According to the Rugby Paper London Irish are interested in signing Joey Carlisle who, and I quote "has an uncertain future at Sixways". It goes on to say that RH is in the market for a new No.10 and is prepared to offload either Joey or Andy Goode to make room under the salary cap. RH will hold talks with JC and AG, "with whom it is understood he has a volatile relationship",in the next few weeks. I understand the need to bring in another No. 10 but, given the present situation should'nt we be wrapping AG in cotton wool?

Did it say whether Irish want to sign him as a 12 or as a 10?

I would say that AG has been a key part of our recent improvement. On the face of it RH would be a fool to let him go on his current form. It's up to RH to work with his key players not against them and AG is not the first member of the team to have problems with RH. Not sure who he has in mind but I would have thought that we need to focus on beating London Welsh and Sale first.

I would have thought that we would want to keep JC as well! In the market is a very vague term and sounds like there is no specific target. These moves and talk can cause a loss of momentum with the team.

Andy Goode's contract is up at the end of the season, and he's not getting any younger. It was very obvious last season That he was not Hill's favourite when he was off form for a while. RH went round publicly bigging up Danny Grey and starting with JC at 10, and Goode responded by regaining his form decisively. I suspect they have made up, as Andy has played extremely well in every game so far this season, but his age is against him. I suspect we may be saying a fond and sad farewell to him next May, but JC may be persuaded that it's too long for him to wait.

If we are in the market for a new no. 10 (and if we aren't, why mot?), then I would much prefer to offer Goodey a 12 month extension to help the new bloke with his game, particularly if he is a younger player (George Ford?). That would mean offloading somebody else to help pay new signings wages. Though it ought to be Joey IMO, I could see RH getting rid of Danny Gray in that situation. Just my speculation, you understand.

I'm with you there, Razza

We are never going to get George Ford... Rory Clegg is more likely!

I would certainly like to see Andy booked for another season. Perhaps he would like to finish his career with us?

It would appear from WN that AG wants to end his career at Sixways and RH wants to keep both AG and JC.

10 out of 10?

If Hilly is seriously considering letting either of them go he is barking mad - if he is seriously considering letting Goodey go the club would be better off letting him go (Hill)!

I tend not to believe too much that appears in the Rugby Paper. A lot of it is guesswork, a lot of it seems gleaned from trawling the message boards and picking up on the posts that start,

"I was in the pub last night and I overheard the barmaid telling another customer that her boyfriend's cousin's niece's brother is going out with the nephew of someone who walks the dog of x's sister's mother's uncle and they said that x is talking to Saracens."

Some of it is just plain mischief making by agents engaged in contract (re)negotiations.

As an example, TRP reported a while ago that Sarries were signing Kev as a replacement for Andy Saull. The following week they reported that Sarries interest had cooled, as Andy Saull was staying, but someone else was now signing Kev.

I tend to agree, PE, that we won't get George Ford but, hey, there's no harm in dreaming!

Seriously though, if we get a decent position in the league and do well in at least one of the cups, we would be able to aim reasonably high when looking round when the time comes. Our ambitions should be to look at those of the standard and potential of Ford and be in with a shout of signing them.

Maybe the elder Ford, Joe is a more realistic option?

I think Goode will see out is career with us but unfortunately I only feel that it will be 2 more seasons, In the long run however a certain Mr Hook may be looking to move back to these waters to improve his Wales chances, plus he has I believe 1 season left on his contract after this one.

Food for thought.