English Recruits Watch

Yeah he deserves the suspension he got, he showed immediate regret holding his hands up, so obviously was just careless rather than intentional. Harvee said it at some point, looking past the obvious dangerous tackle gone wrong, it's good to see he has some aggression, shows a player is trying hard and cares about the result, rather than just going through the motions. Those are the traits you like to see in a player.
 
Pryce came off the bench last night in Huddersfields 28-0 loss to Salford in their elimination semi-final, believe he came on after Danny Levi got injured and the halfback had to move to hooker so ended up playing the entire second half.

It's why I'm surprised they're holding firm hardball with not releasing/transfering feeing him. Olly Russell - the five-eighth that got picked ahead of him is only 23 and has had a breakout season by all reports, their halfback Theo Fages is 28 and fresh off 3 seasons of dominance as St Helens halfback and has now taken them to the top 4 so won't be unseated.

If Pryce does end up just a 14/first-drop half next year that won't be great for his development, I'd be fine for him to stay there and get another full season in the halves/fullback at SL level but injury cover or stints off the bench won't do a great deal to prepare him for 2024. The problem is compounded a touch by the P&R system they have, as a result the second tier (The Championship) is almost entirely seperate from SL clubs so players not getting SL gametime will only play in the Championship if loaned out or in specific instances of dual-registration. Outside of those circumstances players would play in the SL reserves comp which is of a very pitiful standard comprised of a few fringe squad players and academy players, forfeits are regular occurences and scorelines of 100-0 were recorded this season so the comp is a bit of a shambles.

So if Pryce is struggling for gametime in the first-team he could be wasting a lot of time either not playing or effectively playing at an English pub league standard which isn't great for us. I can understand why Huddersfield want to keep him as a home-grown quality backup/utility but if it looks like he's going to be stuck in limbo next season I really think we should up the pressure/transfer offer to make it more compelling for them to release him so we can chuck him in NSW Cup for 2023 for a full year of consistent development - if he breaks through to firsts quickly then so be it but I'm fairly confident he'd be best off starting in reserves.

KPP I'm not surprised about, one of their top backrowers got injured last week so he'll likely play the finals series starting on an edge with a very good shot at winning a premiership. I would expect him to be an immediate first 17 player and it wouldn't surprise me if he's very quickly into the starting side, and for that reason I doubt he'll come til 2024.
 
MullosLefttoRight said:
Pryce came off the bench last night in Huddersfields 28-0 loss to Salford in their elimination semi-final, believe he came on after Danny Levi got injured and the halfback had to move to hooker so ended up playing the entire second half.

It's why I'm surprised they're holding firm hardball with not releasing/transfering feeing him. Olly Russell - the five-eighth that got picked ahead of him is only 23 and has had a breakout season by all reports, their halfback Theo Fages is 28 and fresh off 3 seasons of dominance as St Helens halfback and has now taken them to the top 4 so won't be unseated.

If Pryce does end up just a 14/first-drop half next year that won't be great for his development, I'd be fine for him to stay there and get another full season in the halves/fullback at SL level but injury cover or stints off the bench won't do a great deal to prepare him for 2024. The problem is compounded a touch by the P&R system they have, as a result the second tier (The Championship) is almost entirely seperate from SL clubs so players not getting SL gametime will only play in the Championship if loaned out or in specific instances of dual-registration. Outside of those circumstances players would play in the SL reserves comp which is of a very pitiful standard comprised of a few fringe squad players and academy players, forfeits are regular occurences and scorelines of 100-0 were recorded this season so the comp is a bit of a shambles.

So if Pryce is struggling for gametime in the first-team he could be wasting a lot of time either not playing or effectively playing at an English pub league standard which isn't great for us. I can understand why Huddersfield want to keep him as a home-grown quality backup/utility but if it looks like he's going to be stuck in limbo next season I really think we should up the pressure/transfer offer to make it more compelling for them to release him so we can chuck him in NSW Cup for 2023 for a full year of consistent development - if he breaks through to firsts quickly then so be it but I'm fairly confident he'd be best off starting in reserves.

KPP I'm not surprised about, one of their top backrowers got injured last week so he'll likely play the finals series starting on an edge with a very good shot at winning a premiership. I would expect him to be an immediate first 17 player and it wouldn't surprise me if he's very quickly into the starting side, and for that reason I doubt he'll come til 2024.
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Thanks for the write up
 
Good wrap up there Mullo.

Also my understanding was part of the reason they don’t wanna release Pryce was that they see themselves as being in a premiership window. Might have just got a rude awakening on that front 😂

Crossing my fingers for a Fitz/Pryce trade. Huddersfield’s issue is their pack isn’t the best and Fitz would be a big, heavy, hard runner who I think would do really well in the English game. He might get away with the laziness which makes him a liability in the NRL over there.

In exchange we get another prospect for the spine. If we can’t get Garrick, Hodgson has shown potential when fit and Pryce has a fair amount of SL experience at fullback (and no injury issues), the two of them can fight it out for the spot.

Pryce is definitely very raw as a half & I think the easier fullback stuff in attack of providing the extra man & final pass + running with a bit more time and space is likely a smoother path into the NRL than trying to be a halfback from the jump.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
Good wrap up there Mullo.

Also my understanding was part of the reason they don’t wanna release Pryce was that they see themselves as being in a premiership window. Might have just got a rude awakening on that front 😂

Crossing my fingers for a Fitz/Pryce trade. Huddersfield’s issue is their pack isn’t the best and Fitz would be a big, heavy, hard runner who I think would do really well in the English game. He might get away with the laziness which makes him a liability in the NRL over there.

In exchange we get another prospect for the spine. If we can’t get Garrick, Hodgson has shown potential when fit and Pryce has a fair amount of SL experience at fullback (and no injury issues), the two of them can fight it out for the spot.

Pryce is definitely very raw as a half & I think the easier fullback stuff in attack of providing the extra man & final pass + running with a bit more time and space is likely a smoother path into the NRL than trying to be a halfback from the jump.
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Yeah the wheels have certainly come off a bit for Huddersfield but to be fair Salford have done a brilliant job with a team almost entirely bereft of stars, revitalising careers of previously talented blokes who had fallen off a cliff has been their MO for a few years now and it's serving them well with their shoestring budget.

I tend to agree that fullback might be a way too ease that transition but I guess the flipside is that defence work/importance associated with fullback would impose a big workload and he's big and aggressive enough to hold his own defending in the frontline. I also wouldn't feel terrible running with Hodgson as our first choice fullback if KP is in the halves but as you say fitness seems to be the exception to the rule for him, very frustrating that we could've given Hodgson the dozen games Tex got at fullback this year to prepare him for next season.
 
Maxibon said:
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looks like he could be a real physical threat after an nrl preseason but he seems rather unpolished. Not sure he's the answer we're looking for to improve massively next year. He's bigger than I thought with some good speed and footwork. Needs to add some muscle and lose a few kg's of fat though.
 
England Knights is like their reserve team with mostly young players. KPP is in England's top squad as well though.

Wigan announced Bevan French has re-signed.
 
Wigan have told the Tigers that they will release John Bateman for a transfer fee of 350k..
I wonder if we could do the same for KPP, but perhaps a little bit cheaper (150-200k). We probably got a transfer fee from Catalans for Pearce so we could have the spare cash…
 
Maxibon said:
Wigan have told the Tigers that they will release John Bateman for a transfer fee of 350k..
I wonder if we could do the same for KPP, but perhaps a little bit cheaper (150-200k). We probably got a transfer fee from Catalans for Pearce so we could have the spare cash…
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Does come out of the salary cup though.
 
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