Additions to Squad

[Raggs]

Umaga at 10, along with Miller (both 10/15 options really).

Not forgetting Billy Searle who will hopefully be back at some point next season.

Completely forgetting Searle! Absolutely finalises things at 10/15 for me (if Lleyds comes along).

[Green Wasp]

Yes Naholo picked up knee injury a couple of weeks or so ago- was expected to be out 6 weeks or so. Before that he’s looked far from his best for the Highlanders.
Savea appears back in the fold at Toulon too.

[JonnyD]

I don’t think we’ll be looking to the championship anymore this year unless its a SH.
Atkinson has gone straight back, Morris retained but is arguably at the bottom of the pecking order with 7 others ahead of him.
At lock Garratt is due another knee operation so he might not be retained if he cannot mend after hardy playing in three years but not sure another championship signing at lock would actually benefit us much.
TJ is heading back with Oghre ready to step up, Hampson will go back with Porter moving up, 4th choice SH however now needed.
Neal will surely be retained and you’d think Booj would be too and Searle was surely on a longer deal anyway.
Only place we’re then light is back three and why bother bringing in a championship player to get in the way of James, Sirker, Atta and Anderson - well that’s what I’m hoping Dai is thinking anyway.

[Raggs]

A lot of players may go back to the championship, but we got some good service from most of those, even if it wasn't prem.

[Rory87]

Totally agree with you Jonny as you've put it like that. I'm guessing we've raided the championship in recent years mainly due to the fact we've had very few academy prospects coming through. Now that that conveyor belt seems to finally be churning off more than one player a summer, we may turn to that.

I'm hoping that given all the bad press Wasps have had (masively over hyped by the media in my eyes) in regards to all our home grown talent leaving (Wade, Daly, Simpson, etc), we counter that this summer by demostrating we have a new crop coming through and are going to put faith in them.

I said it on another thread a month or so back, but would love to see an announcement from the club declaring we have locked down our top academy talent on long term deals. Sale did it a season or two ago with the Curry brothers and a few others... I thought it looked really good.

[Raggs]

Not every player is going to be solid prem level, simply not viable. But at the same time we've had a lot of success with Champ players, as well as other clubs low ranked/discarded players (Harris, Hughes etc). Yes you get some duds, but none of them are going to be that expensive, but you get some real diamonds. Well worth continuing, also means a larger squad, to allow competitive training sessions even with injuries.

[wasps]

Based on the comings and goings that we know of already, how many will we have in our senior squad for next season?
If we're around 32-35, then even with a couple of academy guys getting promoted, we're likely still looking for extra squad numbers.
If we're already nearer 36-38, then academy promotions are probably all we need.

[JonnyD]

I have us at 39 so far for next year with no academy promotions included as yet.(possibly a few more will leave though Gaby/Myall/Garratt/west possibly still unknown but still a few rumoured signings too)

Then the current academy crop is at 15 (Thornton is off, others might not get promoted but with the likes of Porter, Willis, Umaga, Cardall, Oghre in there, there definitely is a few more squad options there. Promotions here will be filled with more of an intake from U18s)

Then the wider academy squad where there are the likes of Seabrook, Atta, Jardine, Onyeama-Christie, Hunt all regularly used.

Our wider playing squad is growing us all the time and if we don’t get too much of an injury crisis each season we should be able to compete across each competition a lot better all the way to the A league.

[AKWasp]

There’s always a couple of players that get picked up late after not being able to sign anything after the season has ended (Cips being an example).

With a World Cup year, you’d expect a few internationals to make their moves after the World Cup squads are announced (or even after the WC) but I feel we may still see some premiership moves when players still can’t agree a contract until after their current one expires in June

[BG]

I can't see us announcing any big signings now unless its an opportunistic one that comes Dai 's way (someone who is sacked or falls out with their club)

You would expect Dai to be aiming to reach around 44/45 players.

So is he going to promote a handful of academy players, if so who would they be? Myall and Gaby are interesting dilemma's. I think Matthews has played well for us when selected but for some reason Dai hasn't used him much, which leaves us a bit light in the 2nd row given Launchers is away with England. Does that mean Myall is going to be retained (have we signed a new 2nd row?).

Gaby is also finding his best form again so does he deserve an extension? Both would give us continuity within the squad.

Will it take Fekitoa 6 months to get up to speed?

[Neils]

Fekitoa is in France so expect him to know what NH rugby is all about. Also not going to WC so should join for a full pre-season.

[Rossm]

I wouldn't be surprised if Charlie Matthews is in the 23 announced later today. He wasn't in the most recent A team, so either he is injured, totally fallen out of favour or has been kept back for this weekend's game. Dai said earlier in the week that James Gaskell rated as 50/50 to overcome a calf injury while fellow second row Joe Launchbury has a calf/Achilles issue that 'is looking more positive in terms of him being available'.

[BG]

I think Sopps has openly admitted by being taken aback by the intensity and physicality of the premiership but as you say, hopefully Feks will be up to speed and will get some forewarning and advice from Sops.

He will have to adjust to a new area and culture though which isn't easy but a lot of the players are all located in Leamington/Warrwick and quite often meet up at a local cafe

[Neils]

Fekitoa was over visiting Lima a couple of weeks ago so will have sussed out the area and hopefully Wasps.

[BG]

Thinking about possible available players... there must be some at Newcastle that might be looking over the garden fence to see if the grass is greener elsewhere.

Apparently Wilson is tied to Falcons for another 4 yrs?? I don't think we need to add to our backrow options but I've always rated Hammersley