Know very little about marshall to be honest exile so il have to trust your judgement. Know the ylster boys rate tho and fans would like to keep him.

Not a Macken fan I think there's way to much hype and very little substance. If I could have anyone it would be Luke Marshall. Is there any center playing down in the SH with Irish ancestors?

sligsup wrote: you forgot about fets, the most dangerous unpredictable winger ive seen lately.... and not afraid to get involved , hope that sorts all your maths out!!!

Yep good shout, late night posts make me forgetful in my old age...

Big fan of Fets too, really started showing his quality in second half of the season. Think we'll see a lot more him next season if we get ball to him on a regular basis...

you forgot about fets, the most dangerous unpredictable winger ive seen lately.... and not afraid to get involved , hope that sorts all your maths out!!!

rossie wrote: Im not saying that at all far from it.

this is a fans forum and fans are entitled to air who they wish connacht to sign here. Most, by their posts, want Henry back and i just pointed out that in reality it might not be achievable.
Just like lads on other threads wished to see sportsground developed to 10000 capacity and the pitch moved, dogs out etc. This is The world of forums and in many cases its wishful thinking and sometimes fantasy.

While most want Henry back i think at least one irish qualified centre would accept an offer given connachts current circumstances similar to all those players we both mentioned who chose to come either straight off or via detour. If im right then Henry resigning will be a non starter.

its not as simple as asking the IRFU please can we sign Henry again he was good for us!

If you had read my post fully i clearly state twice that i dont know what their attitude is or whether they were asked but speculate that it should tempt at least one.

The line is clearly drawn at 4 NIQ and 1 Project for Munster, Leinster and Ulster and 5 NIQ and 1 Project player for Connacht. As to whether that is fair is another arguement altogether.we are not talking about a short term contract ala Brad thorn or will chambers here but a long term 1 of at least a season if not more which will set a precedent which the IRFU may not want to set.

Rogue i agree that experience is desirable but imo Macken would be a close 2nd. Thats a fans speculation and not based on anything else.

Well by your own statement if that is policy then we should be ok, we would have one NIQ slot open...

Miah isn't or certainly won't ber NIQ by season start leaving only the folowing after Ray's departure.

NIQ's:

Ethienne
George
Nathan
Dan

Project:

Rodney

Im not saying that at all far from it.

this is a fans forum and fans are entitled to air who they wish connacht to sign here. Most, by their posts, want Henry back and i just pointed out that in reality it might not be achievable.
Just like lads on other threads wished to see sportsground developed to 10000 capacity and the pitch moved, dogs out etc. This is The world of forums and in many cases its wishful thinking and sometimes fantasy.

While most want Henry back i think at least one irish qualified centre would accept an offer given connachts current circumstances similar to all those players we both mentioned who chose to come either straight off or via detour. If im right then Henry resigning will be a non starter.

its not as simple as asking the IRFU please can we sign Henry again he was good for us!

If you had read my post fully i clearly state twice that i dont know what their attitude is or whether they were asked but speculate that it should tempt at least one.

The line is clearly drawn at 4 NIQ and 1 Project for Munster, Leinster and Ulster and 5 NIQ and 1 Project player for connacht. As to whether that is fair is another arguement altogether.we are not talking about a short term contract ala Brad thorn or will chambers here but a long term 1 of at least a season if not more which will set a precedent which the IRFU may not want to set.

Rogue i agree that experience is desirable but imo Macken would be a close 2nd. Thats a fans speculation and not based on anything else.

rossie wrote: Dont get me wrong rogue, if Eric swings it and decides to re sign Henry great although i personally am not his greatest fan. A 12 partnership of Mcsharry/Henry and 13 of Griffin/tonetti would work for me and would provide badly needed continuity. Murphy could provide back up to that combo.

i just think with players like Macken and o shea(leinster), Marshall(ulster) and dineen, smith and even gleeson at munster not to mention players like whitten, sheridan etc abroad it will be a hard sell.

I just feel at this stage in Connacht's development of the squad for 2012-13 they need a more seasoned centre than most of the ones you have listed. Henry would be a possibility especially having been here a year. Any improvement on him would be a bonus.

The IRFU should understand, unless they have more of an influence over players' movement than S_P believes they do, that just because there are IQ players out there that are not getting sufficient high level game time in their present situation does not mean they are willing to come to Connacht or that their province or club is ready to release them.

rossie wrote: i dont know the thoughts and feelings of IQ players towards connacht at this time. I can only judge it on the willingness of players like Mcsharry, Mccrea, anderson, tuohy, mathews and o connor to take the chance and move west from their home provinces and players like grace, tonetti and now wright harris to come home and west. I admit that these players have had mixed success but im not aware of the reasons for this and can only speculate.

