Seems about right, guessing with regards to some players on development deals.

Squad 2012/13

Prop:
Brett Wilkinson
Ronan Loughney
Dennis Buckley
Nathan White
Stewart Maguire (Development?)
Rodney Ah You
Finlay Bealham (Not listed in academy?, development?)

Hooker:
Ethienne Reynecke
Adrian Flavin
Kevin O'Byrne (Year 2)

2nd Row:
Michael Swift
Mike McCarthy
Andrew Browne
David Gannon
David Nolan
Mick Kearney (Year 2)
Daniel Qualter (Year 3)

Back Row:
John Muldoon
TJ Anderson
David Heffernan (Year 2)
Eoin McKeown (Development?)
Johnny O'Connor
Eoghan Grace
Willie Falloon
Aaron Conneely (Year 3)
George Naoupu

Half Back:
Frank Murphy
Paul O'Donohue
Dave Moore (Development?)
Kieran Marmion (Year 2)
Dan Parks
Niall O'Connor
Miah Nikora
Matthew Jarvis (Development?)
Jack Carty (Year 2)

Wings:
Tiernan O'Halloran
Fetu Vainikolo
Mark McCrea
James Loxton (Development?)
Conor Finn (Year 2)

Centre:
Dave McSharry
Kyle Tonetti
Eoin Griffin
Brian Murphy (Development??)
Tadhg Leader (Year 2)

Full Back:
Gavin Duffy
Callum Bolland (Year 3)
Shane Layden (Year 2)

Heard today that the squad for next year will be 30 full contracts and 10 academy? Does this sound about right?

Brian Murphy, Wegians centre has signed a contract for next season

sea_point wrote:

ummm, wrote: McCrea can do that.

Can he though? I'd like to think he can and I don't want to pigeonhole him, but where has he shown/proved that he can? He's got good straight line speed, but has he got the feet to work in heavy traffic and the physicality to deal with the hits and still make the offload...?

From what I've heard the answer is yes, but I haven't seen it either Some Ulster friends of mine rate him very highly at centre.

Of course, when I say friends, that doesn't apply this weekend.

ummm, wrote: Rees has signed for Edinburgh.

At least that's over.

But Mike Blair is leaving Edinburgh at the end of the season for points unknown. Here we go again...

Rees has signed for Edinburgh.

At least that's over.

Sad to hear thats the end of our recruiting for next year, but maybe we cant afford it!

in relation to the question asked earlier about clubs stating whos signed for the coming season and what type of contract they are on, I can tell you for a fact that every mrsc season ticket holder gets a pre season booklet/program with their membership pack, gift and season ticket. In the booklet all players contracted for coming season are listed with photo, stats such as hieght, weight, appearances and rep honours etc are listed. It also states the type of contract they are on as in full or dev contract. New signings are given a place for themselves with more detail about where they are from, what they have achieved, what club they will be attached to etc in their bio.
There is then a separate section for the acadamy players where they also get a bio stating age, year of acad, stats as per above, school attended and achievements to date. after that all players in sub acadamy are listed with similar info.
All members of coaching and team support staff are given similar treatment.

The news announced today is disapointing but not unexpected. I thought there might be 1 or 2 more signings but was concious that they were approaching the limits of their budget. I guess rome wasnt built in a day and some more will move in and out next year.Hopefully connacht can continue to hold their quality players while replacing others with quality.

I think they erred in keeping Rodney and releasing rodgers. I would have done opposite but he has has 4 mths to lose 10+kgs, get himself fit and prove me wrong. If he starts season in same shape as he is in now he will continue to an unnaffordable liability and will be cut.

They are gambling on Flavin and reynecke getting through another season without injury as they managed this season which hopefully will be the case.

With 4 outhalves on the books and Parks most likely to be considered No 1 at least 2 of the others will have to reinvent themselves in other positions to get game time. Jarvis will be 1 of these players and if nikoras current form holds NOC may start the season as the other. Players like leader and leyden will support them when needed.

