The Transfer Rumour Mill Thread

[northamptoncougar]

1 hour ago, OdsalBull said:

Well congrats on winning the Joe Phillips trophy in October. 

Thank you - we'll look after it for the next few years whilst you continue to slowly implode

[LeytherRob]

So whilst I continue to pretend Leigh's rebrand is a bad dream i'll wake from any moment, here is Leigh's current squad list for 2023. Lam has gotten quota exemption, however still showing 8 quota players so would expect Nene MacDonald to leave considering the excess of centres currently.

Amone, Asiata, Brand, Briscoe, Chamberlain, Charnley, Davis, Ferguson, Gannon, Hardaker, Holmes, Hughes, Ipape, Jones, Lam, Leutele, MacDonald(likely to leave), Mellor, Mulhern, Nakubuwai, Nisbet, O'Brien, O'Donnell, Reynolds, Smith, Wardle, Wilde.

 

I expect first 17 to look something like this:

1 Gareth O'Brien
2 Josh Charnley
3 Zak Hardaker
4 Ricky Leutele
5 Blake Ferguson
6 Joe Mellor
7 Lachlan Lam
8 Rob Mulhern
9 Aaron Smith
10 Tom Amone
11 Joe Wardle
12 Oli Holmes
13 John Asiata

14 Edwin Ipape
15 Ben Nakubuwai
16 Kai O'Donnell
17 Jack Hughes

Ben Reynolds
Keanan Brand
Tom Briscoe
Ed Chamberlain
Tom Nisbet
Jacob Gannon
Jacob Jones
Matt Davis
Nathan Wilde
 

 

Edited October 20, 2022 by LeytherRob

[Wakey Til I Die]

I'd suggest a couple of super league experienced props away from being a decent squad that.

[OdsalBull]

52 minutes ago, northamptoncougar said:

Thank you - we'll look after it for the next few years whilst you continue to slowly implode

Well another feather in the cap of the big boys as they sign your best player Desmond. Looking good for the trophy

[welshmagpie]

49 minutes ago, LeytherRob said:

So whilst I continue to pretend Leigh's rebrand is a bad dream i'll wake from any moment, here is Leigh's current squad list for 2023. Lam has gotten quota exemption, however still showing 8 quota players so would expect Nene MacDonald to leave considering the excess of centres currently.

Amone, Asiata, Brand, Briscoe, Chamberlain, Charnley, Davis, Ferguson, Gannon, Hardaker, Holmes, Hughes, Ipape, Jones, Lam, Leutele, MacDonald(likely to leave), Mellor, Mulhern, Nakubuwai, Nisbet, O'Brien, O'Donnell, Reynolds, Smith, Wardle, Wilde.

 

I expect first 17 to look something like this:

1 Gareth O'Brien
2 Josh Charnley
3 Zak Hardaker
4 Ricky Leutele
5 Blake Ferguson
6 Joe Mellor
7 Lachlan Lam
8 Rob Mulhern
9 Aaron Smith
10 Tom Amone
11 Joe Wardle
12 Oli Holmes
13 John Asiata

14 Edwin Ipape
15 Ben Nakubuwai
16 Kai O'Donnell
17 Jack Hughes

Ben Reynolds
Keanan Brand
Tom Briscoe
Ed Chamberlain
Tom Nisbet
Jacob Gannon
Jacob Jones
Matt Davis
Nathan Wilde
 

 

Where’s Aekins off to mate, do you know?

[Andrewj]

52 minutes ago, LeytherRob said:

So whilst I continue to pretend Leigh's rebrand is a bad dream i'll wake from any moment, here is Leigh's current squad list for 2023. Lam has gotten quota exemption, however still showing 8 quota players so would expect Nene MacDonald to leave considering the excess of centres currently.

Amone, Asiata, Brand, Briscoe, Chamberlain, Charnley, Davis, Ferguson, Gannon, Hardaker, Holmes, Hughes, Ipape, Jones, Lam, Leutele, MacDonald(likely to leave), Mellor, Mulhern, Nakubuwai, Nisbet, O'Brien, O'Donnell, Reynolds, Smith, Wardle, Wilde.

Has Aaron Smith signed ? 

[kiggy]

On 17/10/2022 at 09:37, POR said:

FEV have completed the signing of centre Chris Hankinson. from TO

Of all the TO comings and goings over the last few weeks this one has grieved me the most. It was only a month ago that he was committing to TO and Sylvain for the forthcoming season.

Talking to his parents end of last season they were saying he wouldn't stay at TO if they went down as he wanted to keep playing at a SL club, which is fair enough, but to see him do this and go to another Championship side is hard to take.  TO just couldn't match his contract demands. 

[DG70]

Leigh and Beaumont in particular remind me of Salford and Koukash about 8/9 years ago throwing money around bringing big names in who were clearly there to top up their pension, it didn't end well and I suspect the same here with Leigh, it takes much more than a large wallet to breed a successful club.

[GUBRATS]

6 minutes ago, DG70 said:

Leigh and Beaumont in particular remind me of Salford and Koukash about 8/9 years ago throwing money around bringing big names in who were clearly there to top up their pension, it didn't end well and I suspect the same here with Leigh, it takes much more than a large wallet to breed a successful club.

