Tommy Holland

[bulldogs17]

Not sure why some people are moaning about having too many props. At the end of last season didn't we have Chandler and Cowling at prop for one game? I'm please we appear to be going without DP and are building a competitive squad that is within our budget. As Nick07 says we'll have overachieved to come 6th next year. I think we'll be in a mini league from 7th-9th with Dewsbury and a couple of other clubs. 

The half position is a problem for most clubs. Think the only way you can go about it is to take a punt on one of the kids from a super league academy. 

[billybulldog]

10 hours ago, Piggy's mate said:

That's right Billy B turn a positive into a negative! Perhaps you should throw your hat in for half back cover?

What an idiot you are imo of course, all im doing is asking a legitimate question on half back situation as is many other fans, not being negative at all, if we get another half back as cover for injuries ect that is a possitive thing in my eyes, obviously not yours

[fredm]

I am not moaning about having too many props.  I just stated that we appear to have 6 or maybe 7 signed on so some will obviously not be on the team sheet at all on a regular basis.  Was just wondering if any of them were considering their options elsewhere?

[Piggy's mate]

1 hour ago, billybulldog said:

What an idiot you are imo of course, all im doing is asking a legitimate question on half back situation as is many other fans, not being negative at all, if we get another half back as cover for injuries ect that is a possitive thing in my eyes, obviously not yours

Thanks for the positive feedback Billy B! And no your not! As usual your having a dig at the club suggesting a 6'4 prop play half back which is just as daft as you playing there. I'm sure the club is looking for this top half back who will sign for a mid table team on mid table money and be happy to sit in the wings until injuries allow?? Get real

[silverback]

well am quite happy with these two big lads to add some biff, along with return a jc to hit a few gaps at pace am sure we will do fine, lots a people mentioned the loss a of hirst would show and at times it did so were looking to beef things up by looks a things, am sure coaching staff know we need a cheeky little rob burrows type player so we wont know until next season(or boxing day) just whos playing were, but 2018 is looking better than a few seem to be thinking. a top 6 spot next season will be massive..

[billybulldog]

4 hours ago, Piggy's mate said:

Thanks for the positive feedback Billy B! And no your not! As usual your having a dig at the club suggesting a 6'4 prop play half back which is just as daft as you playing there. I'm sure the club is looking for this top half back who will sign for a mid table team on mid table money and be happy to sit in the wings until injuries allow?? Get real

Isnt that what  happend to cain then?when patch got injured cain was replacement half back and kicker or was i seing things? and patch wasn't replaced when injured, i know im old now but imo of course, i still think my eyesight is pretty good to say the least, and not having a dig at all, just asking if we are on lookout for a decent half back if any available, obviously your wanting to have a dig your self at me as you always seem so bothered about every post or reply to comments on this forum i make, Stalking springs to mind??

[Piggy's mate]

And most people at least those in my knitting circle said Cain wasn't upto it! I'm still hopeful we'll find this half back who's the next next best thing, but as I pointed out so is every other team!  And if you post kak expect me to point it out to you!

[billybulldog]

1 hour ago, Piggy's mate said:

And most people at least those in my knitting circle said Cain wasn't upto it! I'm still hopeful we'll find this half back who's the next next best thing, but as I pointed out so is every other team!  And if you post kak expect me to point it out 

[billybulldog]

Knitting circle?imo of course i thought you was a pullover, and the next next best thing, what is the next next best thing?????

[9' oller]

Am I still barred from the knitting circle. It wasn't my fault blame the Sharma chilli balti from the night before

[billybulldog]

1 hour ago, 9' oller said:

Am I still barred from the knitting circle. It wasn't my fault blame the Sharma chilli balti from the night before

???

[Piggy's mate]

1 hour ago, 9' oller said:

Am I still barred from the knitting circle. It wasn't my fault blame the Sharma chilli balti from the night before

Yes Marc you dropped more than a couple of stitches remember! 

[bulldogs17]

14 hours ago, Piggy's mate said:

And most people at least those in my knitting circle said Cain wasn't upto it! I'm still hopeful we'll find this half back who's the next next best thing, but as I pointed out so is every other team!  And if you post kak expect me to point it out to you!

Agree regarding Cain. He was unlucky in that you could see he had a good rugby brain, but every attribute he had just wasn't quite there, e.g. you could see he could spot gaps but just wasn't quick enough to get through them at our level. I think if he were a yard quicker and a foot taller he'd be playing SL.  IMO he'll be terrific for Hunslet though. 

