Regardless of SB's comments, up until Tuesday afternoon they weren't aware of Huddersfield's 3 year offer. This is the club putting a brave face on being outbid for a player they thought was nailed on.

Not a great week with Tom Johnstone also turning us down.

So had we signed Johnstone we either was/is letting Dufty go and then Thewlis goes to his preferred position or we just don’t fancy Thewlis at wing.

Bring back Karl!


Let's hope we can get McMeeken.

i dont think we need to put a brave face on, its not like we made an announcement that we were going after him, and from what i've seen this week there's been more chatter about us missing out on him than huddersfield actually signing him.

this'll probably keep callum walker (hi callum) in stories for a couple of weeks

That is true.
I was referring to lift to the squad. A psychological aspect.

Johnstone is a shame, but I'm actually pretty happy with the Tom Burgess news.

He's obviously a great player, but Huddersfield are taking a huge risk, especially as they have to wait a year to get him.

I'm pleased that we, for once, have swallowed our pride and taken the sensible option.

Can't say I'm overly disappointed in missing out on either, Burgess would have been good on the right deal and would only count for £100k on the cap so there would have been benefits, but we shouldn't be overpaying for a prop who will be 32 with a tough NRL career behind him. Both Sam & George retired at 30 (though admittedly they had hip / shoulder problems that Tom has so far avoided), so will be interesting to see how Tom does, hopefully he has 3 good years in the comp.

On Johnstone he would be on big money I imagine, and though he had a relatively injury free year last season his record isn't great, I'm not a massive fan of spending big money on wingers.

If we’re going to spend silly money like Hudds, let’s save it for Joey Manu who’s available for next year. He’d be good backup for Thewlis, King or Wrench next year, providing he can keep Lindop out of the side of course.

How much more worthwhile & exciting it would be to develop our own youngsters than speculate on imports who may or may not prove to be what we need .

easyWire wrote:If we’re going to spend silly money like Hudds, let’s save it for Joey Manu who’s available for next year. He’d be good backup for Thewlis, King or Wrench next year, providing he can keep Lindop out of the side of course. Not that familiar with the the NRL players so had to google Joey Manu and found this article about a possible move to the dark side, which is hot off the press. (It will take mega money to bring him here). https://www.rugbyworld.com/news/joey-ma ... ing-164344.

easyWire wrote:If we’re going to spend silly money like Hudds, let’s save it for Joey Manu who’s available for next year. He’d be good backup for Thewlis, King or Wrench next year, providing he can keep Lindop out of the side of course. Not that familiar with the the NRL players so had to google Joey Manu and found this article about a possible move to the dark side, which is hot off the press. (It will take mega money to bring him here). https://www.rugbyworld.com/news/joey-ma ... ing-164344.