Probably true , but you try breeding one without the wallet , you have to start somewhere , this is our ,' somewhere ' 

[LeytherRob]

46 minutes ago, Andrewj said:

Has Aaron Smith signed ? 

He's on the squad list for next year, so I assume so

[LeeF]

3 hours ago, Chrispmartha said:

Hardaker to Leigh is a bizarre one, and he’s clearly going for the cash (nothing wrong with that) but to move to club near Wigan when only 6 months ago he moved back to Yorkshire for family reasons is strange.

Does make you wonder what the real reason for leaving Wigan was

[Red Willow]

41 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

Probably true , but you try breeding one without the wallet , you have to start somewhere , this is our ,' somewhere ' 

It's about developing a team not a squad. Throwing money around is usually a sign of a squad not a team

[GUBRATS]

1 minute ago, Red Willow said:

It's about developing a team not a squad. Throwing money around is usually a sign of a squad not a team

We have a ' team ' , obviously we will be changing more than most , but hopefully retaining what we have had this year , only time will tell 

[David Shepherd]

Could be some severe white line fever with Zak and Blake in the camp. 

[northamptoncougar]

4 hours ago, OdsalBull said:

Well another feather in the cap of the big boys as they sign your best player Desmond. Looking good for the trophy

He left for Bradford & Bingley 3 weeks ago.

I suppose we’ll have to make do with Doyle and the few new forwards. 

[Tippytoe]

3 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

Probably true , but you try breeding one without the wallet , you have to start somewhere , this is our ,' somewhere ' 

Presumably the signings are who Lam wanted in so he's got to produce the results now, full off season to gel squad they'll be spanking all and sundries just like last season!

[GUBRATS]

24 minutes ago, Tippytoe said:

Presumably the signings are who Lam wanted in so he's got to produce the results now, full off season to gel squad they'll be spanking all and sundries just like last season!

On paper it looks quite good , but we don't play on that , like previous seasons , it might again come down to injuries , and our depth to cope with that 

[LeytherRob]

5 hours ago, Wakey Til I Die said:

I'd suggest a couple of super league experienced props away from being a decent squad that.

I've heard there is still 1 or 2 to announce which I would assume would be middles, but i agree we're currently lacking some depth in the forwards - especially since Gannon and Wilde will be more project players and not ones you want to be potentially playing 10+ games next year. There was mention from Lam of potential NRL signings, so wouldn't surprise me if there is an offer in for George Burgess after his release from St George. We already have 7 more players signed than we started the season with last year though so good progress on the field despite some odd design choices off it.

[Wakey Til I Die]

1 hour ago, LeytherRob said:

I've heard there is still 1 or 2 to announce which I would assume would be middles, but i agree we're currently lacking some depth in the forwards - especially since Gannon and Wilde will be more project players and not ones you want to be potentially playing 10+ games next year. There was mention from Lam of potential NRL signings, so wouldn't surprise me if there is an offer in for George Burgess after his release from St George. We already have 7 more players signed than we started the season with last year though so good progress on the field despite some odd design choices off it.

Burgess has said he is staying in Oz as he doesn't want to move his family even if it means him geting a regular job over there, so i doubt thats a goer. I'd have thought a couple of familiar faces like Jack Ashworth and/or Nathan Mason might be more likely, looks like they are departing Huddersfield.

[POR]

Another new signing for FEV

 

[Red Willow]

13 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

We have a ' team ' , obviously we will be changing more than most , but hopefully retaining what we have had this year , only time will tell 

No you have a squad, they haven't played yet to see if they gel as a team.

[LeytherRob]

2 hours ago, Red Willow said:

No you have a squad, they haven't played yet to see if they gel as a team.

I'm not too worried on that front. Most were predicting Leigh would struggle last year for the same reasons(a lot of comparisons to 2018 were made) and whilst we started a little slow, we got progressively better through the year. 6,7,9,13 and 14(interchange hooker) will have no change from last season so there is much less work to do than this time last year when we had about 5 players signed up.

[bobbruce]

19 hours ago, LeeF said:

Does make you wonder what the real reason for leaving Wigan was

Could be that Wigan weren’t prepared to accept m62 traffic as an excuse for being late to some training sessions maybe Leigh are. 

[V02]

6 hours ago, POR said:

Another new signing for FEV

 

Curious to see how this goes. Heard good things.

23 minutes ago, bobbruce said:

Could be that Wigan weren’t prepared to accept m62 traffic as an excuse for being late to some training sessions maybe Leigh are. 

I heard somewhere that Wigan were making him live there? Leigh may be happy for him to travel 

[SalfordSlim]

2 hours ago, LeytherRob said:

I'm not too worried on that front. Most were predicting Leigh would struggle last year for the same reasons(a lot of comparisons to 2018 were made) and whilst we started a little slow, we got progressively better through the year. 6,7,9,13 and 14(interchange hooker) will have no change from last season so there is much less work to do than this time last year when we had about 5 players signed up.

Who predicted Leigh to struggle last year? With the amount of O/S players and money they threw at the squad they were never going to struggle.

We'll see if Lam's coaching credentials stack up this year though.... he was underwhelming at Wigan and his team won't be able to just turn up and pick up the 2 points against full-time quality outfits. Some decent recruitment on paper but let's see if he can mould them into a cohesive unit.