Newcastle Falcons - 2019 to 2020 Championship - Closed

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Manager: Dean Richards
Head Coach: Dave Walder
Forwards Coach: Micky Ward
Defence Coach: Nick Easter
Attack Coach: Dave Walder
Lineout Coach: Scott Macleod
Skills Coach: Mark Laycock

Current Squad:
Forwards
Props:
LH - Sam Lockwood, Adam Brocklebank, Trevor Davison,
Conrad Cade (Senior Academy), Phil Brantingham (Senior Academy)
TH - Rodney Ah You, Logo Mulipola, Mark Tampin, Mike Daniels,
Oscar Caudle  TH(Senior Academy & Tynedale)

Hookers: Kyle Cooper, George McGuigan, Jamie Blamire, Charlie Maddison

Second Rows: Sean Robinson, Darren Barry, Toby Salmon, Greg Peterson,
Will Montgomery (Senior Academy), Freddie Lockwood (Senior Academy), Bailey Ransom (Senior Academy)

Back Row:
6&7's: Mark Wilson, Will Welch, Gary Graham, Jon Hardie,
Guy Graham (Senior Academy), Rob Farrar (Senior Academy), Josh Basham (Senior Academy), Harry Hill (Senior Academy),
8: Philip van der Walt, Nemani Negusa, Calum Chick,
Tom Marshall (Senior Academy), Charlie Richards (Senior Academy & Tynedale)

Backs
SH's: Micky Young, Sam Stuart
Callum Pascoe (Senior Academy & Tynedale), Cameron Nordi Kelemeti (Senior Academy), James Elliott (Senior Academy)

Fh's: Joel Hodgson, Toby Flood, Brett Connon, Tim Swiel, Joel Matavesi
Will Haydon Wood (Senior Academy & Tynedale)

Centres: Matias Orlandi, Gareth Owen, Ben Stevenson, George Wacokecoke,
Charlie Wilson (Senior Academy - At Durham UNi)), Chidera Obonna (Senior Academy)

Wing: Sinoti Sinoti , Adam Radwan, Cooper Vuna
Morgan Passman (Senior Academy),

FB's: Alex Tait, Tom Arscott,

Players unconfirmed:
Seb De Chaves - Only has a one year deal
Jon Welsh - Injuries mean he hasnt played for nearly 2 years.
Connor Collett - has he signed permanently for Doncaster

So looks like Olmstead is not being kept on.

Cavubati confirmed away thank god.

Santiago Socino leaving to go home to play for the Jaguares in the Super 15 as he has international amibitons apparently.

i think he'll be lucky to get capped as i dont think he has pushed on since his initial prmoising emergence.

Harris confirmed to Gloucester.

To be honest this is one im not that fussed about. Dont think he's been brilliant for us, and i think we have lots of players to replace him.

Hammersley has activated his relegation release claus.

Off to Sale.

Not fussed at all about losing him.

Well Mcguigan definitely staying...interesting and I didnt expect that....

Tom Penny signs a one year extension. He's had the worst luck...one acl op, recovered, played in the wins against Montpellier and Toulon then bang did his ACL again.

Lets hope he's finally sorted and has no more bad luck. He's a talented lad, but at 24 he's starting to come to last chance saloon.

Sean Robinson signs a new 4 year deal. Fantastic newsd...i think he's a class lock. He was a big miss this season..

Good news on all 3, especially McGuigan and Robinson.

I see Mcguigan has been voted Clubs player of the year.

Wow...i didnt expect that either. Though to be fiar, theres hardly anyone put their hand up for it.

GF,

How are the duties of DoR and Head Coach role split? Are the team selections down to Deano or to Walder? Tactics?

3 prmotoed from academy to full senior squad.

Blamire - Hooker
Radwan - Winger
Uzokwe - Flanker / Back Row

LondonTiger wrote:GF,

How are the duties of DoR and Head Coach role split? Are the team selections down to Deano or to Walder? Tactics?

In all honesty mate...i havent a clue...

