Squad for 23/24 and beyond

Rhodri has been training with the squad all summer

Just need a top 9 and 3 imo...

Suspect it will be a tight head and back three. Maybe we will run with Rhodri as fourth 9 and Lewis Lloyd as fourth 2 . Both have been training with squad. Hooker the bigger risk as none of our 9s will be involved with team Wales whereas our hooker clearly will be.

😀😀😀👏

Great stuff Paul, thank you for posting this.

If you can confirm the time and date of the Sketty Lane hit out, I may go and watch and others may go as well?

Will try mate

We found out last year we need a 12 who can get over the gain line and a 10 who can control territory. Kieran is our best gain line 12 and Watkin our second .

Our attack was hugely limited last year by so many slow players but I think it still needs to revolve around our carriers with a faster 9 behind them. Ratti was a great carrier for Cardiff.

Walsh is a good footballer but I'm curious to see what Edwards can do.

Yep, we've got five players who have or can play FB (I'm including Houston as aye he played there recently for the U20s) and they average out at as barely over 22 and a half-years-old. Protheroe is the 'old man' of the group at 26! Wasn't aware of Ben Evans, cheers for the heads-up on him.

Thanks for the ongoing updates. Everything crossed for Jones joining, would be a big asset for the coaching group.

Good to have these updates, keep em coming please.

I must say that having three Ospreys tight head props in the last Wales U20 squad was probably a unique event. Isn't Freddie still an Under 20 for the next 6N?

Thanks to Paul for the news.

Yes he is 20 next year. I thought the Ruddock plan was to convert Fletcher to hooker. Hire looks the really serious prospect but he is only 18.

Are there any names being mentioned?

None that I have heard sorry.

Looks like Scully Tristan Davies were names not on the original list but I don’t think either Cai Davies or Grabham are still with us so the numbers stay roughly the same. The distinction between transitional and full is likely to move.

I think there has to be two hookers and two scrum halves and a centre. It may be Walsh moves full time to 15

Looked like a new hooker at training today but no name available sorry.

Talked to my contact who just said their looking for new players with a grin on his face.

Also interesting to see Owen Williams and Alex Cuthbet training ( I wonder if they've been released from works cup duty?).

Any potential rumblings on a new major sponsor?

I thought Westacre recently renewed...

Nothing on that sorry

If Swansea become the intermediate level between Prem and URC then surely those players signed to them are on the Pathway aiming to provide professional players to the region and therefore available to the region? I don't fully understand what is intended but;

"We need a vehicle to develop the highest potential rugby players to bridge the gap between the academies, the regional, and international game. This will sit between the top end of the community game and the URC,” explained Bevan.

Not sure I understand what you are saying. We have a finite amount up to the cap so have to get the best value for the amounts spent on new players that takes us up to the cap bearing in mind we cant go into the season with only one scrum half and two hookers.

If an offer came in for Cuthbert or North on the same sort of basis as Francis that might be worth considering from both our and the players perspective,

I was referring to coaches if we screwed them in this difficult market, they could move on at the first opportunity, better to be a little more sensible for long time keepers

Like I presume Owen Williams, although there would be other factors in play, I don't think he would have re signed if he felt agrieved at our initial contract if it had particularly undervalued him

Ok take your point. This is what happened with Hawkins. We should have taken him off his academy contract well before the signing freeze came in. We need to ensure we don’t make the same mistake with the likes of Morse. You need to pay the difference makers well and get the age profile right and recognise when an overpaid player is in decline. That is how all pro sport reacts to salary caps.

Maybe we did look at him? You are right though it is disappointing.

Yes and maybe we are in far greater need for a 9 15 and proper attack coach

Are there any new coaches coming in, I’m thinking backs coaches. TB said we didn’t score enough tries last season, that’s the reason I’m asking?

Nothing on that sorry

Cardiff moving Sanjay on may give them the budget for a proper starting 10 rather than having to shoehorn the young Caiser into a position that does not suit him.

I am guessing they are still making moves. Cardiff look like they may have got that Currie Cup 10 through according to Total Wales which may mean the young Caiser stays. Lewis Lloyd has signed for Swansea full time so we are probably looking for two hookers. There are now only 7 players in our squad over 30. Last year there were closer to 20.

Surely the Ospreys themselves must consider it absurd that the player himself Total Wales and BBC announce before they get around to making an announcement

You'd think, wouldn't you.

Corin Palmer has been on long term sick since early 2023

Corin Palmer has been on long term sick since early 2023

Thanks Paul.

Shows the pressure Booth must have been under. No Garcia Whapham or Palmer to take pressure off. Edwards leaves the coaching staff and is not replaced. Surrounded by rookie coaches on their first rodeo.

Any talk of potential incomings?

No,it does mention that he has to see off the threat of Henry Thomas for his Welsh shirt.

Have not read it all yet but nothing so far. This is pure speculation on my part but I suspect the stench of Gatland getting what he wants could enter the equation once he has settled on his 42 for the summer camps. He won’t want any of his 42 not having contracts post RWC and there will be pressure put on all regions to allocate any budget they have to the likes of Henry Thomas Corey Hill and Anscombe assuming they make the 42. And if they don't do what he wants he will attempt to veto nwq signings.

Also given he has lost Webb and wants kicking scrum halves he could well try and get Aled Davies back to a welsh side.

