Clearly cap room available and I think we’re definitely signing Payne Haas*

* Just for the benefit of Saddened who will put those words into the mouth of a fictitious ‘dad at junior rugby’ on Redvee to show that all Wire fans are convinced we’ve signed the Brisbane powerhouse.

Had to Google that name.

Originally I thought it was a clever play of words by you and it was referring to Saddened as a Pain in the Ass.

We have not only signed him but there was a signing on fee, he has paid us £200,000 so he could come and play for us. No salary cap implications as we aren’t paying him one.

If we'd have had an injury to Walker & Powell I reckon Dwyer would have fitted in well. But a bit of a luxury having three such hookers on the cap. Hopefully we will be bringing in another prop ... the more the merrier for me as there is always someone banned, injured or deserving of a rest.

We need to sign some props. It's not about injury, or Ban, we just haven't got 4 top drawer prop forwards.

We need to replace Philbin for starters. His impact has declined and his work rate is not enough to justify the position. e.g) Bullock is seen as below him in the pecking order yet made 110m against Leeds in 12 carries, with 20 tackles with an AG of 9.

I agree with Wires71's point about Joe Philbin. In 2019, he was at the top of his game, producing that barnstorming run to score the opening try in the Challenge Cup final, and being selected for the Great Britain tour to the southern hemisphere*. Where has that kind of form gone in recent years?

* In fairness, I should point out that Jack Hughes was also selected for that Great Britain tour, so maybe it wasn't such a great indicator of form!

Plenty of data about players “form” in the years post ACL injury recovery to consider.

Good point.
Selective memories for some.

You can have all the data you want, and recovery from a major injury obviously takes time, but it still comes down to a simple question: when players are selected to play, are they doing the job you require of them?

Where is the selective memory? Of course it's bad news for a professional player to suffer any injury - especially one as severe as ACL which will jeopardise long term recovery. Philbin's injury was June 2022, it's now nearly 2 years later.

I stand by my point his impact has declined to negligible and his work rate is not enough to justify the position for a team that wants to compete with Wigan and Saints. If you don't agree or don't like the point - then fine. Are we supposed to ignore the fact that we can improve on the position ?