Transfer Rumour Mill 22/23

[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.

[LeytherRob]

9 minutes ago, SalfordSlim said:

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.

The general consensus on here and other social media pretty much though to the 1895 cup final were that Fev were the strongest team and that Leigh had bought a bunch of mercenaries that wouldn't gel and would fail/leave as happened in 2018. Even a lot of Leigh fans were skeptical(myself included) but Lam/Chester have proved this year they can build a team and culture quickly.

[phiggins]

39 minutes ago, SalfordSlim said:

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.

Might've been underwhelming at Wigan, but didn't he take them to a Grand Final, which they only lost at the very last play of the game?

He's infinitely more qualified than Darren Abram, Neil Jukes, John Duffy and Kurt Heggarty, who have been in charge in previous attempts at SL. We didn't just turn up and pick up the 2 points, nobody came close to us and we were more dominant than we ever were in the previous promotion season, and players did improve under him in the season just gone.

It will of course be difficult, and I'd snatch your hand off if you offered me 11th place now, but more reason to be optimistic than 2005, 2017 and 2021, and Lam / Chester are the main reason for that

[dkw]

42 minutes ago, LeytherRob said:

The general consensus on here and other social media pretty much though to the 1895 cup final were that Fev were the strongest team and that Leigh had bought a bunch of mercenaries that wouldn't gel and would fail/leave as happened in 2018. Even a lot of Leigh fans were skeptical(myself included) but Lam/Chester have proved this year they can build a team and culture quickly.

Can you back this up with some actual proof, because thats not how I remember any of it.

[Gerrumonside ref]

Leigh and Fev were always talked about as favourites from memory of last year.

The main negative about both was whether they might overstretch as clubs in their bid to make it to Super League.

It was a coin toss I thought preseason as did the bookies, but Leigh proved the stronger of course.

[Harry Stottle]

22 hours 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
 

 

You would honestly put Charnley in our best team, I cannot think of a player that I have ever been more disappointed in, he has lost all his pace and he can't beat a man.

[Chrispmartha]

Hearing rumours of 3 or 4 going to the Bulls from Leeds.

Donaldson and Prior both mentioned 

[LeytherRob]

16 minutes ago, dkw said:

Can you back this up with some actual proof, because thats not how I remember any of it.

Here is a few i found on a quick scan through 2/3 threads

 

  

On 11/10/2021 at 14:43, The Blues Ox said:

Not sure about top 4 but I don't see them making the top 2 with the struggles they are having signing players. Fev will be a total class above Leigh next season and its just whether teams like Bradford and Halifax can start to bridge that gap. Both are spending to try and do that but the lack of good forwards available is going to restrict any team that wants to challenge Fev.

  

On 11/10/2021 at 19:05, Mumby Magic said:

Top six in order for me. 

Fev 

Bradford 

Fax 

Leigh 

Newcastle 

Barrow.

  

On 22/10/2021 at 20:04, georgeb1 said:

Think fev and Leigh may disappoint next season , Newcastle , bulls , fax and a few more could be the dark horse in 2022

  

On 11/11/2021 at 23:27, Johnny Ringo said:

Prediction for 2022 Season on signings and retentions so far.

1 Fax

2 Fev

3 Thunder

4 Liegh

5 Bradford

6 Batley

7 York

8 Barrow

9 Widnes

10 Dewsbury

11 Witehaven

12 Sheffield

13 London

14 Workington

  

On 19/11/2021 at 22:49, Tommygilf said:

Fev are definitely looking strong. If Leigh look off the pace by comparison its going to be hard for anyone else to come close imo.

The poison chalice of 2021 Super League strikes?

  

On 17/01/2022 at 08:14, Spidey said:

They do this every year and get the same results. Will they ever learn?

  

On 19/01/2022 at 16:05, M j M said:

Signing players who have been let go by other clubs due to being troublemakers just highlights some of the administrative failings we see time and time again at Leigh.

But then again, I suspect the club's name is, for myriad reasons, somewhat tarnished nowadays which probably makes player agents steer their clients away unless they're desperate. 

  

On 15/12/2021 at 14:11, Davo5 said:

Don’t know about the Championship being theirs for the taking,I seem to remember them doing the same after their last relegation & that didn’t turn out too well.

