[quote="homme vaste"]Misread the thread, thought it said Questions for Ste Mills not Questions for Vastman.

Whatever

How has recruitment been effected now that league status is decided by IMG scores? Has it become easier or harder to attract and sign players when we don’t know for certain if we will be in Super League next year.

On a more generic point and not just thinking about Trinity. What is your opinion on IMG? Is it good for the game? What criteria would you add/remove/change to improve it?

[quote="vastman"]

We're opening up questions to the public to ask him anything regarding...anything! Recruitment, ingoings, outgoings, salary cap spends, developments with the ground, management of players off-field etc, literally anything at all.

You'd think that was patently obvious and thus doesn't require a question.

Still, it's a free country and if people wish to ask pointless questions then fine.

FWIW I'll tell you what I think happened and I'm 99.9% sure I'm right.

Saints were interested in Murphy from the moment he burst on the scene, and it was no secret that they wanted him. No surprise, he has Saints player written all over him.

However, Murph decided that Easts was where he wanted to go.

Unperturbed, Saints probably gave him the option that should it not work out in Oz they would take him in a heartbeat, and probably offered him a draft contract. Something I seriously doubt Carter was able to do, or does that need explaining as well.

Move one year forward and it's not really worked out for Lewis, all the same he's not disgraced himself and he will have learned a lot, so his value has not diminished.

So, why would his agent even bother shopping him around. He has a deal at Saints waiting and ready. Despite a bit of a lull over the last year or so, Saints remain along with Wigan the two premier clubs in SL, almost guaranteeing some medals. It's the perfect storm.

Even if he had been put on the open market, why would he be interested in us? We may be on a bit of a roll right now but we ain't Saints, not even close. Likewise I suspect that Saints, who are a smart club, will have made it very clear that the offer was take it or leave it and that they wouldn't enter a bidding war. So I doubt Murphy was shopped around anyway, it was as they say, a done deal.

If you need someone else to tell you all that, then you need to concentrate harder or be less naive.

Sure I've just burst a dozen egos, but it just seems so obvious to me.

[quote="phe13"]

However pointless? Why don't you go the full hog and ask him if it will be a white Christmas.

What job do you do? Could you answer every question regarding the company you work for, or could you only answer those specific to your job?

Fair enough, I suppose Murphy fits into that category, but ground developments - why would you expect the player recruitment manager to be able to answer those questions, seriously!

Your question is ?

Have the new regulations restricting the number of games a player can play in a year had any influence on your recruitment strategy ?
How do you see the new regulations impacting squad sizes and the rotation of players during the season?

With regards player welfare/training facilities, how do we know compare to Super League clubs? Are there plans to improve/introduce more facilities in the near future?

In regards to the comments made by Vastman above, when I spoke to Ste Mills this is the exactly what he said to me - he will answer anything and everything that is asked of him, that is the whole purpose of him coming onto the Fans Forum podcast. Whether you believe he has the standing within the club / capabilities to do so is your opinion.

Thank you everyone for taking part, hopefully you enjoy the episode tonight

I'd like to ask if we ever had a quality no.9 on the radar, or weren't we interested in 'strengthening' that particular position??