Player Movement/Replacement

West Wales Raiders have expertly,and expeditiously,released 2 players and replaced them with 2 others.

The 2 leaving are Ronny Palumbo and Robert Tuliatu.

They are replaced by Welsh international,and captain of the club,last year,Morgan Evans

and Italian international,Gioele Celerino,who has previously been at Newcastle Thunder and Coventry Bears

and last year was coached by former Hull KR player,Terry Campese,who also played for Italy.

Need more than 2 more players , need depth in the squad. Need a culture and a tonne of self belief. 

Heartbreaking to watch yesterday. 

I was at the match yesterday and with ball in hand you looked dangerous. For a twenty minute spell in the second half you controlled the game. Unfortunately some bad tackling was your undoing. Keep improving mate I firmly believe that Raiders will be a force in the game. Good luck for the rest of the season.

6 hours ago, wizza1 said:

Need more than 2 more players , need depth in the squad. Need a culture and a tonne of self belief. 

Heartbreaking to watch yesterday. 

   Host of injuries - and a few players have left the club.

    Bit bereft of confidence.

6 hours ago, clwydianrange said:

I was at the match yesterday and with ball in hand you looked dangerous. For a twenty minute spell in the second half you controlled the game. Unfortunately some bad tackling was your undoing. Keep improving mate I firmly believe that Raiders will be a force in the game. Good luck for the rest of the season.

   Bizarrely,Olympian wrestler Curtis Dodge has been working on the wrestle with the players.

   Our threequarters had new combination with Morgan Jefferies missing - and both edges were exposed first half - before the centre was exposed in the second half.

    Your new - lad with the big hair - combined well with his winger,mind.

    The injuries mounted up during the game,in addition to the 'strapped up' players.

   Thanks for the encouragement.Morgan Evans and the Italian lad,announced but didn't make an appearance was also a let-down.

   I'm looking at Crusaders and Thunder.Though they both had the benefit of Super League,both liquidated,and Thunder 9 years later are being talked about as potential promotion candidates.

   Also,when the original Crusaders were promoted into the middle tier,in 2007,they defeated Thunder during the first year of Dave Woods time at Thunder.He didn't have the best first year - but he certainly did in the second year.

   Kim Williams may do likewise.

  I was impressed with Crusaders,yesterday.Along with Keighley and Whitehaven - though it is difficult to judge against us.

Thanks for that AC. You’ve got a mountain of untapped talent there in South Wales. Was it two years ago that Wales u16 beat England u16 and almost all the players were snapped up by super league clubs. If you can get some of those playing for you you’ve cracked it. 

Cru butchered more scoring opportunities, 2 on 1s weren’t spotted too many times. 

I really thought that Raiders were going to win the 2nd half and salvage something. 25 mins scoreless...  

Wishing Kim a bit of luck in the recruiting stakes. 

Oldham at home this week ... 

I see that Coventry and Skolars are stating that they are making good use of their dual reg agreements ( Coventry have signed a 2nd DR agreement with another club). What have Raiders got in place?  There is a need for depth , anything to get us out of a hole? At least a big forward and another hooker/pivot to share the burden.  

7 games in and still hearing of last minute withdrawals and players walking away from the club, that’s not good. You can’t run any side with that.  

4 hours ago, wizza1 said:

I see that Coventry and Skolars are stating that they are making good use of their dual reg agreements ( Coventry have signed a 2nd DR agreement with another club). What have Raiders got in place?  There is a need for depth , anything to get us out of a hole? At least a big forward and another hooker/pivot to share the burden.  

7 games in and still hearing of last minute withdrawals and players walking away from the club, that’s not good. You can’t run any side with that.  

 

   The plan is to develop Welsh players - there may also be a reluctance for M62 players to travel to Llanelli.

   An experienced Welsh player - from a higher division - would be nice;to assist the younger players who maintain their professionalism despite the scorelines.

   Both Skolars and Coventry have had more years at this level than West Wales Raiders.

   I'm sure there is lots of hard work continuing behind the scenes.

    Try and stay upbeat.   ( I have no idea what the emojis are meant to mean - Keeping my energy to back the players for 80 minutes on Saturday - particularly the final quarter! )

    Hope you and your good lady will be in attendance.

. Another 70 pointer. The ambition to be competitive this season is dropping off significantly.  Is the issue either in recruitment, fitness or culture within the squad?

I’m alive to what you say about developing local talent, that’s every clubs ambition, but it’s not reality, clubs have DR.  M62 players won’t come  Llanelli, yet we expect players from other countries to turn up ( and leave).   On the basis of developing local talent that means getting into primary schools and making it a natural game to play , there also needs to be a natural club/community level for that age group for the conveyor belt to feed the Raiders , not the failed union converts at 18 years old.  

The  squad needs bolstering and reviewing regarding  culture/bonding/hwyl. 

Is there a 300 club to fund the lads for things? 

I’ve not seen any club kit for sale at Stebo, no items to try on. Other clubs have a rail with club stash available.  

hashtags in the Instagram posts to promote the post to wider West/South Wales? 

#cwtches #westernmail #diolch #walesonline #cymru #cymraeg #siarad  #pontycarlocakes #s4c 

As an example ?

14 hours ago, wizza1 said:

. Another 70 pointer. The ambition to be competitive this season is dropping off significantly.  Is the issue either in recruitment, fitness or culture within the squad?

I’m alive to what you say about developing local talent, that’s every clubs ambition, but it’s not reality, clubs have DR.  M62 players won’t come  Llanelli, yet we expect players from other countries to turn up ( and leave).   On the basis of developing local talent that means getting into primary schools and making it a natural game to play , there also needs to be a natural club/community level for that age group for the conveyor belt to feed the Raiders , not the failed union converts at 18 years old.  

The  squad needs bolstering and reviewing regarding  culture/bonding/hwyl. 

Is there a 300 club to fund the lads for things? 

I’ve not seen any club kit for sale at Stebo, no items to try on. Other clubs have a rail with club stash available.  

hashtags in the Instagram posts to promote the post to wider West/South Wales? 

#cwtches #westernmail #diolch #walesonline #cymru #cymraeg #siarad  #pontycarlocakes #s4c 

As an example ?

     Now my recovery is underway...

     2 players who have been unavailable all season are now back in training and the return of another is imminent.All 3 are Welsh lads who have played well in the past.

     The lad,Patrick Jennings,who has scored tries in successive games,despite being clattered at Wrexham last week,was recruited after this season got underway and arrived from Swansea University,so that pathway may be productive.

     Plans to bolster the squad have been underway and I expect some announcements shortly.

   The kit suppliers have let the club down.Several items I paid for last November still haven't arrived and those that do arrive are of different material and design;and I won't mention the sizing. 

    There is a supporters page on Facebook - if you don't mind I'll copy and paste and put your post onto that page,to add to a huge list of what we all want,and think,will improve all matters pertaining to the club.

    There are a limited number of club officials - they are married,with children,and hold down full-time occupations and,like Kim Williams,do other tasks for the Wales Rugby League,and do other work to grow the sport and develop young players.

    Nobody alive gets more hacked off than I do when my team loses.

     There are too many good people doing that much good work that it cannot be too much longer before things turn.

    Some good ideas are planned for the charity day,a week on Saturday,in Llanelli. 

     The general public,despite the lack of replica kit and leisurewear in the area,may learn that a rugby league club exists.

     Keep the faith.

Kim gets great recognition as does the club for work off the pitch and in the community - Total Rugby Podcast hosts confirm.  Keeping the faith.