@sandgroper Good to see him at the Whitehaven game I assume he was being introduced to his new team mates .
More waste of money has cost us six months of wages and he has not got near to playing .
I trust our new signing ,who is immediately injured will make more appearances for us , as he appears to have only averaged for one reason or another an average of a dozen per season .
It was reported on the club ‘s website that he had also signed for 2023 .
Was that a good idea in the circumstance ?
Unfortunately the management have made mistakes and therefore wasted so much money for the reasons mentioned by many on this Forum , and that is why we cannot compete with the upper echelon of teams in the league .
@hillview Signing any player long term is taking a chance look at the Keraliah(sic?). But if you want stability how else do you do it?
The way our tackles are policed by the refs makes knee injuries more likely imo, but that won't change until the clubs complain!
Johnson hasn't been injury prone as far as I can see, unlike our long termer!!
@sandgroper signing someone with along term injury is valueless and we can ill afford to waste money .
With regard Johnson statistics do not lie , it would be an idea for you to scrutinise these properly .
Overall the situation is we have wasted money and it is about time the management got a grip otherwise we will carry on until sorry to say the inevitable happens .
@sandgroper signing someone with along term injury is valueless and we can ill afford to waste money .
With regard Johnson statistics do not lie , it would be an idea for you to scrutinise these properly .
Overall the situation is we have wasted money and it is about time the management got a grip otherwise we will carry on until sorry to say the inevitable happens .
Had a look for Johnson's injury stats but it was unsuccessful - have you a source of injury info?
Maybe you are working on games played?
A player in a squad maybe not selected but it doesn't mean that he is injured of course. Getting on for half of a SL squad are 'unselected' each week. They may be sent out on loan just to keep fit if needed, which is how we got Doro and Field initially.
Levy was certainly a gamble, it may yet pay off but I have my doubts.
On our two most serious injuries Owens and Craven have rarely been injured iirc, but them and Grady have seriously damaged us. Can't see that they could have been predicted though.
@sandgroper If you check my original quote I mention number of appearances per season that is all , if you think that is sufficient so be it ,however in my opinion on the face of it for a player to only average half the fixtures in a season , bearing in mind it is over a long period , is a risk ,especially committing to 2023 .
With regard to Levy how can it possibly pay off he is already in a deficit of 6 months wages and this is ongoing .
I never mentioned anything about Owens and Craven so why bring them into the argument as they are irrelevant to this particular point I am making .
@hillview You're saying it's a risk signing players from a higher level just because of their appearance percentage, I'm not sure how you use that as a gauge of how a signing is good or bad.
If you take our ex-player Keenan Brand as an example, he played 3 or 4 games for Wire in a season, was it a risk for Leigh to sign him?
Also this year at Leigh, barring injury or squad rotation, he's probably going to miss the remainder of the season, does that mean a club like us shouldn't look to sign him?
Whoever we appoint will not please everyone. Is there any at Widnes with Academy experience?
Phil Finney?
Paulie xx
We may have signed Joan Johnson from SL club, where he has played a handful of games in the last couple of seasons, but since the start of his career at Huddersfield, most of his rugby has been at championship level.
For most of his time at Hull K R , they were in the championship, as we're Leigh when he played for them and the rest of the time he has been on loan at various clubs , so I is a worry, his relative lack of game time.
This, however does not mean he will not prove a good signing , but it is to be hoped we also recieved a cash sum also for Dupree.
The biggest melon scratcher to me though, is why on earth we brought in a player with a possible career ending injury before he was fit. I can see no possible mitigating circumstances for this and while Levy seems to be an admirable young man, we should have waited until he was 100 % fit.
On the coaching front, the silence from the club is deafening.
....... we should have waited until he was 100 % fit.
On the coaching front, the silence from the club is deafening.
....As did Salford before signing Dupree.
Agreed re coaching situation.
Antony Murray has turned it down.
He wanted to bring his own assistants and S&C and the club weren't prepared to do that with the staff they have currently.
Duffy and Higham still in the mix.
Antony Murray has turned it down.
Heavens above. Anthony Murray turning down Widnes.
Presumably they cannot afford/are unwilling to pay off the existing staff who are on contract and employ a new set of staff.
There is an element of a new coach having a hand tied behind his back if not allowed to have some of his own staff brought in, rumours had it this was an issue with TS.
Yet, we brought in a number of new staff with SF...
What is worrying is that we could not entice Henderson from Keighley, although he may want to continue with his media work, as well as ambitions for SL.
Murray is not exactly top drawer and, if true, I can understand the club’s reluctance in not agreeing to him bringing in his own coaching team from NW Crusaders.
It is about time that the Club gave fans an update on the search for a Coach.
I wonder whether Duffy is still in the mix - maybe hanging on for the Bradford job?
Possibly less pressure and easier to fit around media at Keighley, also perhaps less of an arduous task to attack promotion than turn a tanker around.
I don't see personally if they wanted John Duffy why they couldn't have done the deal 2 weeks ago?
There were 2 weeks between Fev and Whitehaven and a good, what, 10/11 days between Sheffield and Bradford, can't see why an appointment wasn't made then, think about it in terms of in Football, often the change of manager comes in an International Break.
Possibly less pressure and easier to fit around media at Keighley, also perhaps less of an arduous task to attack promotion than turn a tanker around.
I don't see personally if they wanted John Duffy why they couldn't have done the deal 2 weeks ago?
There were 2 weeks between Fev and Whitehaven and a good, what, 10/11 days between Sheffield and Bradford, can't see why an appointment wasn't made then, think about it in terms of in Football, often the change of manager comes in an International Break.
I suspect that Hendo prefers the desk job plus TV than actually coaching. Certainly he will be further away from the flak if the team plays badly. Can't honestly see why you need a 'Director of Rugby' in a club in Keighley's position tbh.
The remaining applicants may have more than one iron in the fire and are playing for time. That is if they are still actively employed.
In soccer they are talking big money and that can ease the passage from one club to another.
Don't know about Higham tbh. I hated him as a player but he was always and aggressive and dangerous and I'm certain we would play a rougher game under him. He qualified as a teacher as he retired so he should have the gift of the gab!
Duffy was never a commanding player, did OK for us but wasn't one who seemed to be organising on the field at least.
The club may be hoping to retain Smithy as an Assistant Coach? Certainly him and Higham have plenty of experience between them.
Difficult to get a take on it without you know the players off the field. Man management makes a coach, some have it, some just don't and no matter how clever they are in a rugby sense if they can't manage the team they don't succeed.
Watson looks as if he has that connection, young yet but he will make it.