We are well equiped in other areas so an improvement on this season is a must. A min 40pt return in the Pro 12 is a realistic min target for the squad assembled wit 8 home wins attainable. If in Hec it will depend on draw but a group win in amlin should be target if thats the way it goes.

Having gotten ahead of myself slightly i think two wins out of three is achievable in games left esp if Nikora continues to deliver the points.

I think BN2 is right about last season's recruiting missteps having tied managements hands somewhat this year, but I also think bringing in Parks, Faloon and White should keep Connacht moving forward. I don't really believe they would have brought in another hooker that would have challenged for the #2 jersey next season. That is more likely to happen next year. I do have concerns about centre because they desperately need to start scoring more tries if they hope to make it into the top half of the table. So it's going to be a crap shoot next year since no one has seized hold of the position and on top of that they are probably going to move someone there, at least as a back up option, that has not played there a lot recently. I will hold out hope that should Connacht return to the HEC next season the IRFU will find some money to help out in this area.

For me the on field goals for next season should be:

9/10 RaboDirect wins
2 solid HEC wins, a third with a favourable draw
or
A strong challenge for top of pool in the Amlin (somewhat dependent on draw)

Very dissapointing but imo the chickens have come home to roost after the recruitment of last year, too many average players who we have/had no need for brought in on two year deals or given two year extensions and we're stuck with them now and not able to bring in reinforcements in areas where we are weak.

Also this news makes the decision to keep on Rodney look even more ludicrous.

At hooker we look particularly vulnerable. Scrum half isn't looking great in terms of quality but thats our own fault. Looks like McSharry, Griffin and Tonetti at centre, 3 fine players but no traditional James Downey type 12 to get us going forward and no replacement for Fa'fili. With Griffins injury problems we could get very stretched. Jarvis will need to bulk up big time if he's to give us another option at 12. McCrea has played a bit in the centre but I haven't seen enough of him there to properly judge him.

Maybe we'll come up with a couple of gems on development deals with McSharry and Kearney last year proving good business.

I think 2 or 3 signings would have turned us into a really competitive squad but as always with regards to Connacht, good news is always followed by bad.

True but is he really big enough for 12??
Moving a 10 to 12 because were short is not ideal

ConnachtCows wrote: Disapointing that our business is over for the summer, but we have to be realistic.
Where do we think the money is coming from? Even with our increased numbers, and advertisment, I doubt we come close to covering our costs.

We've signed up a large number of our own players to new deals, and signed 3 players, with possibly bigger names, than we've ever signed before.

The main critism from last summer was that we had almost a new team, with the amount of players coming and going. This summer there will be more consistency.

Obviously some people are never happy, but we must remember who we are, and at what table we sit at, when it comes to income, and expenditure.

Gotta dream Big CC...

But yes, Parks & White are on paper players of a much higer calibre and experience level than we have signed previously. Generally we only get to sign potential due to our budget issue.

Eric needs to crack the whip in the summer and rasie expectations for everyone. We have to be ready for the new season so that we can make a more sustained challenge....

Disapointing that our business is over for the summer, but we have to be realistic.
Where do we think the money is coming from? Even with our increased numbers, and advertisment, I doubt we come close to covering our costs.

We've signed up a large number of our own players to new deals, and signed 3 players, with possibly bigger names, than we've ever signed before.

The main critism from last summer was that we had almost a new team, with the amount of players coming and going. This summer there will be more consistency.

Obviously some people are never happy, but we must remember who we are, and at what table we sit at, when it comes to income, and expenditure.

Nikora has played at 12 for us in a good number of games and done alright.

Really surprised we are not signing a centre and hooker.

ummm, wrote: McCrea can do that.

Can he though? I'd like to think he can and I don't want to pigeonhole him, but where has he shown/proved that he can? He's got good straight line speed, but has he got the feet to work in heavy traffic and the physicality to deal with the hits and still make the offload...?

McCrea can do that.