Agree with all of this, particularly the last bit. All things being equal my order of preference would be Smith, then a big gap, Mathers, then another gap to finally Tongia.

I believe Agar has told Mathers that he wants him and he is happy to sign, just whether we will match his salary now.

I'm with you regards Obst, he was a good player for us before and always gave 100% but I feel import\quota places should be reserved for REAL QUALITY players.
Due to not being able to build for the future last year because of the uncertainty we are behind other teams in terms of who we can recruit, but we now have 3 years in which to get it right before the next licence bids. Given that we have time I would rather see us giving time to our youngstres when we need to cover for injuries rather than having to rely on yet more average imports.
Let's be forward thinking, hopefully in 3 years time we will be playing out of Newmarket and so the determining factors in our licence bid will not be ground issues but the other criteria. We excel in Community and Education but are behind in terms of Youth development and promotion. Let's use the 3 years we have (and the 1873 money) to ensure that come the next round of franchises we have ticked another very important box.
We can no longer think short-term, that is what got us where we were before AG came in. Signing Obst might win us a couple of extra games next year if we have injuries to our other halfs, but it holds back Wildie, Moore, Davey who can go on to be the lynchpins of a home produced team in years to come.


As for Tongia or Mathers, as I said earlier I don't particularly like Mathers from what I have seen of him but you can't deny he has some qualities.
IMO both of these players (admittedly assessment of Tongia is not based on many games) are prone to defensive mistakes, but both can provide some quality in attack.
Tongia's step and dummy at Warrington was superb and worth the journey for that alone despite the big defeat.
Mathers was an extra halfback for Cas against us last year and a lot of organising\attacking went through him.

It's a tough one to choose but I'd rather a British player than another import if they are of the same quality.

Tongia is a signed up member of the club, are we trying to do a "Sam" with him and get shut. Thats not really on is it, treating players that way.

Signed up when? Thought he was just under contract for last season, never heard anything from the club.

The rumour is that he was signed up after the season ended but before Agar was signed and Agar was not overly impressed so it has not been officially announced. Note the use of the word RUMOUR.

Did the talk not go when Agar was announced as coach - he will bring the young players through - Obst coming back would prove that to be a big white one.Dont get me wrong he served the club well but lets move forward.Mathers well he can have a belting game one week then follow it with a howler.Would sooner have Tongia as he is younger and his game can be worked on and I belive he would then be a better player than Mathers.

I honestly think we need an established kicker in the side, they will be the difference to winning and losing 4/5 games this year easily. 8/10 points could be the difference between 11th and 7th going off last years table. we should have 4 guys doing 2/3 hours a day, each day until the season starts.

There is just one problem with that. A player is either a goal kicker or he is not. I played with a lad who was an excellent kicker in training, he could bang them over from everywhere, but in a match he couldn't kick for toffee. Kicking in match when it matters is a lot different to kicking in training when it doesn't. Which takes me back to my point, a player is either a goal kicker or he isn't.

Going back to thread.

We don't need Obst. The only reason I can see for him signing is that the club are not 100% confident Tim Smith will get a visa.

Then why not get Lee Smith usually deputised for Sinfield in this department at Leeds plus we have Morton and Moore (if he gets a game)