Who do we keep and who gets the chop, based on where things are with us?

Ben Westwood - Keep. I know people want him gone now, he's not what he once was, and gives away more sloppy penalties than he used to, but we need him until he decides to hang up the boots. He runs hard, tackles hard, and never stops. He can and does still do a good job for us. He's earned for me, one more year if he wants it.
Brad Dwyer - Needs to buck up his ideas. He was brilliant when he first came into the team but has rapidly regressed. Contrary to others on here I haven't seen Smith do all that much to warrant his praise quite yet but it won't be hard to overtake Dwyer with the way he's going. If there's no improvement before the seasons out then I would be inclined to Release.

Kurt Gidley - We need someone younger. He's got experience and it shows, he pulled us back into the game against Saints but he's not got the shelf life and hasn't been here long enough to earn another year for me. I would only Keep him in order to allow the likes of Patton and Livett to grow with less pressure. If we can get someone else though, I probably would. Release.
Harvey Livett - Keep, huge potential, could be another Ben Currie.

George King - Solid player. Rock in defense. Keep as he is a dependable squad player currently.
Ben Harrison - Has given us a great deal. A fantastic servant and it's a shame his legs have given him so much grief. I would really love to keep him, and he's got a few years left in him at 29. But it's hard to warrant his cost with the likes of Westerman, Currie, Savelio, Julien, G. King and Philbin all proving their worth. Pains me but with that in mind I would have to Release him.

Jack Johnson - He's okay as a backup option at full back, has always looked comfortable there, hasn't shown a great deal though.... Keep for now.
Ashton Sims - Very hard one this. His huffing and puffing really is not backed up by what he actually does for us going forward. He ball plays more than he breaks the line. The guy has two try assists this season. He's 32 so he's not far off the end BUT he is passionate and vocal on the field which no doubt helps us when the chips are down (to a point), I like the guy and on balance would Keep him for his experience if we were to let Gidley go for instance.

Matty Blythe - Unfortunately hasn't shown anything since his return. Not been given much time in the team but then he hasn't deserved it. Release as we have more than enough second rowers (which I believe he is) with greater prospect.
Ryan Jones - Couldn't possibly say as I've seen nothing of him.

Benjamin Julien - Keep. Monster in defense, young, runs hard lines, carry on this way and he'll make a fantastic second rower alongside Currie.
Andre Savelio - Keep. Hard to put down, has shown enthusiasm, not really been given a long enough run to show his consistency.

Sam Wilde - Started with promise but hasn't really kicked on, not been able to get into the team really since his first string of games. I would Keep though on the basis that he could be a dependable back up option over the next couple of years.
Joe Philbin - Keep. Form and attidude of late has been great to see, hopefully not just because his contract is up.

Rhys Evans - Really pains me to say it because he was such a good prospect, he had an excuse with the injuries but with an extended run in the starting 17 he's just never shown much in attack to back up his mostly solid defence. Release We need a real centre.
Toby King - Keep. Looks to be the centre we need (see above), has shown good promise.

It all depends on who is available from other clubs and where we have decent talent coming through the Academy. I would have a lot of the players on that list as a borderline decision depending on who can come in, and in some cases we might be better sticking with what we have.

The last time we had a mass turnover was 2001/02 and you could easily have made a case for releasing a lot of the inconsistent players we had in 2001 but when we were scrapping around signing Championship standard players we nearly went down.

When it comes to decisions on loyal servants like Westwood and Harrison think if we released them, where are they likely to end up? Would it be at Leeds/Cas/Wigan/Hull or would it be Salford/Leigh/Wakefield. Actually that's a good rule of thumb with the younger players as well.

What about Kevin Penny?

Putting another spin on it, which of those players would you be gutted to see leave. For me, it would be Julien, both King brothers, Livett and probably Jack Johnson. All have great promise and I think some are a little bit harsh on George King. I see a real thinking prop in him and his defence is superb. Johnson is another who seems to have real game intelligence but he hasn't played as much as I expected. Julien and Toby King look real top quality and Livett has made a good initial impression. For the others I wouldn't mind either way but as Sally says, it depends on the market. You wouldn't release someone to sign someone of a lower quality.

