Yup, he should have gone. Gussy's got this one (and Chisholm imo) wrong.

I'm just starting to wonder who we are actually going to lose to make the squad smaller! And - aligned to that thought - whether we are actually going to recruit anyone! I had Chis and White marked as odds-on leavers.

We know Merrick and Alofa have gone, but Merrick definitely needs replacing. So currently, if you don't replace Alofa then our squad is -1. Walker and Wallace hotly rumoured to be off so I guess we maybe don't replace either of them? Hoping the rumours around Will Evans are true though - if they are then we're only -2.

Who else do we lose? Ward probably - but rumoured to be replaced by Baldwin.

Just not really seeing where else we can afford to trim down.

Maybe

Boyce and Lambert out - 1 LH comes in (Still would have Marler/New LH and Auterac. Plus Head)

Ward and maybe Buchanan out - 1 Hk (Crumpton/Elia/New HK/Musk)

Swainston or Mcnulty out - No need to replace (Sinkler/ Collier/Ibuanopke/ Who ever stayed out of Swainston and Mcnulty)/ Sassone

Merrick and Glynn out - 2 LKs in (Horwill /Symons/ South/Lamb/New LK x 2/Hammond/Twigg)

Wallace and Luamanu out - 2 BR in (Robshaw/ Dombradnt/Chis jnr/Bothma/ Clifford/ Semi/ New BR x 2/ James/ Kenningan

Lewis and Mulchrone out - 1 SH in (maybe) (Care/ Saunders/ Waters/ New SH)

The Cat out - 1 FH in (Lang/ Smith/ New FH)

Alofa and Walker out - No one in (Murley/ Ibitoye/ Visser/ Earle/ Coyle/ Chis snr for wing and Taps/ Salli/ Lasike/ Lang/ Marchant for centre
Cheeseman maybe out - No one in - If Cheeseman does stay he also covers the above

As well as saying a smaller squad, PG said he would rely on the academy if needed and expect a few of those to step up. 

Maybe

Boyce and Lambert out - 1 LH comes in (Still would have Marler/New LH and Auterac. Plus Head)

Ward and maybe Buchanan out - 1 Hk (Crumpton/Elia/New HK/Musk)

Swainston or Mcnulty out - No need to replace (Sinkler/ Collier/Ibuanopke/ Who ever stayed out of Swainston and Mcnulty)/ Sassone

Merrick and Glynn out - 2 LKs in (Horwill /Symons/ South/Lamb/New LK x 2/Hammond/Twigg)

Wallace and Luamanu out - 2 BR in (Robshaw/ Dombradnt/Chis jnr/Bothma/ Clifford/ Semi/ New BR x 2/ James/ Kenningan

Lewis and Mulchrone out - 1 SH in (maybe) (Care/ Saunders/ Waters/ New SH)

The Cat out - 1 FH in (Lang/ Smith/ New FH)

Alofa and Walker out - No one in (Murley/ Ibitoye/ Visser/ Earle/ Coyle/ Chis snr for wing and Taps/ Salli/ Lasike/ Lang/ Marchant for centre
Cheeseman maybe out - No one in - If Cheeseman does stay he also covers the above

As well as saying a smaller squad, PG said he would rely on the academy if needed and expect a few of those to step up. 

Well put together and I'd agree with most of that. Clearly I let the frustration of this re-signing - which I just think is a bad call - get to me and brainfarted whilst "busy" at work and without the squad list in front of me or any real desire to put my brain to the task. That's why we have people like you here.

I for one am quite happy to believe that Gustard and Millard know what they is doing.

As we seem to be re-signing these young lower paid players and supposedly letting go a few higher paid players and cutting the squad size, we must surely be getting a couple of superstars in. Perhaps it’s been kept so top secret that even arniepie hasn’t heard a whisper.

It's not what he's done, it's not how he has impressed. It's what Gustard think he can become with the right coaching. Not everyone can be immediate star of the team, but you still need people to support those stars, maybe at a later date to become them.