[phildog]

People saying that there's too.much moaning, I would say it's more trying to point out the obvious. When we see an ineffectual performance, and I'm NOT saying Cain was ineffectual as he has had some good games AND could kick a great goal, we then compare it to a game when we have been destroyed by the opposition halfbacks and wonder why they have found their nugget in the sand and we haven't. IMO, whenever Cain played against us, mostly with Whitehaven he always turned it on and I can't put my finger on why he didn't sparkle and progress with us. A lot of it I think was due to the type of dour, wear down the opposition, defensive game we played under JK where flair wasn't the 'go to' setting. Going back to the obvious; we have currently a pair of halfbacks both on the top side of 30, no harm in that as it stands, but with absolutely no back-up now that Cain has moved on and fans CAN see the obvious. It's also obvious that we could do better with a 4 man pivot of 6,7,9 & 13 with Walker at 13 than a 3 man pivot of 6,7 & 9 with Walker at 6. We moan that there was no pace and break at 6 with a 25ish year old Cain yet we expect it from a bloke 7/8 years older. So; obvious, we need a stand off!!

[ernieone]

The club are looking for players to improve performances on the field so they have signed two rated championship props, it is more than heavily rumoured we have signed a player to cover 6,7,9,13 who on his day has the ability to more than cover each of these positions.

Another half back, again from the rumour mill there are a couple available but do we pay the same money as our generous championship rivals taking in to accout one is injury prone and the other allegedly has higher wage expectations than the club are willing/able to spend. Perhaps we are not panicking at the moment with another month before training begins.

[billybulldog]

1 hour ago, ernieone said:

The club are looking for players to improve performances on the field so they have signed two rated championship props, it is more than heavily rumoured we have signed a player to cover 6,7,9,13 who on his day has the ability to more than cover each of these positions.

Another half back, again from the rumour mill there are a couple available but do we pay the same money as our generous championship rivals taking in to accout one is injury prone and the other allegedly has higher wage expectations than the club are willing/able to spend. Perhaps we are not panicking at the moment with another month before training begins.

I for 1 imo of course,  are not hopeing you are talking about Tom Hemingway, because imo it is a step sidewards at best, but most ide say, a big backwards step.

[bulldogs17]

22 minutes ago, billybulldog said:

I for 1 imo of course,  are not hopeing you are talking about Tom Hemingway, because imo it is a step sidewards at best, but most ide say, a big backwards step.

But Billy it takes us back to the question of who is available and within our budget. The problem with RL in general is there's no rumors, most signings break before the clubs announce them. This leads to the bigger clubs (with bigger budgets) being able to poach anyone they like. Over the last 3-5 years how many players have been coming to us, only to head for a bigger team on more money?

If Hemmingway is available, within budget and the best we can get without breaking the bank then I'm happy with that. No doubt Kevin, Paul, Matt and the rest of the board are doing their best to get additions in. I'd rather do that than pay a certain Fev half back who's available what he's rumored to be on at Fev and it putting the club's future at risk. 

[ernieone]

53 minutes ago, billybulldog said:

I for 1 imo of course,  are not hopeing you are talking about Tom Hemingway, because imo it is a step sidewards at best, but most ide say, a big backwards step.

For a long time going back to Ben Black we have not had any cover for the vital middle of the park players 6,7,9,13.  I am sure Tom gives us that cover at the right cost?

I was not happy watching Davies, chandler etc covering those vital  positions so lets welcome the lad on board and keep on looking for that elusive half back that most Championship clubs are looking for.

[DOGFATHER]

 

1 hour ago, bulldogs17 said:

But Billy it takes us back to the question of who is available and within our budget. The problem with RL in general is there's no rumors, most signings break before the clubs announce them. This leads to the bigger clubs (with bigger budgets) being able to poach anyone they like. Over the last 3-5 years how many players have been coming to us, only to head for a bigger team on more money?

If Hemmingway is available, within budget and the best we can get without breaking the bank then I'm happy with that. No doubt Kevin, Paul, Matt and the rest of the board are doing their best to get additions in. I'd rather do that than pay a certain Fev half back who's available what he's rumored to be on at Fev and it putting the club's future at risk. 

I was just posting something very similar B17.

If the rumours regarding the £20k Dewsbury gave Gareth Moore for signing are true:- 

Who will we get for less?

How much would we have to spend to significantly improve upon what we already have?

Who can we afford other than Hemingway?

I've heard Briggs wants £35k, again only rumour so may not be factual. Featherstone were reputedly going after Ford at Toulouse, but dropped out of the bidding at £55k, can you see us paying £50k+ for anyone given our gates?

