Championship 2024/25 signings and retentions

castleparknight wrote: Bluesman11 wrote: castleparknight wrote: Sid James wrote: Big squad. No wonder Donny's Coach is able to prop up his brothers team with Donny's spare players. If you look at the other championship squads 33 is below average. The lads that went to BSE are our academy development players, who will get some good exposure to rugby at a competitive level, it will be beneficial to them and hopefully BSE will get some benefit from it as the lads learn the BSE way of playing. Not sure 33 is below average. Bedford’s is 26 for reference. It might be below the mean if you include Ealing’s absurd squad size but would be surprised if it’s below the median. If Bedford only features the 26 named players I will be very surprised, I think there are a fair few Northampton players who will be featuring for Bedford not on their team-sheet as is.  Cov seems to be a tad light on the website (you may be able to clarify when or if the team page will be updated), Ampthill have 42, Caldy have loads (well up on 50) but I suspect that may include their 2nds, Scottish 28 but how many Quins still to feature. Ealing as we know have a large squad which does bump the average up. Cambridge 31, Pirates seems light but not sure if Exeter boys feature.  Pretty sure we are below average but take your point regarding median, and the Ealing Caldy effect, not saying we are light on players but we aren’t overloaded. And we don’t have arrangements with Prem clubs to bring in 6 or more each week. Anyhow - less than a week and the fun will start

Bluesman11 wrote: castleparknight wrote: Sid James wrote: Big squad. No wonder Donny's Coach is able to prop up his brothers team with Donny's spare players. If you look at the other championship squads 33 is below average. The lads that went to BSE are our academy development players, who will get some good exposure to rugby at a competitive level, it will be beneficial to them and hopefully BSE will get some benefit from it as the lads learn the BSE way of playing. Not sure 33 is below average. Bedford’s is 26 for reference. It might be below the mean if you include Ealing’s absurd squad size but would be surprised if it’s below the median.

Edited by The Blues - 15 Sep 2024 at 18:18

Castleparknight,

Edited by Sid James - 18 Sep 2024 at 11:59

castleparknight wrote: Sid James wrote: Castleparknight, They are Yorkshire lads. They don't need to go to Suffolk to enjoy the benefits of playing rugby at a reasonable level each week.  Why BSE? Not as though it is convenient  is it. I guess the family connection had a say - not saying we couldn’t have arranged something locally. So no argument from me on that front.

I was wondering if anyone from the actual club at Ampthill could come on this board and explain their policy concerning the announcements of which players have left and which players have joined. The policy appears to be leave things until very late and then drip feed the announcements of new players by position every few days. This started its cycle a few weeks back. Unfortunately a club stalwart then died and quite rightly the announcements were put on hold. However, posts have started to re-appear again on the website, but not about new players. And here we are, one day before the new season starts, and supporters have no real idea of who makes up the squad. And then the club start to make announcements......on Twitter! Is the website no longer the best medium to visit to get updates anymore?

[QUOTE=Runitback]It does not reflect well on Doncaster, especially as they have /want the Academy in Yorkshire. Surely support clubs locally makes far more sense !!! A rising tide and all that!![/QUOTE

Cherub wrote: I was wondering if anyone from the actual club at Ampthill could come on this board and explain their policy concerning the announcements of which players have left and which players have joined. The policy appears to be leave things until very late and then drip feed the announcements of new players by position every few days. This started its cycle a few weeks back. Unfortunately a club stalwart then died and quite rightly the announcements were put on hold. However, posts have started to re-appear again on the website, but not about new players. And here we are, one day before the new season starts, and supporters have no real idea of who makes up the squad. And then the club start to make announcements......on Twitter! Is the website no longer the best medium to visit to get updates anymore?

gerg_861 wrote: Tomiwa Agbongbon, 22 year old Backrow, goes on loan from Ealing to Pirates. Thought he looked good in limited pre-season action. I'm sure he'll be thrilled to sign for a London club then get loaned down to Cornwall.

gerg_861 wrote: cheshire exile wrote: gerg_861 wrote: Tomiwa Agbongbon, 22 year old Backrow, goes on loan from Ealing to Pirates. Thought he looked good in limited pre-season action. I'm sure he'll be thrilled to sign for a London club then get loaned down to Cornwall. I think he might relish the opportunity of actually playing rather than holding tackle bags and pumping iron. I think it is great that he will get game time, but he is an Essex lad, so quite a relocation.

OldNick wrote: But only if he can get a place over one of the Exeter squad at pirates