A lot is made of our progress in only our 3rd year in the Super League (regardless of what happens for the rest of the season), but maybe the fact that Justin cleared the decks by releasing 14 or so players at the end of the 2007 season, gave him a big "blank canvas" enabling him to bring in the type of players he wanted without having to juggle with the salary cap year on year?

Whilst having such a massive player turnover meant it's taken a long time for the players to gel, we are now seeing the fruits of Justin's recruitment.

From here-on-in, Justin can now "tweak" the squad every off-season with one or two marque players and promote from our promising academy set-up - a policy used by Leeds and Saints to great effect.

Thoughts...

WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE.

Exactly, just bringing in one or two new faces every year keeps the squad settled. JM said on boots n all that the majority of our recruitment for 2010 will come from 'within' which suggests he has a lot of confidence in some of the youth players we have now, which can only be a good thing.

It certainly seems to be bearing fruit. Of course, it's always hit and miss with overseas signings, and it seems fairly obvious Morgan has hit the jackpot. If the kids start to make an impact, there's no limit to how far Rovers can go.

Exciting times, indeed

No disrespect, as clearly what Morgan's done so far has been excellent, but his comment on promoting from within is not something he has a choice about. 2011 overseas quota is 5 and you need at least 8 homgrown players in the squad, so if he doesn't start shifting the balance in 2010 there's a big gap to bridge in 2011. How many overseas players would he be able to recruit anyway with the foreign players you've already got contracted for 2010?

Didn't the RFL relent over the overseas quota rules on players signed befor the 2008 season?

If they did, we know which club will be testing the application of the rules to its limits.

And your problem with that is

I don't like it but apart from Dobson all our overseas players on resigning will be classed as Fed trained.
So our only concern is the lack of homegrown youth in our squad.

Lovegrove

It was for any player signed before Feb 08 so anyone apart form Dobbo on renewal can if they so wished be classed as fed trained.

So your right, there is a big gap to bridge, with only Dobbo on the quota, we still have 4 overseas quota spots to fill