It's great we have tied down a few of the lads for next year. Really would like to see griffin signed too because Gav has not got the pace anymore and Henshaw is our best fullback. He is a better counter attacker and defender than Kearney at Leinster and maybe he should be played there with Ireland. There are centres playing great rugby in other provinces that will be ahead of him.
If parks moves on or to the coaching staff we need an experienced 10 in. The guys there are good but young and lack experience. Yes Marmion was exception to the rule but we won't get lucky like that again. Can we even bring in any new players with the big money deficit that is there. That's enough to pay for two international high profile guys for a year.

wp_rathead wrote: Players out of Contract end of year:

30 and Over
Michael Swift[36] will be time to retire for the guy, but keep him in the staff, he's Connacht spirit on his own! Dave Nolan to cover Kearney/Clarke/Browne/Muldowney
Dan Parks[36] (coach role? yes and Shane O'Leary as a student)
Frank Murphy[33] one last year? Depends on how Blade and Walsh progress
Gavin Duffy[32] the end, Layden Mc Auley and Leader are ready

25 - 29
Miah Nikora[29] Shane O'Leary and Carty would be enough
Brian Murphy[28] one more year
Paul O'Donohue[27] two more
David Nolan[26] the same
Mata Fifita[26] one more year to see if he can calm himself down
Kyle Tonetti[26] One more to see if he can be injury free

24 and Under Indeed Keep them all
Dave Heffernan[23]
Tiernan O'Halloran[23]
Eoin Griffen[23]
Aaron Conneely[22]
Daniel Qualter[22]
James Rael[22]

Academy
Tadhg Leader[22]
Jack Carty[22]
Conor Finn[21]
Shane Layden[21]

Delighted for Mul. He was immense for the last 2 games and hopefully it continues.

Rhys Ruddock is out of contract at the end of this season doubt he'll come here but a man can dream. Leo Auva'a is also out of contract. Hopefully he doesn't end up here.

Muldoon signs for two more years

Im glad his staying as he seemed to have improved this year. He needs to continue that improvement in the scrums. He was hard to watch last year when he seemed lazy more than anything else.
I spoke to him on the Toulouse away trip for a good bit and his a nice lad and very genuine.
The Toulouse trip was a massive step forward for this team and looking at the team we have now we have some great young talent in the club. Keeping stepping up

Never thought I'd be saying this but I seriously glad Dave is staying with us Looks really mean & trim these days . Technique has really improved and , at 25, will please God get even better;)

Had a look at a few of the scrums from the weekend online. In the first scrum around 3.30 on the match clock the Toulouse lh blatantly drills in and up on rodney at an angle, rodney popped up, they got the penalty. Then a couple of collapsed scrums appeared to me at least to be because the lh was trying to create some distance between them to bring a hit back in.
Rodney isn't actually trying to make the long bind, as with most th's atm he's binding on the armpit of the lh. I'm not entirely sure its even possible for the th to make a long bind although generally the lh's do it.

You could be onto something there with the small hands and finding it tough to get the bind.

Not really sure about this one. Rodney has come a long way this season but he has an awful long way to come yet as well. He still has scope for improvement and I'd like to see him consistently deliver before bigging him up. I wouldn't have been inclined to offer him an extra two years at present. I think a one year deal would have been more prudent at present.

Having said that it would be unfair not to mention that he has shown strong character to put himself in position to earn this contract but he still has to prove he can be more than an ok backup.

sea_point wrote:

ummm, wrote: He's benefited significantly from the change in the scrummaging laws which reduced he impact of the hit. On Sat he got pinged for not getting the long-bind after coming back on (after the unpunished high tackle that nearly ripped his head off). :

I know the scrum you mean, but I thought that was against Wilks as he missed his bind and went straight down - we called it immediately, maybe they both went down.

ummm, wrote: It's early days yet and I reckon Heenan will probably win it, but I'm seriously considering voting for Dave when the Clan votes on their player of the year. The improvements he has made in the last year have been excellent and he's gone from someone who has frustrated us like crazy to someone we're glad to see on the pitch deserves recognition.

He's benefited significantly from the change in the scrummaging laws which reduced he impact of the hit. On Sat he got pinged for not getting the long-bind after coming back on (after the unpunished high tackle that nearly ripped his head off). It was a major re-occurring problem he has had that was exaggerated massively by the Hit before it was effectively outlawed. Once he has time to sort his bind he's fine, must have small hands or something.....

Reminds me of a great hooker I used to play with, he was strong as an ox and really mobile a very tidy footballer to boot. But he had tiny hands and when it came to throwing the ball in once he cocked his arm to throw in and started forward momentum he invariably lost control on release and the ball went sailing over the back of the lineout (I was mainly a two jumper) or you'd get the ball full tilt in the town halls.... :silly: :oops:

Glad Ah You is staying (which is something I never thought I'd say) Glad that EE and McFarland proved me wrong! At 25 he's still a puppy in propping terms and with more gametime and experience he could be a huge asset for Connacht and Ireland.

ummm, wrote: It's early days yet and I reckon Heenan will probably win it, but I'm seriously considering voting for Dave when the Clan votes on their player of the year. The improvements he has made in the last year have been excellent and he's gone from someone who has frustrated us like crazy to someone we're glad to see on the pitch deserves recognition.

Absolutely, we now have really good depth on both sides even down to third choices which other provinces can't really say (bent at th? no thanks. the third choice munster lh and th have less than five caps between them.) At the same time the game this weekend showed he's still quite naive I realise its very hard for a TH to deal with a LH coming in at an angle and boring into them but he popped up an awful lot. But that's one of the better scrums he's going to face all year, and he did much better against Saracens earlier in the year, and at 25 can still improve.

ummm, wrote: It's early days yet and I reckon Heenan will probably win it, but I'm seriously considering voting for Dave when the Clan votes on their player of the year. The improvements he has made in the last year have been excellent and he's gone from someone who has frustrated us like crazy to someone we're glad to see on the pitch deserves recognition.

Agreed.he has fully earned a new contract and it's 100% deserved. Definitely our most improved player this year so far. I'm unhappy to see him leave the pitch now, as opposed to the other way round this time last year.

It's early days yet and I reckon Heenan will probably win it, but I'm seriously considering voting for Dave when the Clan votes on their player of the year. The improvements he has made in the last year have been excellent and he's gone from someone who has frustrated us like crazy to someone we're glad to see on the pitch deserves recognition.