Have we even got £50k to splash out on one player? I would probably say we don't and I'm not convinced, that even if we have got that sort of money, that this season is the right time to throw it at 1 player, when the chances of breaking in to the top 4 even if we did (given the full time competition's spending power) is unrealistic at best. It is also worth pointing out again, that 2 of last years biggest gates Bulls and HKR have gone, so all attendances in the CH are likely to take a hit.

I have read in this months 40/20 magazine, that Salford are £8.2M in debt and there are rumours circulating on the main forum that they may go belly up and be replaced by Leigh. If the latter part comes to fruition, where would that leave our gates? Effectively replacing Leigh with Oldham. No gates of much over 1000 at best.

I don't wish to sound defeatist or having a go at individuals, but I feel some on here are suffering with the old Halifax syndrome. Some seem to think because we have had a bit of success, we are now automatically a big club and should be preparing for SL. Face it, nothing has really changed since our recent success, our gates and sponsorship has not catapulted to suddenly sustain a significant increase to the amount of funding we allocate to the squad, therefore spending more on players simply doesn't add up.

Unless we find a way to increase revenue to somehow go full time, forget it. Featherstone's recent 8's performance has shown quite clearly, even spending a small fortune on buying the very best part-time players available, they are still a long way from being able to compete with the bottom 4 in SL or even the well funded full-time CH clubs. 

[billybulldog]

3 minutes ago, ernieone said:

For a long time going back to Ben Black we have not had any cover for the vital middle of the park players 6,7,9,13.  I am sure Tom gives us that cover at the right cost?

I was not happy watching Davies, chandler etc covering those vital  positions so lets welcome the lad on board and keep on looking for that elusive half back that most Championship clubs are looking for.

Sorry but to me we are letting a young player that could gel more with more game time in cain southernwood and getting a player who would definatly imo of course be only good enough now for championship 1 at the least.

[bromleybulldog]

Tend to agree with those  stating we shouldn't throw large amounts of money at players who may only be marginally better than those we have. Signing players coming towards the end of their careers is also a high risk strategy. I believe we would be much better looking at players who have not yet cemented their places at SL clubs and trying to arrange loan deals which are a bit more watertight than last years efforts with Castleford. If we really had managed to get Tom Holmes for a full season (as was originally indicated) I think he would have proved to be a real asset. So how about talking to Hudds about Isaac Farrell, HKR  Liam Harris or Matty Marsh, Castleford Jake Trueman or even Leeds for Corey Aston? I recognise we would be better off with players who are signed full time to Batley but getting the right quality at a sensible price is increasingly difficult these days with SL clubs hoovering up all the best junior talent. We have to be realistic in what is achievable and I'm sure some of these SL clubs would be willing to look at proper season long loans to develop their younger players.

[silverback]

well i hope tom goes out boxing day and as a blinder, what happened to giving lads a chance, new faces to train with and a coach who he knows well. if he does rip it up i hope the few beefing before a balls played have the wsingers to say they were wrong when  hes in MOM now and again maybe.

[phildog]

We've got the wrong end of the stick here; we're not talking about signing Hemmingway or Sykes or whoever as COVER, we're talking first name on the sheet. We don't have a no.6 so don't need cover do we? Now if we were by some means to bring in a lad who's bubbling under and just a bit off the pace then by all means have someone like the 2 mentioned to see him along and into making the shirt his but not to be relying on them to personally see us through a full season.

[bulldogs17]

1 minute ago, phildog said:

We've got the wrong end of the stick here; we're not talking about signing Hemmingway or Sykes or whoever as COVER, we're talking first name on the sheet. We don't have a no.6 so don't need cover do we? Now if we were by some means to bring in a lad who's bubbling under and just a bit off the pace then by all means have someone like the 2 mentioned to see him along and into making the shirt his but not to be relying on them to personally see us through a full season.

I think the issue is that there isn't anyone available who's better than Patch to play 6 unless you are willing to break the bank. This means you either; 

1. Break the bank and risk financial security.

2. Sign a cover player (Hemmingway) and use Patch and Dom as first choice. 

I don't think we've got the wrong end of the stick, it's just the people value having a club to support over risking our financial future (unless someone has a spare £100k?). 

[billybulldog]

1 hour ago, silverback said:

well i hope tom goes out boxing day and as a blinder, what happened to giving lads a chance, new faces to train with and a coach who he knows well. if he does rip it up i hope the few beefing before a balls played have the wsingers to say they were wrong when  hes in MOM now and again maybe.

????????