Joe Atkinson Leaving

[Neils]

Going to Bedford.  I thought he had good games for us at the start of the season but then disappeared. Good luck to him.

[Rossm]

Hard to get game time in our back row. Good luck Joe.

[JonnyD]

Wondered if a few Championship signings might have even been on one year deals or just got fed up at the lack of game time as has happened before with the likes of Buster Lawrence and Jamie Stevenson have before.
Didn’t let himself down earlier in the season but our backrow hardly made any turnovers until Thomas Young came back from injury. Ben Morris has overtaken him since in the pecking order, Jack Willis is now back and Tom Willis would probably leap frog him next season too so cannot blame him seeking pastures new.
Good luck to him

[BG]

You're probably correct Jonny, they were probably all (apart from Searle) signed on 1 yr deals. He performed really well at the start of the season but seems to be have been leap-frogged by Morris and has perhaps decided he'd prefer to be playing regularly in the Championship.

It sort of highlights that the A League isn't really working, especially for Wasps. Those championship signings very rarely turned out in the A league either, whereas other clubs do field 1st team squad players in the A league whereas we seem to field academy or loan players (or even cry off not being able to field a team).

Is that a squad depth problem or just a management decision?

Have any annoucements been made about Neale, Booj and Morris  for the future. Are they with us next season? I hope so, as quite often when they've played, they seem to be the most hungry players on the field. they just need more game time.

[AKWasp]

Might be a case of signing 1+1 year deals with Atkinson himself or the club deciding mutually that there will be no need to fulfil that extra year. Neal, Booj and Morris however may be automatically extended

[wasps]

Might be a case of signing 1+1 year deals with Atkinson himself or the club deciding mutually that there will be no need to fulfil that extra year. Neal, Booj and Morris however may be automatically extended

I think based on what we've seen already, I'd definitely want to keep Neal and Morris.
Both are exactly the type of squad players you need.
They're not going to be expecting to start or feature in every game, but when they are required, they're going to put in excellent performances.

MlB is the same. He's already showed that he has skills that can be useful at this level.
My only concern for him is that when I've seen him, he strikes me as the kind of player that should be starting games and controlling things, rather than being someone you'd bring on to change things up.
That being said, it was his first season in the premiership and as we've seen with other players, a lot of things can change between seasons 1 and 2.

[AKWasp]

Might be a case of signing 1+1 year deals with Atkinson himself or the club deciding mutually that there will be no need to fulfil that extra year. Neal, Booj and Morris however may be automatically extended

I think based on what we've seen already, I'd definitely want to keep Neal and Morris.
Both are exactly the type of squad players you need.
They're not going to be expecting to start or feature in every game, but when they are required, they're going to put in excellent performances.

MlB is the same. He's already showed that he has skills that can be useful at this level.
My only concern for him is that when I've seen him, he strikes me as the kind of player that should be starting games and controlling things, rather than being someone you'd bring on to change things up.
That being said, it was his first season in the premiership and as we've seen with other players, a lot of things can change between seasons 1 and 2.

Dai has shown that after a year of conditioning etc the players he’s brought up from the championship can be key players for the prem. Cruse and Bassett being current examples but also Thompson and Rieder have proven it.

Morris and Booj could be huge players for us next year (like Morris at the breakdown a lot and Booj could be a brilliant 12 for us given time- big carrying ball player) but Neal is the real gem for me; young, big, fast and could be really exciting in our back line offering something different to our current centres.

[mike909]

Good precis - I've loved Neal's attitude - preferring to play than not and I saw in Booj potential, slightly faded by having to take on too much too soon p more mentally than physically

I'd like to see what Neal can do in the centres

I hope if the A team isn't going to be viable that we look to relationships with Championship sides. Proper games