Some suggestion that Johnny William's is staying aswell.

Maybe he feels he needs to stay at a club and simply get gametime under his belt now.

That would be amazing for us.

1.Lockwood
2.McGuigan/Cooper
3.Mulipola
4.Salmon/Peterson
5.Robinson/Barry
6.Welch
7.Graham
8.Chick

That pack should do some damage in the Championship.

I hope for Falcons fans that Kibirige, Radwan, Charlie Wilson and Josh Hodge have a confidence building season as they are all very talented outside backs.

Has Tukulua confirmed whether he's staying or not? He's been consistently excellent for you season after season. He'd be a quality addition to most Prem squads so will surely have offers.

Nothing yet about Takulua KC. Guess we'll find out soon.

We have a few young back rowers who simply have to be blooded this season as well.

In fact lots of players need blooded this season. If the coaches get it right we could have a quality side for years.

Rumours of Kibirige to Wasps

Harris confirmed as leaving...circles suggesting it is Gloucester right enough.

GeordieFalcon wrote:Harris confirmed as leaving...circles suggesting it is Gloucester right enough.

Would be a like for like player with Trinder as currently with Trinder injured the Atkinson/Twelvetrees combination is quite samey.

In other news Odogwu is confirmed as joining Wasps. Not had the best time with injuries but he's got a devastating side step if someone can get the best out of him.

Does Odugwu to Wasps kibosh any Kibirige move?

Glaws released several players to stay within the salary cap. One of those was Henry Purdy who could be a good replacement for Harris

Im genuinely not concerned about losing Harris. He has a strong defence, but i honestly dont think he has progressed from the exciting talent that burst on the scene. Maybe in the Gloucester side he can redisvoer that.

We have about three or four lads who have more potential than Harris, its all down to how the coaches bring them through next season.

Yeah i noticed the Odugwu move. But Wasps are short of wingers so i suspect Kibirgie will be announced aswell.

Well apparently one more player has activated his relegation release clause and it was supposed to be announced yesterday...

Thata the last one...so I wonder who it is. Possibly Kibirige...as I thought Mark Wilson was going away on loan.

Unless Dean is thinking he has back row resources to cover everything and we dont need Mark back.

So Zach Kibirige confirmed to Wasps.

Bar Mark Wilson, that appears to be the end of the leavers. Although you never know with this club.

Well Falcons have announced 19 in the senior academy next year...and say its one of the most talented they have ever had.

Bodes well for the future

https://www.newcastlefalcons.co.uk/news/story/senior-academy-squad-named-for-2019-20

Does the Falcons Senior Academy incorporate what some others (ie us) call the Development Squad? Only as because I see that a number of those will turn 21 during next season so usually would no longer be considered academy.

Yeah very much LT. They all train with the first team...so yes its a "development / Senior Academy Squad"

And Josh Hodge is showing why are more than happy for Simon Hammersley to go

Hodge certainly looks an exciting prospect. He's a bit slight at the minute, I think it'll take him a while to get right physically (a bit like Hammersley), but I can see him getting plenty of game time next season.

We could have really exciting backline of Radwan, Hodge, Sinoti next season. Lets just hope they get to see the ball, unlike most of this season.

Yeah thats the critical part Sgt....getting the ball in the positions to cause damage.

I just read that Gareth Owen has moved to Falcons

Good acquisition in my opinion. Never really filled the early hype but can be very useful.

The news hasnt really been warmly welcomed Maesteg, due to reviews of fans from is previous clubs. Especially at Tigers.

Maybe Dean can get the best out of him, who knows...but we have a number of very impressive kids coming through, so most fans are hoping they get the gametime they need.

Owen will probably work pretty well in the championship. First season for us he was a reasonable back up. Decent ball carrier who could be used to punch holes in defence. However the lack of any passing game whatsoever meant that any breaks were not fully capitalised on. Second season and he tended to drop the ball when tackled, was a turnstile in defence and really was quite poor.

Yeah thats pretty much the general opinion on him.