The fact they have a DR arrangement in place probably means they can run with a smallish  squad.

 

[Tommygilf]

2 minutes ago, LeytherRob said:

Here is a few i found on a quick scan through 2/3 threads

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

In fairness to my own comment in that thread, a ball hadn't been kicked and Leigh hadn't made many (if any) major signings of note. 

Leigh put it beyond doubt as the season went on with recruitment. Fev were blown out of the water. 

[The Phantom Horseman]

1 minute ago, LeytherRob said:

 

  Here is a few i found on a quick scan through 2/3 threads

 

You said right up to the 1895 final, yet a lot of those posts are from October when you barely had anyone signed! It can be argued that a lot of Leigh's best signings ie Ipape, O'Donnell, Ferguson, Inu, Lam, still hadn't been signed when a lot of those posts were made.

[LeytherRob]

2 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

You said right up to the 1895 final, yet a lot of those posts are from October when you barely had anyone signed! It can be argued that a lot of Leigh's best signings ie Ipape, O'Donnell, Ferguson, Inu, Lam, still hadn't been signed when a lot of those posts were made.

To cover the period from pre season to 1895 cup final I'd have to scan through about 20 pages of topics. I went skipped back about 5 pages at a time until I saw an obvious thread to check(championship 2022) and scanned through. There were also many more than I quoted, but I'm hesitant to bombard with a ton of posts. I've no doubt there will be more on many other topics, not to mention the harsher unmoderated territories of twitter and Facebook.

[LeytherRob]

11 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

In fairness to my own comment in that thread, a ball hadn't been kicked and Leigh hadn't made many (if any) major signings of note. 

Leigh put it beyond doubt as the season went on with recruitment. Fev were blown out of the water. 

Absolutely and it's not really a dig at any of those posters, more of the point dkw and Salford slim were making that Leigh were designated favourites last year. In reality it wasn't until a good few months into the year when the Ferguson, O'Donnell and Charnley signings that the concensus settled on Leigh, even amongst Leigh fans themselves.

It goes to show how things can change through a season, the Salford Facebook group was mostly posts asking for Rowley to be sacked for the first quarter of the season.

[SalfordSlim]

14 minutes ago, LeytherRob said:

It goes to show how things can change through a season, the Salford Facebook group was mostly posts asking for Rowley to be sacked for the first quarter of the season.

Dear God, Facebook... the bastion of sensible, logical & reasoned debate. That place is a bigger cesspit than my undies after a good curry and a night on the lash and makes RLFans look like the annual MENSA convention.

Joking aside, I think the vast majority knew early on that Leigh would be far too good for the division (no offence intended to the other teams) and only Leigh shooting themselves in the foot would stop them getting promotion.

I think Leigh will stay off the bottom but I'm not willing to predict at whose expense (except it won't be Salford, or possibly Saints). 

[The Phantom Horseman]

6 minutes ago, SalfordSlim said:

Joking aside, I think the vast majority knew early on that Leigh would be far too good for the division (no offence intended to the other teams) and only Leigh shooting themselves in the foot would stop them getting promotion.

 

In fairness I think Fev were actually favourites with the bookies for the 1895 Cup, that was the game that turned the tide in that respect. From then on there wasn't much doubt.

[GUBRATS]

3 hours ago, SalfordSlim said:

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.

Yes , well know more in 5 months 

[GUBRATS]

1 hour ago, SalfordSlim said:

Dear God, Facebook... the bastion of sensible, logical & reasoned debate. That place is a bigger cesspit than my undies after a good curry and a night on the lash and makes RLFans look like the annual MENSA convention.

Joking aside, I think the vast majority knew early on that Leigh would be far too good for the division (no offence intended to the other teams) and only Leigh shooting themselves in the foot would stop them getting promotion.

I think Leigh will stay off the bottom but I'm not willing to predict at whose expense (except it won't be Salford, or possibly Saints). 

Showing a lot of confidence in your ' team ' like any other ,you get a bad run of injuries ( much like Leigh have suffered every time we've been in SL ) and you'll be in the mix at the bottom , all IMO of course , not being an expert like your good self 

All the best 

Edited October 21, 2022 by GUBRATS

[gazza77]

Not a new signing, just an extension, but a nice bit of work from the Fev media team.