My point as it has been from the start, is that Connacht will most likely have to prove that they have exhausted these avenues and were unable to sign a suitable player, baring in mind that the irfu are the paymasters of home based players esp and any incoming player, and they are in need of exemption from the current NIQ rules.

Im not debating the the rights and wrongs of irfu policy towards the provinces or anything which has happened in the past with you. Im merely pointing out that all IQ options will have to be shown to have been exhausted before Niqs will be considered. I dont know what Macken, O Shea, Dineen or Marshall think of a possible 2 yr contract with connacht and the prospect of HEC exposure or even if they have been asked. What im pretty confident of is that they and players like them will have to be asked before an NIQ is sanctioned.

Thats it case closed

Tuohy / Grace / Harris-Wright & Tonetti all chose to move outside Ireland rather than go to Connacht initially, we were not their next choice. Tuohy was recruited only after being released by Cornish Pirates. Grace went to Exeter and was released after serious injury. Wright-Harris went to Bristol who let him go after missing out on promotion and Tonetti went to Sale where he did ok but suffered second season syndrome and was let go out on loan and then just let go. But the point is they weren't looking West initially and actually none of them left to go to a club playing HEC rugby and three of them weren't even going to Premiership rugby so our HEC carrot only has so much attraction.


I don't know where you are getting some extra information from to propose such a black & white case regarding Connacht attempts at recruitment, and the IRFU's attitude to same.

But what you seem to be saying is that you don't believe that Connacht pursues all it's potential IQ options thoroughly enough to meet IRFU requirements. Do you have any evidence at all to substantiate this? Have you spoken directly to Macken, O Shea, Dineen or Marshall to ask them if Connacht has approached them? Have you spoken to all or even some of the many young Leinster, Ulster & Munster players that have jumped on planes to head to England & France to play Championship/ National League 1 and Pro2/ Fédérale 1 rugby to enquire whether Eric or Tim has been in touch?

While I'm all for recruiting IQ's as a first preference, where is the line drawn for Connacht with respect to following the IQ line then? Do we have to trawl down to AIL2B/ J1 in recruit the necessary IQ before we can look at a NIQ?

I'm not having a go at you, just pushing the debate to it's extreme (if you met me in a pub over a pint I'd be the exact same). Because I struggle to understand how anyone Connacht supporter or not believes that Connacht doesn't do everything it can to recruit indigenous players first an foremost if they can do a job for us. Because I firmly believe we are doing and will continue to do. The new IRFU policy is all very well, but they cannot handcuff IQ players to go where the don't want to. The fact that they are having to give an allowance to Leinster for Nacewa (and it won't be the last either, just wait until the fun & games next summer when Munster & Ulster have to clear the board of their South Africans whilst still challenging for HEC)...

i dont know the thoughts and feelings of IQ players towards connacht at this time. I can only judge it on the willingness of players like Mcsharry, Mccrea, anderson, tuohy, mathews and o connor to take the chance and move west from their home provinces and players like grace, tonetti and now wright harris to come home and west. I admit that these players have had mixed success but im not aware of the reasons for this and can only speculate.

My point as it has been from the start, is that Connacht will most likely have to prove that they have exhausted these avenues and were unable to sign a suitable player, baring in mind that the irfu are the paymasters of home based players esp and any incoming player, and they are in need of exemption from the current NIQ rules.

Im not debating the the rights and wrongs of irfu policy towards the provinces or anything which has happened in the past with you. Im merely pointing out that all IQ options will have to be shown to have been exhausted before Niqs will be considered. I dont know what Macken, O Shea, Dineen or Marshall think of a possible 2 yr contract with connacht and the prospect of HEC exposure or even if they have been asked. What im pretty confident of is that they and players like them will have to be asked before an NIQ is sanctioned.

Thats it case closed

rossie wrote: My only point on this, which you keep on missing, is that the IRFU will only grant an extra NIQ in exceptional circumstances and even then normally only if no suitable irish qualified players are out there. If Eric manages to convince them of this then happy days but imo its going to be a very hard sell.

I agree with Diom, of the players i listed id like to see Macken at Connacht.

Imo Connacht are a much more attractive proposition now than they ever have been in the past. Hec rugby a developing fan base, developing stadium and some good quality signings must make them attractive to fringe players elswhere.

