Rebuilding for next season

I think we have to accept this year is really all about finding out what young players have got the potential to become full members of the squad and then relying on Booth to be far more competent than his predecessors in identifying where we need recruitment and what level of player offers best value. To be honest that it not going to be that difficult given the low bar his predecessors set.

If you take the view the Rugby Paper does not report out of thin air and historically has been relatively on the money, then prior to having to negotiate global pay reductions and secure Covid loans, which may have affected those plans, we were looking to get an 8 and a 10 in for this season, and next season we wanted to add another 10, another 9, a ball carrying power wing, a tight head a lock and a back row. Booth was also rumoured to be looking at appointing a technical scrum coach and a forwards coach. It was not clear if that was this or next season.

@Fiddler pretty much what we have been calling out for over the last few seasons...we just need to have confidence in our coaches/owners that they'll deliver for us...last 4/5/6 years has certainly been quite horrific being an Ospreys fan.

@Tommyboy664 The £5 million will be used to meet the running costs for this season (20/21) due to the lack of income from not being able to receive paying supporters at regional and international level. It won't be for signing new players. When considering next year (21/22) you need to factor in that a fair number will be released or sign elsewhere as their contracts expire and some of the better academy prospects will join the squad on lower salaries. The net saving should be used on bringing in new players and then hopefully some investment capital will be added to these savings to make the necessary signings.

In terms of tight head you need to bear in mind Tomas Francis may also have to play in Wales from 21/22. We may be looking at him.

@surfdragon On the Anscombe point he is out of contract for 21/22 but if he decides to stay in Wales the PRB will have to decide where they band him as they meet 80%. It will then be up to any region to decide if he is worth them paying the 20% and if more than one region is interested Anscombe can choose between them.

@Tommyboy664 You also need to remember that :-

a) Our entire squad has just taken a 25% pay cut due to Covid-19

b) We were a good way down the road to signing a few players but that ended due to Covid-19.

c) We have lost a fair amount of money because of no supporters at games due to Covid-19

As @Fiddler says, there is a good chance that some decently high earners will not be here next year so that should free up some cash for recruitment.

We need to recruit for the Windows and not necessarily the First XV. I think that we need a spine of solid and dependable Non Welsh Qualified (NWQ) players who will play in every game and be able to step up and play when the Team Wales boys are back.

@Fiddler Gone now - officially.

@ospreysfanforum I don't think even Millward is incompetent enough to take six months to get rid of him. Interesting that news comes as furlough is ending.

@ospreysfanforum Plummer and Trask have very little top level experience and would be far cheaper than Hunt or Black.

@Fiddler Did you watch the Tasman (Hunt) v Auckland (Plummer) game this past weekend? If we could get one of them now, they could be our 10 for several years...

@ospreysfanforum Hopefully any young 10 would be attracted by having the chance to work with Brock James