It looks like we'll be keeping Josh matavesi and Johnny Williams which would be huge.
We then also have Joel Matavesi (joshs younger brother) who is only 20/21 the same size and stamp as his brother at 12, Charlie Wilson (a hugely talented young centre), Ben Stevenson, a tall lean 13 with pace, George Wakeokoe a 19/20 year old fijian who covers a few positions in the backs and young Chidera Obonna, who just looks a fabulous alrounder in the midfield.

Then we have Tom Penny. Another cracking young centre, who was coming in to the team, only to suffer a cruciate ligament injury, then came back after a year out...played in the wins over Toulon and Montpellier, and suffered a cruciate ligament injury to the other leg!!
It remains to be seen how he comes back.

new signing being announced at 2pm...wow cant wait for another hugely underwhelming announcement.

It would also be nice to have a squad list for who is actually with us next season. Deans communication black out is starting to really great with fans.

Cooper Vuna.

Decent winger, but does nothing for any hopes of promoting youth.

Cooper Vuna!!! Meh.

Well looks like he is either Kbiriges replacement or Goneva's contract which is up now is not being renewed.

Totally bizarre...I'm at a loss with this club

I just hope he doesnt interfere with the development of Hodge, Passman and Radwan.

So we're effectively swapping Kibirige for a 32 year old journeyman, the bloke doesn't even score many tries (five in the last three seasons)! Why are they willing to give this guy a go but not players like Zach or Adam??? We just got relegated doing this kind of rubbish!

Im genuinely losing confidnce in Dean...i think we need to move on from him and find a forward thinking younger coach not stuck in the dinosaur era.

Goneva and Davy Wilson gone apparently.  Squad is now correct in the OP.

With the exception of one Mr Mark Wilson...

GeordieFalcon wrote:Im genuinely losing confidnce in Dean...i think we need to move on from him and find a forward thinking younger coach not stuck in the dinosaur era.

I know what you mean, it is a frustrating situation. I was excited when Deano joined, but barring one exceptional season we seem to have stagnated.

The thing is, we are unlikely to be able to attract players like Piutau or Faf de Klerk in the future, so we need to find another way. The only way I can see is to get rough diamonds in from the Championship ( like we did with Callum Green or like others have done with Tom Francis, Harry Williams and Tom Lawday) and supplement them with homegrown players. It is the Exeter model, they largely don't bring in superstars, they spot player and make them better.

The frustrating thing is, I think we could do it too. We have a big population to pick from, even considering the football mad nature of it, there are hotbeds of rugby. The production line needs to get rolling, but they need to see that they have a chance with us.

Instead we will probably get another player like Vuna. Are there any other clapped out ex NRL players we can go for? Perhaps we can persuade Danny McGuire that he wants a go at union, he is only 36 after all.

Well they have a chance to really prove it now

We have some incredible talent promoted to the senior academy and a nicely balanced senior squad with good experience players.
Goneva is gone so Vuna replaces him.

We need to see them really progressing these kids over the next few years and playing a style that suits them and they can implement correctly...which they clearly didnt last season.

I firmly believe we will come straight back up...but it's how we do it, that will concern me.

On a side note Will Welch has signed a new 4 year deal.

Mark Wilson has signed a one year loan deal with Sale.

Well Marks move confirmed today, and a new signing announced tomorrow at 9am apparently.

And another being announced shortly when his visa issue are completed apparently.

We were long in the hunt for SA number 8 Philip Van der walt, but i doubt he'll come to the championship...unless he's on a very good number.

Lock Sebastian de Chaves signs on a one year deal

Jack Payne the prop has returned to Australia.

Not much of a miss.

GeordieFalcon wrote:Jack Payne the prop has returned to Australia.

Not much of a miss.

Never heard of him, so looked him up. Pretty shocked to see he was a lock/backrow for most of his career, converted to prop! Not often you see that at someone his age making the switch!

Andrew Sheridan was in his early 20s when he started to convert to prop.

He showed a bit of promise in a couple of games, but then never really appeared after that.

But then our issues with props are rediculous.