Quite like the look of the squad with lots of young players who have played for the First Team & done OK. It would be good if our reserve team could actually be made up of mainly players from the squad. In the past few years our reserve team has seemed very young & not a true reserve team.

And we've wasted a quota spot on a guy given the 26 shirt.

The fringe players look good, it's our 1-13 I'm worried about. Two slow centres, an unproven 7, props that we all agree need improving on and our best second rower is injury prone. If burgess gets that squad to win a grand final he is an absolute genius!!

The current meagre Salary Cap and club finances, are a major deterrent to clubs having a proper reserve team competition.

ALL clubs just play their fringe squad players combined with their best/older Academy players in the reserve team.

Players are then loaned-out to Championship clubs to expose them to better/tougher games for their development.

The fact that the Reserve and Academy games are scheduled on alternate weekends so that they don`t clash, facilitates clubs` playing their Academy players in the Reserve League and is deliberately designed that way.

I agree that we need a much better reserve league on a similar level to the Queensland/NSW Cup competitions, but it`s not going to happen here for a while, if ever?

Totally agree. I would hope that Lindop becomes a first choice centre at some point this next season. In order for the pack to compete we need a genuine break out season (not just a bit of promise) from one, or preferably two, from Wood, Thomas & Okoro.

Having watched PNG v Cook islands I'm even more baffled by the signing of Russell. I'm just hoping he's carrying an injury, because if his last 2 games for them are a true reflection of his ability he's getting nowhere near our first 17.

It’s why I like to hope the coaches see something us fans have not. But given what some have seen and what a lot of us have read of his record it is a worry and more so because it’s a quota spot.

The operational loss won't stop us spending the spare money we have on the cap. And we have spare money available to bring another player in. 2 seperate things.

We "fans" do tend to be a bit miserable & cynical. I can't remember any signing that got everyone jumping in the air with glee. Too old, journeyman, chasing money, not played at any level, dropped a ball once, missed a tackle in a game 8 years ago.
We'll see.
I think we have much more ability below our 1-13 than we have had for some time.
Unfortunately ... I'd back Wigan ... but we'll be there or thereabouts.

That's where I am. I'd be very, very disappointed if we weren't in top 4 at the end of the season and fairly disappointed if we weren't top 2. In those cases, it just comes down to winning a couple of games (at most) and then it's 5th time lucky for the big one.