LEICESTER TIGERS 2022/23 - Prisoner of Oadby Pre-Season

[TigerFeetSteve]

The links to Atkinson make sense. He plays 10 but can play 15, he has a lot of experience but is still very young. Burns is out of contract at the end of the season and we will need a quality replacement given Pollard’s international call ups (and injury record).

Atkinson will want to stay in England to be selected nationally and has been in training squads in the past. He lives in the area. He knows Borthwick turns club players into test match players.

The telegraph article also references the cap freed up by Nadolo and Hegarty leaving mid season. Saracens mentioned as well. That makes sense with Goode soon to retire and Malins off to Bristol.

Would be a very good addition and an upgrade on Shillcock.

I wonder if this is why we'd heard nothing further on Shillcock; similar players but Aktinson being potentially available (and now very available) would have slowed the process down. More potential and a fair bit younger.

Dunno we've always liked to announce signings in a batch plus the RPA (players union) chief said over 20 Worcester players had signed new contracts, less than that have been announced so some are still under wraps

[amazing tiger]

Not sure how I feel about Atkinson if it is true on the one hand he’s a great player going forward and very exciting and also wouldn’t be away with England. With his age he hasn’t stopped developing either however I don’t think he’s as good as some make out. He’s always got an error in him I’m not sure about his defensive capability and I’m not sure he’d fit into our system either hopefully the coaching team would rectify those weak points but I’ve never been as excited about him as others seem to have been

Amazing tiger you just described Freddie Burns.

Tbf I nearly did put he fits the burns mould when writing the original but I thought that might be harsh on burns

[sam16111986]

The links to Atkinson make sense. He plays 10 but can play 15, he has a lot of experience but is still very young. Burns is out of contract at the end of the season and we will need a quality replacement given Pollard’s international call ups (and injury record).

Atkinson will want to stay in England to be selected nationally and has been in training squads in the past. He lives in the area. He knows Borthwick turns club players into test match players.

The telegraph article also references the cap freed up by Nadolo and Hegarty leaving mid season. Saracens mentioned as well. That makes sense with Goode soon to retire and Malins off to Bristol.

Would be a very good addition and an upgrade on Shillcock.

I wonder if this is why we'd heard nothing further on Shillcock; similar players but Aktinson being potentially available (and now very available) would have slowed the process down. More potential and a fair bit younger.

Dunno we've always liked to announce signings in a batch plus the RPA (players union) chief said over 20 Worcester players had signed new contracts, less than that have been announced so some are still under wraps

The Ruck have done a run down and more than you think have moved on. A lot of the squad players.

Bath Rugby: Ted Hill, Ollie Lawrence, Fergus Lee-Warner and Valeriy Morozov

Bordeaux: Renato Giammarioli

Bristol Bears: Joe Batley

Coventry: Will Chudley and Tom Dodd

Doncaster Knights: Kai Owen

Gloucester: Alex Hearle, Seb Atkinson and Finn Theobald-Thomas

Edinburgh: Duhan van de Merwe

Northampton Saints: Fin Smith

Saracens: Tom Howe and Andrew Kitchener

Sharks: Francois Venter

Ulster: Rory Sutherland

[Robrugbycheshire]

Dunno how reliable but Ruck are reporting we are signing Jack Willis!!!!! I do hope it is true! An absolutely quality player

[daktari]

We could do with picking up a fly-half, short term

[Chobbsy]

We could do with picking up a fly-half, short term

Its centres and second rows we need

[daktari]

We could do with picking up a fly-half, short term

Its centres and second rows we need

With Pollard out and Hegarty off ,an injury to Burns and we are in the poo

[loretta]

With 3 weekends without a match, we could find a few players back by the time we need them

[sam16111986]

We could do with picking up a fly-half, short term

Its centres and second rows we need

With Pollard out and Hegarty off ,an injury to Burns and we are in the poo

We have Gopperth still and according to the rumours are looking a Hegarty 10/15 replacement which would be expedited should an injury occur. There's also some spare 10s on the market of good quality should it be a serious injury to either Burns or Pollard (injury dispensation time) with Haydon-Wood, Atkinson, Searle or Williams all still available.

I'd be annoyed Chobbsy if we signed a second row. Henderson is back and looking like he's getting back to pre injury levels, Green and Wells are there. Snyman I don't know if he was injured or rested and we aren't sure on Chessum Snr. Chessum Jnr and Manz are in the development squad and I wouldn't seeing them make the first team bench. Liebenburg and Martin can cover in an emergency as well.

Centres, depends how serious the injuries to Kelly and Porter are. If they are back shortly probably not a problem. If were unsure on them then we might need somebody. To be honest either way I'd be in for Olly Hartley the Wasps centre who played fullback very well against us in the PRC. At 20 he's 6ft4 and nearly 15 stone with some good skills (see the nudge through for the first Wasps try in the PRC game). Shouldn't be expensive and exactly the type of physical young player we could develop.

