I'd say it's the opposite we've been looking for SL drop downs rather than top champ players and that has been our problem! Nanyn a great example of why buying championships best is better than SL outcasts... Kirk same season?

What I mean is we’ve been going for other clubs young players who can’t quite make it in SL. Someone at the club seems to think that, because they are young and promising, we’ll be able to take nearly a full squad of these players up to SL in 2012. Netherton, Coyle, Gardener, Gerrard, Pickersgill, I‘Anson and then there's all of the Dual-regs we signed on top of theat, all of which were recalled. It's time for all this cr@p to end. Only Picks imo will be worth a shot at SL, so why bother with the rest? I will admit that I know little about I‘Anson though.



If we try to build a club for SL in this league, with it’s poultry £300k cap, it will be a complete disaster. The team would be humiliated in SL and we won't even be able to hold our head up in the Champioship. I doubt we’ll even get a core of the squad from next years team. What we need is a team that can compete in the Championship next year and win it. For that we need some tough old nuts with bags of experience and skill. Let them bring our own youngsters on in a winning team, instead of getting a pasting physically every week. The good quality old heads, we did have, always seemed to be injured, because PC, in his infinite wisdom, bought them that way.



Imo Brecek will not improve us as significantly as several other players I could think of, and won’t be capable of making the step up to SL, so what’s the point?

Wouldn't really consider any of them as SL standard but Bracek still has potential. Catic is their best player, think he's out of contract too.

If you consider that Brecek is going to be SL quality, then I can understand why you, or anyone else, would want him here. I don’t think he’s even good enough for a top end Championship club and see no chance at all of him ever making a SL player.



I remember being lambasted on this forum for saying that Sam Thompson was e. Some people actually thought he was quite good.



Whilst Bracek is better than Thompson, I’m still totally puzzled as to what some people see in him.

I have to disagree Pepe! Not for this season! In 2008,09,10 you had a point but to change tact and build a championship winning sudecin 2011 would be daft! Earlier yes I agree but the year before a probable SL entry, where this season wouldn't matter for that... No way!

OK, how many of the squad, so far, do you actually think will be playing regularly and competing in SL in 2012?



Because I really can’t see too many who will be able to, and definatley not Bracek. Whether they are older or younger, most will be gone by 2012. If not, then prepare for a season locked at the bottom of SL.



What I want to see next season is a squad able to compete in the Championship. Come March, should we get the nod, we’ll have plenty of time to recruit a good team able to hold it’s own in SL.

It's a hard question to answer because realistically at the end of last year who would have made the call that Liam Finn for instance would have been so infleuntial at this level and walk away with the player of the year trophy.



I certainly wouldnt have forecast it and I do recall reading from some disgruntled Fev fans at the time of his signing.



Alot can change in a year and if one year deals get people playing for potential SL deals then its a great thing and us as fans couldnt care less about their performances form this or previous years.



Bracek is certainly a talented lad. He has been for a while now though and it generally seems to be his attitude that has let him down previously. Not just for him but a full time nevironment makes a massive difference for players stepping up and some will kick on and others will just drop back into the Championship as thiings level off.



I think we do forget but we took some average players with us or picked them up from the National Leagues and the full time environment and a good team ethic produced some good performances from them.



If we do well in the league next year then great but for me it's about getting individual players looking good and showing some promise. We dont need to dominate this league though to justify anything to other Championship fans though.

I hear Andy wanted 35k witch imo is way to much for him.



Steady away prop nothing flash never really breaks the line, Cullen would love him tho as he does the old Knees and Ellbows!!

I’m not too sure what point, in the context of this discussion, you are making?



Fev haven’t done what we have done. We have recruited too many young cast off’s from other teams, added young dual reg players and then have tried to throw in loads of our own youngsters. We did have some good, experienced players, but some of these were injured before we even signed them and spent most of this season out injured.



Fev built an experienced team and threw in a few young players with promise. That’s what I want Widnes to do. I want a tough quality pack and some quality backs. To this I want to see our own youngsters brought in. I want them to be playing in a team where they have a modicum of protection form the experienced players and learn from them in a winning environment. Barrow knocked the cr@p out of us in that last game. We were bullied. This is not a sport that tolerates any weakness, and such weakness will be exploited.











We are not full-time yet, and I’m far from convinced many of the players we have retained would make any sort of mark on SL. I’m not saying all of them would fail, but we cannot take a chance on them all. I've never seen a game were Bracek has impressed me. I'd rather spend that valuable space on the cap on a tough, old head who'll help bring on and protect our own youngsters. Gannon filled this role for so long, but he was on his own most of the time and he probably won't be here next season.







We don’t need to win to justify anything, but I would really like to see us do well next season. If we get the nod in March, every team we face will be up to smash us. We need some real muscle and experience next season to deal with that. I don’t want to go through another season like the last three and see us losing fans at the rate we are now. Having a winning team is b00dy important to me. In fact, that is what it is all about, surely?

A 1 year deal for Bracek with a final chance to prove himself wouldnt be a bad move IMO, like the rest of the lads he either wants it or he's resigned to playing in the championship for the rest of his career with teams like Leigh.

Went to watch the 20's super league final today vm..davies was immense,if we can prise him away from the pies a gr8 gr8 signing but somehow a loan would be the best we can hope for imo,they know this lad is a talent,look at farrell how he kicked on after his spell with us.

I'd sign Catic in a shot. Aggressive, incredibly quick for a big man, puts opponents off their game. All the things you want in a forward (who can play centre).