Tricky problem at this time of the year as I think anyone with an end of year contract can talk to other clubs from ? April onwards. So if TS wants to retain some of these players he needs to agree terms otherwise they may be off. Savelio is a good case in point as it seems he has been offered another year but is talking to Saints.
I guess Gidley will certainly leave as he has really slowed down for my money this year and will take up a big slice of the cap to boot. Sims is interesting as he is certainly motivated and a talker, but we could really do with a big e.g. Samoan prop that will run hard and wreck the opposition line. Then there are the retain certainties; Livett, Toby King, Philbin and Julien, they will surely be tied down / in discussions already. We have a number of young players that could be retained under the new rules without affecting the salary cap; Johnson, Wilde and Jones. And then there are the borderline players; Evans, George King, Westwood, Penny, Dwyer. With a very poor start to the season they may well be released providing (as has been mentioned) suitable replacements can be found. I don't really think there are big differences in opinion on the Board about most of the borderline group - they have advantages and limitations, but getting somebody better at a reasonable price may be a challenge.

I don't currently see any 3rd year U19's (apart from Smith) coming through to the first team.

I'm sure the agents will try and take advantage of this by saying their clients will be off but I wouldn't be bullied in to it unless the players are proving themselves indispensable by their performances.

In this season so far which of that list of players have been real stand outs? Would any of them be in the reckoning for Man of Steel or Young Player of the Year awards? Are other clubs going to be seeing them as players that will significantly improve their team?

Savelio was released by Saints last year, the jury is still out on him, like it was when he was at Saints. Have his performances this year convinced that he's the real deal and that Saints have made a mistake? If they want to pay more money and use up salary cap space on him then good luck to him.

I think if some of those players are really honest with themselves they will look at their contracts running down and think if they are cut by Warrington and are left to fight the open market, they may find it hard to convince other SL clubs, and it's a case of turn up the standard of their performances now or look at the Championship.

Jamie Jones-Buchanan's contract at Leeds is up at the end of the season what should Leeds do? he wants to carry on.

personally if there is no one better coming through you should show these top quality players some loyalty the other way.
I dont Know what Leeds have got coming through in the way of experienced vocal, hard working second rowers.

We have only one other hard hitting tough uncompromising hard working second rower in the club but that's the inexperienced Benjamin Julien who I'm not sure Smith is that keen on.... I think Westwood has another year and then I like Julien to step up.

Well the key there is "top quality" and whether they are still top quality.

Gary Hetherington has shown loyalty to guys like Sinfield, Peacock as they got older, but he knew when to move on guys like Hay, Sheridan, Cummins and Bailey.

If JJB was at Warrington I would say he was worth another year.

On Westwood I'd judge him between now and the end of the season, he's been OK this year but my concern is he's on a downward trend. So it depends what we forecast his level of performance to be next year and what wages he is on.

When Roy Asotasi was in his last year at Souths and we signed him the verdict from their fans was "great servant, deserves a great send off, but this year he's not been the player he was". When Souths were thinking of whether to offer him a new contract they weren't thinking how good was his service to us from 2007 to 2013, they were thinking how good will he be in 2014 and 2015?

If Ashton goes, there may be a certain Kiwi prop that might appreciate a year or two away from the spotlight. Would have a good off season without the World Cup to worry about ..

The question is do the younger players want to stay on and play for TS if we are to believe how he treats them

Ben Westwood, absolutely not he is at the end of his usefulness, time to let one of the younger players take his place.

As we are currently in transition the new team should centre on the young stars we are developing, given them the right game time and we will reap the benefits for years to come.

"absolutely not" is a bit hard line and I disagree that he is at the "end of his usefulness" I think he can still do a job reduced minutes and reduced terms and not always in the 17.

If it suits all parties this is surely the best way to "transition" yes let the younger lads take the strain and provide better cover than say a Blythe (sorry Matty)?