That is a reasonable shout. Would have picked up a lot working under a very good attack coaching mind in Blair.

Booth has already said recruitment will be minimal. Francis leaving and Henry Thomas looking for a welsh side creates one possibility. The scrum half stable has been virtually cleaned out so something has to happen there. Other than that a lock and perhaps a back the vast bulk of the likely 40 or so strong first team squad are already here.

I think that as far as senior players go we might see three or four but we may also see a few academy/transition players who have been released by other regions and English premiership clubs. Ospreys have taken up four or five very good prospects overlooked by Cardiff in the recent past so the recruiters are tuned in to that source and there will be more this season than ever before being released.

So the definite leavers are Roots Lydiate AWJ BBBD Francis Elvis Webb Anscombe Harri Hawkins Myler TTW which is 12. Rumoured leavers include Dan Evs Cross Aubrey Collins. Uncertainty over Moore Regan Baldwin Knott.

Looks like 18 leavers Paul mentioned are coming to pass.

Two arrivals in Ratti and Owen Williams. Imagine there may be a scrum half prop and lock to come

Moore will leave

Don't forget we also have Louis Fletcher and Ellis Fackrell at U20 and Kian Hire at U18 levels. They need time but Ellis and Kian already play for Swansea and Louis for the university.

Agree some decent prospects at tight head but it will be very hard for them physically to compete for a couple of years. Rhys Henry could step up to first choice alongside Botha and Warren becomes primary back up unless Henry Thomas comes seriously cheap.

I hope we don’t use the budget to overpay for Webb or Collins.

Squad strength really bolstering with this signing, 2 good strong young 8s to battle each other, just hope we can keep all these youngsters happy, nearly forgot Morgan Morse will make it 3, some juggling to be done by the Coaches.

England and Wales are in the same legal jurisdiction and if RFU did not take action it could be seen to be discriminatory. Whatever the case the same common law applies and Ospreys could sue Exeter just as Gloucester sued Sale.

It certainly puts Joe, Baxter, Exeter and his agent in a bad light and doesn't alter the fact that he lied to Gatland.

So glad I voted Nicky for player of the month before I knew he was staying. Ymlaen!

Great news about Nicky staying - I was always confident he would stay.

Not sure your first two paras are either fair or correct. I don't believe common law prevents an approach to an employeee under contract at any time. So presumably this is a breach of a RFU regulation. It would surely need to be a World Rugby Regulation as well for us to have any case. Also Hawkins was on an academy contract rather than a full Pro contract. THE PRB freeze on offering contracts has caused the issue here not Exeter or Hawkins or his agent. I am not sure what evidence thereis Hawkins lied to Gatland. where on earth has that idea come from him.

The lesson for us here is when you have a potentially elite academy player in the future get him on a full contract asap. Morgan Morse is the next potentially elite academy player and you need to take the chance of tieing him up early and not waste money on extensions for players who have already shown their legs have gone

If they are planning to announce signings on the basis of two a week then with 30+ players out of contract we won’t know the squad until September!

If he and Parry accept short term relatively cheap deals I doubt we can get much better for what we are prepared to pay. I would have preferred a younger player as he is pretty much washed up. The interesting calls are going to be whether Nagy gets an offer from England and whether Collins is offered sufficient not to make him want to return home. And of course the stand out issue is what we do at 9.

Their still working on Collins.

I would spend the money elsewhere myself . There will be better value in the market

That would be good news

Just seen an incredible brave tweet from Harri Morgan that his frustrations led to him taking an overdose in February and he is taking a break from pro rugby to set up an online fitness business. He deserves all the luck in the world

Poor bugger. Hope everything turns out right for him. With all the talent he has, it must be soul destroying to be unable to do what he clearly loves.

Ospreys have made great efforts and investment in mental health so this news is very worrying. Tom Sloane, Steve Mellalieu, Swansea Bay Health and OITC have been working on men's mental health and in the recent past Lloyd Ashley with Living Well has been very active with Ospreys and WRU. If Harri, or any Ospreys player, can feel so isolated we need to do better.

Much love to Harri and support goes out to any players suffering at what is a stressful time in Welsh rugby

After the gossips had us moving to an industrial estate that has 5000 fewer seats than we filled yesterday I would have thought that taking things with a pinch of salt meant Siberia.

There is bound to be lots of change, there always is but wait and see seems safest.

Sounds like Nicky is still in play. Other players who were previously linked were Webb to Japan and Nagy to Northampton.

Nagy? That’s a surprising one. I guess he is from Buckinghamshire tho.

The new players were not on there last time I looked the other day. I think it could be a clever move by the Ospreys to highlight/identify the transitional players we carry so there can be no doubt.

Also Tigers have 53 with about half a dozen who I would class as transitional and Saracens have 41 with about 8 transitional.

That is a very fair point mate.

As a starting point, somewhere around the 40 player mark with maybe 10 transitional players plus academy players would be fair with the intention of reducing it to the 36/16 mark by a player each year.

What about the marquee players?

I think Wayne is on the right lines. £5m is a very likely cap and there will be more transitional and less full contracts. Understanding how international players are funded is key to understanding this and how it impacts. As to marquee players that would be a direct copy of the English system but if a marquee player was a Welsh international the bandings and the 80/20 would have to go.