Good business in the transfer market

There’s very little money in it but the transfer market has been as busy as a busy man in a busy shop; 45 Super League players have moved to another top flight club thus far and there is still time for this number to increase further.

Next year, some clubs are gunna look pretty unrecognisable from last season - Bradford and Salford in particular, but for completely different reasons. The Bulls will be looking to rebuild after a few years of steady decline that has seen one of SL most successful sides slip into lower league obscurity. Salford, on the other hand, are building for the future and after a number of years wallowing in the lower reaches, now have a new stadium on the way and will be looking to attract a better calibre of player to rise up the table.

Bradford’s team re-structuring has seen them release nine players and replace them with ten, including Patrick Ah Van from New Zealand, Oliver Elima from Catalans and, perhaps surprisingly, Shad Royston from Championship side Halifax. Salford have been extremely busy Devils with the capture of Canterbury Bulldogs’ Luke Patten, Huddersfield’s Stephen Wild and Wigan’s Iafeta Palea’aesina, amongst others. Veteran hooker Malcolm Alker has gone into coaching with the club, and Willie Talou has retired; Phillip Leuluai, Jeremy Smith and Ste Tyrer have all gone their separate ways.

Bradford and Salford have done a bit of business between themselves, n’all. Ian Sibbit has left the Reds for Odsal and Chris Nero has gone the other way.

Castleford Tigers have had to contend with losing influential Joe Westerman and star centre Michael Shenton, as well as retiring forward Mitchell Sargent and James Evans, but have signed pretty well, securing the services of Warrington full back Richie Mathers, Danny Orr from Harlequins, Martin Aspinwall from Huddersfield and exciting Crusaders player Nick Youngquest.

 Wooden spoonists and arguably the biggest disappointment of 2009, Catalans Dragons, have themselves seen plenty of transfer activity with the acquisition of ten players, whilst releasing eleven. The most notable of captures are Ian Henderson from NZ Warriors, Damien Blanch of Wakefield and Steve Menzies, who may well be in his final season as a pro. The Dragons have lost some very good players, however. Steve Bell has retired, Dimitri Pelo has defected to Rugby Union, Dallas Johnson and Chris Walker return to Australia, as does Dane Carlow.

Financially-trouble Welsh outfit the Crusaders have not fared too well and it is as of yet unclear if they will be clear to compete in 2011. They have signed Paul Johnson and Stuart Reardon prior to entering administration, but with 7 players leaving, they are very thin on the ground and time is running out to get a squad together good enough to challenge for the playoffs.

London-based Harlequins, now under new coach Rob Powell, have completed the signing of Roosters backrower Nick Kouparitsas, and Chris Bailey from Manly. On the other hand, Luke Williamson has retired, Will Sharp has joined Hull and Louis McCarty-Scarsbrook signs for St Helens. The Quins, unless they invest heavily in quality, are likely to rely on loan signs and local players, but Powell will need time to impress on the board his ideas.

Huddersfield Giants have released the aforementioned Martin Aspinwall and Steven Wild, Simon Finnigan has joined Widnes and Brett Hodgson has gone to Warrington. The West Yorkshire side have made just one real quality signing in Luke O’Donnell, who has State-of-Origin pedigree.

The Barcodes, at this time, will look similar to the side they had last season, new signings pending. they’ve signed Will Sharp from the Quins, and Joe Westerman from Cas’. Peter Cusick has retired, Mark Calderwood has been released and Craig Hall joins Hull KR.

On the east side of the city, we at Hull KR have, along with Craig Hall, signed half back Blake Green to partner Michael Dobson, and Willie Mason, possibly our biggest signing of the last 30 years, if based on profile alone. The out-going Chev Walker will now ply his trade with Bradford, Charles I’Anson has gone to Widnes, veteran Frankie Mariano to Wakefield and Mike Ratu has been released; these five made less than 20 first team appearances between them last season.

Leeds Rhinos have made some noticeable changes to their 2011 squad with the addition of Ben Cross from Newcastle Knights and Weller Hauraki from Crusaders. Ben Jones-Bishop returns from a loan spell at Harlequins and Zak Hardaker, a young try-scoring winger, has been snapped up from Championship table-toppers Featherstone, but will return to Post Office Road as part of a loan deal.

The Rhinos will be without some regular players next year; Scott Donald has retired and returned home to Australia, Matt Diskin has joined rivals Bradford, and Greg Eastwood has re-joined Canterbury after only a year in the British game. Luke Ambler has joined Harlequins on loan.

St Helens have signed very well in readiness for 2011. Josh Perry, and outstanding capture from Manly, joins Michael Shenton and Louis McCarty-Scarsbrook at the Stobert Stadium this year (sounds a bit weird saying that). The Red V have had a bit of a clearout; five young players have been released, Matt Gidley and Kieron Cunningham have retired, Matty Smith has gone to Salford, Maurie Fa’asavalu joins Harlequins RU and Bryn Hargreaves leaves for Bradford. It will be interesting to see what affect the retirement of Kieron Cunningham has.

Wakefield Wildcats appear to be struggling somewhat. They’ve signed players with varied top flight experience in Jeremy Smith, Kevin Penny and Tommy Lee but the likes of Frankie Mariano, from Hull KR and Jessie Joe Parker (Featherstone) have next to no experience playing against the game’s elite. Jason Demetriou has been released, Tevita Leo-Latu and Sean Gleeson join the Salford revolution, P Cooke joins Crown RL (now closed down!) and Damien Blanch has gone in search of sun and frogs legs with Catalans.

Double Challenge Cup winners Warrington Wolves have signed just the one player in Brett Hodgson so far, and have released Richie Mathers and Vinnie Anderson. There has been very little transfer activity coming either in or out of the Halliwell Jones thus far, but I imagine at least one more player will be added to Tony Smith’s squad before the start of the season.

Defending champions Wigan Warriors have signed a Melbourne Storm trio of Brett Finch, Ryan Hoffman  and Jeff Lima to bolster what is already, on paper, the best squad in Super League. This has not been without the release of some very good players in Mark Riddell, who returns to Australia for family reasons, with Iafeta Palea’aesina and Phil Bailey joining Salford. Cameron Phelps has been released.

On the basis of the above, my prediction for new season is below:

1. Wigan

2. St Helens

3. Leeds

4. Warrington

5. Hull KR

6. Huddersfield          

7. Hull FC

8. Bradford

9. Salford

10. Castleford

11. Catalans

12. Harlequins

13. Crusaders

14. Wakefield

If you have an thoughts, leave your comments below!