[RunTigerRun]

Its centres and second rows we need

With Pollard out and Hegarty off ,an injury to Burns and we are in the poo

We have Gopperth still and according to the rumours are looking a Hegarty 10/15 replacement which would be expedited should an injury occur. There's also some spare 10s on the market of good quality should it be a serious injury to either Burns or Pollard (injury dispensation time) with Haydon-Wood, Atkinson, Searle or Williams all still available.

I'd be annoyed Chobbsy if we signed a second row. Henderson is back and looking like he's getting back to pre injury levels, Green and Wells are there. Snyman I don't know if he was injured or rested and we aren't sure on Chessum Snr. Chessum Jnr and Manz are in the development squad and I wouldn't seeing them make the first team bench. Liebenburg and Martin can cover in an emergency as well.

Centres, depends how serious the injuries to Kelly and Porter are. If they are back shortly probably not a problem. If were unsure on them then we might need somebody. To be honest either way I'd be in for Olly Hartley the Wasps centre who played fullback very well against us in the PRC. At 20 he's 6ft4 and nearly 15 stone with some good skills (see the nudge through for the first Wasps try in the PRC game). Shouldn't be expensive and exactly the type of physical young player we could develop.

Agreed Sam.

Out of everyone available, I'd try for Shillcock, Atkinson and Hartley for present options.

The others I think depends on contracts for next season - of which I'm sure the club are already well underway in terms of sorting.

[FrontRowUnionMember]

Not that I’m saying we should go after a second row, but I did notice Chessum was left out of the AI squad due to injury?
I think if there is cap available, another back row wouldn’t be a bad thing, last year we ended up playing props and hookers there in the Prem Cup, and with Reffell and Wiese looking like they’ll be away come internationals, another player (preferably a 7 to replace MVS) wouldn’t be the worst thing.
Also think we should we be looking for a power runner (Nadolo replacement) and utility 10/15 (Hegarty replacement).

[Chobbsy]

Its centres and second rows we need

With Pollard out and Hegarty off ,an injury to Burns and we are in the poo

We have Gopperth still and according to the rumours are looking a Hegarty 10/15 replacement which would be expedited should an injury occur. There's also some spare 10s on the market of good quality should it be a serious injury to either Burns or Pollard (injury dispensation time) with Haydon-Wood, Atkinson, Searle or Williams all still available.

I'd be annoyed Chobbsy if we signed a second row. Henderson is back and looking like he's getting back to pre injury levels, Green and Wells are there. Snyman I don't know if he was injured or rested and we aren't sure on Chessum Snr. Chessum Jnr and Manz are in the development squad and I wouldn't seeing them make the first team bench. Liebenburg and Martin can cover in an emergency as well.

Centres, depends how serious the injuries to Kelly and Porter are. If they are back shortly probably not a problem. If were unsure on them then we might need somebody. To be honest either way I'd be in for Olly Hartley the Wasps centre who played fullback very well against us in the PRC. At 20 he's 6ft4 and nearly 15 stone with some good skills (see the nudge through for the first Wasps try in the PRC game). Shouldn't be expensive and exactly the type of physical young player we could develop.

I wouldn't be annoyed at all, we do not have any bruising bullying second rows, this showed in the way Wells was treated on Sunday by Irne Herbst? could you imagine what would have happened if he had bent over and gobbed off to Johnno like that, or Kay or Fritz van Heerden? Yes it may have ended in a yellow card but Herbst would never have done it again.
Even if Kelly and Porter were fit they would both probably feature in at least training camps for England

[GB72]

Whilst the thought of a few new signings is always nice, the club has just taken a massive kick in the cashflows and so I am not expecting anything for a while and I would rather we kept a very close eye on the bottom line over the need to bolster the squad. Now, if we have a couple of attractive matches lined up to fill that hole then it becomes a differnt matter and this is one time I wish that the club would ditch the vow of silence and provide a bit more update as other clubs seem to be getting on with filling the West Midlands sized gaps in their schedules whilst we appear to be sleeping. That said, I guess that having the extra matches last season in the shape of the playoffs and final may have bolstered the coffers enough to be less concerd as that was 2 matches that we would not have been expecting to be part of on day one of the season.

[Chobbsy]

Whilst the thought of a few new signings is always nice, the club has just taken a massive kick in the cashflows and so I am not expecting anything for a while and I would rather we kept a very close eye on the bottom line over the need to bolster the squad. Now, if we have a couple of attractive matches lined up to fill that hole then it becomes a differnt matter and this is one time I wish that the club would ditch the vow of silence and provide a bit more update as other clubs seem to be getting on with filling the West Midlands sized gaps in their schedules whilst we appear to be sleeping. That said, I guess that having the extra matches last season in the shape of the playoffs and final may have bolstered the coffers enough to be less concerd as that was 2 matches that we would not have been expecting to be part of on day one of the season.

Apart from the extra match revenue was there a financial gain for winning the league?

[TigerMac3]

On the subject of cashflow, I found the wording of the press release re: extending our deal with Topps Tiles interesting...

"Mark Davies, Chief Revenue Officer at Leicester Tigers, said: “We are delighted to extend our partnership early with Topps Tiles."

Re-negotiating early to safeguard short term losses?