed confident he was stay next year regardless

I'm surprised Saints haven't given Bell a go at halfback considering the struggles since Dodd got injured to be honest. Keeps Welsby and Roby in their best positions and saves throwing youngsters in at the deep end.

For sure, something has looked very wrong at Warrington this year and they've gone backwards in pretty much every department. Whether or not they can emulate the 2nd season bounce that Hudds have enjoyed now Watson is settled with his players is the big question. For me, Powell has spent so long being one of those coaches being constantly linked with jobs at top teams that it's weird to think he's now the oldest coach in SL. Barring the odd anomaly like Wayne Bennett or Time Sheens, RL coaching has always seem to be a young(er) mans game compared to sports like football and even Cas had been graduallyfalling away in the last years of his tenure after the dizzy heights of 2017. It seems risky to give a coach of his age such a blank canvas and they'd have been better off going for a younger coach if they wanted to do such an extreme reset.

It gives me a lot of confidence that IF we are promoted this year(i'm taking nothing for granted), then for the first time in a long time we aren't going to be relying entirely on picking the bones of the relegated club or other basement dwellers.

There should be no reason why they can't get back to those levels of performances next year. I think regardless of whether Powell is or isn't a good man manager, different types of player flourish under different types of coach/environment and all coaches tend to have their favourites. Moving from a pressure cooker environment at Wire to one that's riding an upward wave in Leigh should give them some confidence back.

He's been worth it for that tackle on John Davies alone in the home league game against Fev. Absolute monster of a hit.

The quota has been streamlined that it is purely down to whether or not they are NFT (non-federation trained), to count as Federation trained, they have to have played at a member club for 3 years(i think) prior to their 21st birthday, so to answer your question yes Aekins would count on the quota.

2022 Warrington form should not be seen as the ultimate judge on players abilities, something clearly not currently right at that club. All those players were heavily involved in 2021 when Wire finished 3rd.

I think Sidlow has been being rested/managed rather than injured as he played a lot of minutes earlier in the year. The Amone injury isn't ideal but judging from the pictures on the club twitter feed today of players in the community, Amone had no brace or strapping on so hopefully it isn't a bad one. Chris Green should also be back any week now which is going to feel like a new signing considering how long he's been out. With players like Inu, Ferguson and MacDonald taking big carries, it takes a lot of pressure off the front row, i think we'll be fine.

That confirmed anywhere or you just 'in the know'?

Based on who is confirmed so far for next year along with the rumored signings and probable/possible retentions, this is our current potential 17 for next year, although there will obviously more to be announced even if all these sign. ** - Quota () - not confirmed 1 (Caleb Aekins**) 2 Josh Charnley 3 Ed Chamberlain 4 Nene MacDonald** 5 Keanan Brand 6 Joe Mellor/Ben Reynolds 7 Lachlan Lam** 8 (Adam Sidlow) 9 (Aaron Smith) 10 (Tom Amone**) 11 Joe Wardle 12 (Jack Hughes) 13 John Asiata** 14 Edwin Ipape** 15 (Matt Davis) 16 (Kai O'Donnell**) 17 (Rob Mulhern) Not sure if Ferguson will stay next year as one of the 7 so left him out, if he does stay i'd imagine he'd take Caleb Aekins quota spot. Out of the rest of our current overseas, i would expect(and would prefer) we would keep Kai O'Donnell as he adds a massive amount of utility and can competently play anywhere 8-13 even if his best position is probably back row. I'd be surprised if Adam Sidlow wasn't given another 1 year deal considering British props are at a bit of a premium currently, and Chris Green is capable and will be looking to earn himself another year once he finally returns from injury this year.

Matt Shaw reporting this morning that Rob Mulhern, Jack Hughes and Matt Davis are all on their way from Wire so with those and Charnley, we're definitely benefiting from Powell's dismantling of what was a top 5 team.

I'd say if you're having to dig out a single clip from 5 seasons ago it's probably not a good sign either to be honest.