If you look at what Tony Rea started with, you could loosely break down the squad into four segments.
(Anyone noted in
=#FF0000red has been released by Rea; anyone in
=#00BF00green has been signed by him and the rest were awarded their last contract by Powell or Mac)
PLAYERS OF SUPER LEAGUE STANDARD, WITH A GOOD FITNESS TRACK-RECORD OVER THEIR CAREER
Dorn, Dixon, Channing, Melling, Witt, Kaufusi, Bryant, Bailey, Clubb, Wheeldon,
=#00BF00 Lee, Cook,
=#00BF00Fisher, Lovell,
=#FF0000Rinaldi.,
=#FF0000Gower,
PLAYERS OF SUPER LEAGUE STANDARD, BUT LIKELY TO PLAY ONLY 1 in 2 GAMES
Colbon, Rodney, Robertson, Sarginson,
=#FF0000Temata, Golden
PLAYERS WHO WOULD NOT BE A REGULAR STARTER IN A TOP 10 SUPER LEAGUE TEAM
Grady, Krasniqi, O'Callaghan, McMeeken,
=#00BF00Hurst, =#00BF00Mendieka, Dollapi,
=#FF0000R Thomas, Bryan, Caro, Edwards, Bolger, Bolger, Ridley
PLAYERS WHOSE BEST PERFORMANCES WERE MANY YEARS AGO BUT STILL ON LARGE SALARIES
Randall, Howell
In the group of players of Super League standard, it is important to remember that almost all the regularly fit players on the list were signed from Academies/Reserves or from a club who featured regularly in the bottom 3. The ones with a less consistent track record were signed from bigger clubs, but are available less often, and a factor in them becoming available on the market was their injury records.
The other two lists are full of players who are yet to prove they are regular Super League players or have proven they are not.
I don't know what anyone could do with this squad, be it Wayne Bennett or Rob Powell, for there are lots of liabilities and few assets, but Tony is pruning out when he can.
The fact is that Tony is prepared to get his hands dirty and clear out the dead wood when previous managers would auto renew year after year even when players didn't deserve a new deal or had poor fitness records.
David Hughes has seemingly given out the Head Coach job without a rigourous process on more than one occasion so he can be questioned. The real issue is that a 30 year old Youth Coach was given the salary cap to spend and he was taken for a ride.
Tony will need 18 months to reverse this damage, it is frustrating, but he is clearing out the dead wood when given the chance. We will improve in each of the next two years, I am sure that will happen.
I know there are a lot of nay sayers who take each defeat as another nail in the coffin, but I am sure they are wrong.
There is no chance of a 12 team Super League if the clubs are given a vote - none at all. The likes of Salford, Wakefield, Castleford and London will not vote for it, nor will anyone else in real jeapordy of missing out and the clubs will not want less revenue. The RFL will bottle out from just making changes without consulatation too.
The facts are that there are no credible replacements for London in Super League - we will not be replaced to add in yet another small part of Yorkshire, Lancashire or a second French team and the RFL have buggered up Wales.
So we need to be proportionate, ed off but proportionate.
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