Had our money's worth out of JB, not for me thanks

I’ve never been a fan of Bateman and wouldn’t want him anywhere near our squad.
I think he had a house built/refurbished in Horwich so could see him signing for Huddersfield/Wakefield/Leeds.

Dont need him,great player once not anymore.

He'll still be a good pick up for most teams, but he doesn't improve us anymore.

We're in such a rare position now in that our recruitment is basically all about succession planning, rather than looking for upgrades on what we have. I'd guess it'll be a good while until we next spend a big wedge on a player in his 30s.

Agree with Cherry and White above in regards to our recruitment. It feels such an alien position to what I've always been used to, in that I can't realistically think where we're desperate to bring somebody in. That's not to say there aren't players who would be big upgrades on what we have and it's certainly not a Saints fan claim that we have the best player in every position in Superleague but in a salary capped sport, how do you improve what we have?

At the end of the season I'd expect Cooper and Isa to be the outs, with maybe Hampshire following them and I don't think anybody will come in. We'll see Hill, Eseh and Chan move up spots and we move from there. The squad is young as well, so there will be natural improvement and the vast majority are tied down long term. Unless players leave before the end of contracts (which is a real possibility) there is only Liam Farrell from the first 17 who will probably need replacing in the next 2-3 years. Full credit for Rads, Lenagan Peet and now Danson for getting us in this position.

We don't need Bateman, but I'm not sure if not signing anyone for 2025 is the right option. You always have to keep refreshing imo.

With that in mind, IF we had to point to our weakest position squad wise, I'd say it was at 13.

Ellis has done a great job, but after him, I don't think we've got the quality depth that we have in other positions. Don't get me wrong moving O'Neill or Thompson there is fantastic, but they are also among the very best in their preferred slots. You could also make a call that Ellis is a better prop than LF too.

I'm pretty certain Radlinski and co wont be going anywhere near Bateman. We had the best years out of him, made decent money from him and most importantly doesn't warrant a return to the club.

They can’t rest on their laurels for sure and usually I’d agree that you should always be looking to sign players but it’s quite a unique position we’re in because the squad is not just littered with talent, it’s littered with young talent. That means there will be natural improvements but it also means there will be demands for more money.

The wages of Isa and Cooper I’d imagine will be swallowed up by incremental increases for lads already signed up, like O’Neill and Nsemba but there are more lads behind those ready to come in and who could make a big impression (Eckersley, Douglas, Farrimond etc) and then more contract talks and more space will be needed. We may make one squad player type signing for 2025 but I doubt we’ll see anything of note until 2026 at the earliest and that’s fine by me. I think we’ve planned well ahead with signings like Eseh and Chan.

Time to entice Victor Radley out of his contract and over here

Now that would be nice Whiffy but we don't have any marquee spots available.