And the Point you keep missing or avoiding Rossie is that no matter if there are IQ players out there in the other provinces or abroad, they have to be agreeable to come to us, and that is not the case too frequently. The IRFU are powerless to dictate to a player to head west and they know it...

I agree with the second part of your post in themain, but it only relates to how we would have been viewed a couple of seasons back not how we're viewed by players against the other provinces.

We're not catching up with the other provinces who are also moving forward (well Ulster & Leinster currently, Munster have stalled as the team and management go through a re-build), the gap between us and them was allowed to grow way to big by the IRFU because they felt that at some point that we would go under by ourselves and save them the job of doing the dirty work.

Does anyone know the ins and outs on project players? Surely the logical thing to do is to get rid of Rodney and bring the new centre in as a project player. :whistle:

Certainly its the one glaring area where we lack depth for next season.

My only point on this, which you keep on missing, is that the IRFU will only grant an extra NIQ in exceptional circumstances and even then normally only if no suitable irish qualified players are out there. If Eric manages to convince them of this then happy days but imo its going to be a very hard sell.

I agree with Diom, of the players i listed id like to see Macken at Connacht.

Imo Connacht are a much more attractive proposition now than they ever have been in the past. Hec rugby a developing fan base, developing stadium and some good quality signings must make them attractive to fringe players elswhere.

rossie wrote: in relation to your point about only 3 of connachts niqs being stonewall starters, thats a recruitment issue that connacht have and not a valid reason for getting another.The question begging to be asked is why would you recruit an NIQ who isnt as good as his irish qualified counterpart?

I can definitely refer you to the very many questionable signings that each of Munster, Ulster & Leinster have made over the years and at far greater expense in terms of both cost and development if your point is that we're not capable of making value for money signings. I would argue that once we get to a point that we are being forced to look abroad to fill a slot we face much the same prejudice from players who are not much better than the players we have been turned down by locally.

The very nature of our team over the years as a developer of talent and primarily a feed to the other three provinces our squads were consistently being stripped of our best talent, and also due to our much smaller squad size forcing us to be ruthless about some of our more talented players who may have experienced an extended injury run (Downey, Gav Williams & Trev Ofisa are examples, give me time and I can recall a few more of which there are plenty). Far too often we are forced to go to market too late and with insufficient funds to try fill slots with players who will make a genuine impact.

As you are aware, just because Connacht go a looking it doesn't mean that players from the other provinces jump at the chance, Munster as you know have had the same problem in recruiting backs from Leinster (Kieran Lewis & Felix Jones apart) and I would have said that we probably played a lot more football over the years than Munster sides (and at time probably far too much) certainly up until the last few seasons yet despite that we rarely get anything other than the cast-offs and few enough of those too really given the player numbers in Leinster.

There's certainly a much more valid rationale for us having to take a punt on players than in any of the other provinces given the disparity in budget, or hope the odd rough diamond can be polished up. But it's risky in that the pressure of being the coach that presides over our demise has been hanging around for years...

You mention "Macken and O'Shea(leinster), Marshall(ulster) and Dineen, Smith and even Gleeson at munster not to mention players like Whitten, Sheridan". It's a two way street though, they have to want to come, they know who and where we are, they know who Eric is and what he's trying to do, he's a straight forward pro-active guy who if a lad with talent shows an interest in coming west and he thinks they'll do a job for us then as long as they're not looking for silly money he'll find a slot for them.

Out of all of those Macken would be my pick. Would like to see his hands become less sticky but he seems to have some great attributes for a 12.

Dont get me wrong rogue, if Eric swings it and decides to re sign Henry great although i personally am not his greatest fan. A 12 partnership of Mcsharry/Henry and 13 of Griffin/tonetti would work for me and would provide badly needed continuity. Murphy could provide back up to that combo.

i just think with players like Macken and o shea(leinster), Marshall(ulster) and dineen, smith and even gleeson at munster not to mention players like whitten, sheridan etc abroad it will be a hard sell.

IMO Connacht have a good case to bring in a NIQ centre. They already have 3 young Irish prospects in Tonetti, McSharry, and Griffin bringing in a fourth would be counterproductive. Training and playing next to Parks should help the young lads, but bringing in an experienced centre would help advance the three of them a lot faster. Sure it would be nice if that experienced player was IQ, but that doesn't seem possible.

The case for Connacht to make to the IRFU is, with BOD and D'Arcy getting older centre is an area Ireland need to build some depth in before the next RWC. One of the above mentioned three may be a possibility so their development is crucial and playing along side a sound SH centre would do them a world of good.