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Reply | Here comes the summer transfer rumour thread
at 09:22 19 Jul 2025
I think he also tracks back deep to help the defence also, not sure exactly where he'll be played and under what role under Sheehan but from what I understand he doesn't hang around waiting for the ball to come to him, he'll drop back, put a foot in get the ball and set off on his travels 40+ meters up the field. Exactly the player we need to get us up on our feet. |
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Reply | Here comes the summer transfer rumour thread
at 12:08 12 Jul 2025
May be a blessing In Disguise, hopefully we'll go out and sign a competent LB now who can give Tymon competition for his place for the remainder of this season and help push him on, completion for places is healthy.m. It's a position we have no depth in anyway given Naughton, Pederson and Tjoe-A-On have all left the club. Hope it's a quick recovery though and he's not in too much discomfort. |
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Reply | Managing our mental health
at 19:05 11 Jul 2025
Having yet another low point. Completely out of nowhere, been a couple of weeks now. Not posting this looking for sympathy/support, just highlighting the roller coaster of mental health. You feel great... Then out of nowhere the blues kick in.... Then you feel ok/great again.... Then the blues return. It's a circle at the moment i'm determined to break. |
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Reply | Diogo Jota
at 18:44 6 Jul 2025
Thankfully situations like this are very few and far between so we don't know if "most top clubs would have done it". Fact is Liverpool have, and that should be commended that they're stepping up and ensuring the family are well looked after. Nah e they don't need to (legally, or morally) as I'm sure the Jota family are wealthy and he'd likely have had a life insurance policy. But the fact they have and put an arm around d the family of one of their own players speaks volumes. Not particularly a fan of the club/city (although had a few cracking few weekends away there) but credit where it's due. |
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Reply | Here comes the summer transfer rumour thread
at 15:25 6 Jul 2025
On paper I think so, unless they see other existing players (Fulton/Cullen) as surplus to requirements and trying to move on. Fulton will be difficult from a wages perspective but if he's told you're having 0 minutes of football this season then it may force him to have a rethink. Cullen who may not be classed as a midfielder did play most of his football last season in the AM role so with the options brought in and still looking at midfielders he took could be for the chop? |
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Reply | Japan v Wales
at 11:23 6 Jul 2025
The current eligibility rules are the eligibility rules. I don't like them, and whilst I think there should be some room for qualifying on residency, that should be somewhere around 7+ years in my opinion.
However with the current rules in place which we are not fully utilising we are being considerably left behind and overtaken by some other nations who are taking full advantage of the eligibility rules.
I take the point a previous poster mentioned that the regions can't compete financially to bring in the best players from other shores, I hadn't thought of it that way before, but we do have 4 professional sides so I don't agree necessarily that we don't have the player pool, That's over 140 professional rugby players playing in Wales, excluding those choosing to play in England/France. I'm not going to get into the financial side of things as it's not my area of expertise, but to say we don't have a big enough player pool to compete with at least the likes of Italy, Scotland, Japan and even Ireland I think is wrong.
What were not doing is bringing through elite athletes from the U19's into senior rugby or developing them into elite athletes in the first two years of senior rugby. Fast, physically big players. Is it because we're a "small nation" or is it because of our culture or conditioning programmes.
Then.... And this is a big one for me.... We have been seriously lacking in skill and rugby intelligence for an awful long time. Wales, particularly under Gatland had a system, a structure, it worked for some time but the game moved on, we didn't. The game is quicker and looser now (for the better in my opinion) but we still seem to want to set up pods of 3 which slows the game down rather than play with width and pace. The golden years under Gatland have left their mark on Welsh rugby, most school coaches and junior coaches would have taken inspiration from that and tried to play that way... So Between 2008 and 2019 kids would have had certain playing preferences instilled in them... And where are those players now??? Our Senior players!!!
Something drastic has to change, I don't want/think cutting regions down is the answer as we want that larger playing pool, but the coaching in the 4 regions (as they currently are) and in particular in the identification of and development of talent at younger ages needs to be overhauled.
Here's what I would do :-
1) Scrap all junior pathways for each region - the money they could save on expenses, coaches etc can be re-invested back into their first team squads.
2) Centralise (probably under WRU) academies lnto East, West and North Wales for every age grade from U13's to U18's for those identified as the most talented players. Each year players need to "Graduate" to the next age band based knowledge improvements made whist continuing to account locally and hold regular trial days for any late developers/newcomers to rugby to not be missed.
3) Use a form of "draft system" for the regions to select which players they want to contract upon graduation from U18's into senior rugby.
Not all players will make it, that's life. But under a better, stricter and more consistent centrally funded development programme the regions would have the cream of the crop available for them to select to offer professional contract to. |
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Reply | Here comes the summer transfer rumour thread
at 17:28 5 Jul 2025
If they're valued by the coaching staff/board now is the time to extend - 4 year contracts which would mean not needing to come back to the table for a couple of years. If they start to drag their feet and risk walking on a free like Darling then we can actively look to move on in this or the next two windows for a decent sum and reinvest in long term replacements. |
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Reply | Here comes the summer transfer rumour thread
at 22:45 3 Jul 2025
Correct. But the same could be said for most other squad members. I was basing my opinion on needing at least one left back cover and an additional striker based on those currently on the books as of today (assuming Galbraith gets over the line). |
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Reply | Here comes the summer transfer rumour thread
at 00:45 3 Jul 2025
Galbraith is apparently equally comfortable playing right back as he is in midfield so we may now have cover there. Another player who can cover LB and another Striker and I think we've got to be there or thereabouts? |
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Reply | Day one
at 23:06 30 Jun 2025
Eom leaping like Ronaldo there. All that graft in the gym is going to pay off for him this year!! |
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Reply | Here comes the summer transfer rumour thread
at 22:56 30 Jun 2025
Mcburnie works hard and brings other players into the game well, but I feel we already have a player like that in Cullen. Ok Mcburnie is physically bigger and probably better aerially but he's not a prolific No9. We know what we'd get with him, and unless he hits a real purple patch in front of goal to turn his goal scoring record around then that won't be many goals which you need from your main striker.
If the recruitment team think he's the best option then I'll welcome him back with open arms and sing his name from the stand, but in my heart I would love us to go out and unearth another Piroe. It's also worth noting that although he's available on a free, at 29 he wouldn't be seen as an investment with little resale value, so it really wouldn't come back as an investment for the future, so would need to hit the ground running tomorrow successful. [Post edited 30 Jun 23:12]
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Reply | Freddie Woodman signs for ?
at 21:00 27 Jun 2025
He was excellent for us and still very young for a GK. I can't see him ousting Alison anytime soon but Liverpool rarely buy any duds with their database scouting approach. |
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Reply | Darren O'Dea : Assistant Head Coach
at 20:50 27 Jun 2025
Like the sound of :-
"nurturing players with strong minds and the ability to beat opponents and create chances." |
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Reply | Caption Competition
at 18:08 26 Jun 2025
"Right lads, First thing to focus on during our pre-season training... Your reaction when you hear the news that Swansea City have been re-promoted back to the Premier League" [Post edited 26 Jun 18:28]
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Site Scores| Forum Votes: | 228 | | Comment Votes: | 0 | | Prediction League: | 0 | | TOTAL: | 228 |
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