the ospreys have made some good signings. i think they are now more aware of how the team is perceived, and how certain names raised expectations. getting the PR & media spin right is quite an important part in getting people behind the team. the ospreys haven't got that right in the past, and as such they have got the most strife from the press & public despite winning more trophies and probably producing more players for the national team, too. meanwhile cardiff get very little trouble from the press despite poor performances, few trophies & a lot of non-welsh players. the dragons have no expectations placed on them, and the scarlets have "played a blinder" in the PR stakes--- people seem to think they have no non-welsh players, and are constantly talked about as developing welsh players.
stowers & bearman will be as good for the ospreys as collins & Holah, and fotuai'li/webb will make up for mike phillips leaving. i think the ospreys now have a squad that is just as good as before, but with less expectation on them. i can see them signing a quality centre though, because their centre options have not been good enough over the past few years. they won't win heineken cups with the likes of parker, bishop and a rookie like beck!
that said, beck, morgan, tipuric, bevington, and maybe a few others, have all come on well and will get more games this year, i think. so the ospreys have signed well so far, and have some good youngsters coming in. they won't miss the "stars" who have left, in my opinion.
I think blame can't really be given to the front five plus Holah and Collins as the Ospreys often have loads of possession and have no idea of what to do with it
in that Munster match at the Liberty Stadium we had possession for nearly all of the second half and yet Munster still came away with a losing bonus point despite being demolished possession and scrum wise.
As for arrivals and departures, it's worth noting that these so called "stars" Byrne and Phillips in particular have been pants for us for the last 2 seasons, the only leaving player I would of really wanted to keep would be Hook
I don't think Bearman and Stowers are an improvement on Holah and Collins, I really think the Ospreys have to sign an openside to replace Holah
the other position which we should focus on is centre which we should of really signed somebody for years, Nonu is the rumour but I would actually prefer that we signed a creative centre albeit which are harder to find than a crash ball centre
regards to Hook at centre, I like him as a centre, he is good at attack and has a great fend and good creativity, and lots of people forget that he was an dreadful form at fly half when he was moved to centre
and is inconsistent at fly half and on his off days he really struggles to control a match which is crucial in tight matches, I remember in a match against South Africa he threw a costly intercept pass which cost 7 points and it was 5 points loss in 2008, also I know it was a while ago but he did the same error twice I think against Canada in the World Cup
also Dan Biggar gets a lot of unfair stick, you should give him credit that he did well last season and although he was rubbish for large parts of this season he is 21 and has time on his side to improve
the Ospreys galacticos tag was always stupid in my opinion, it was used mainly after that match where there were 13 Ospreys players in the Wales team
but galacticos is what a Real Madrid style team is with Zidane, Figo, Ronaldo, Raul, Beckham etc, which was about 9 or 10 of their XI world stars
not with Jonathan Thomas, Richie Hibbard, Huw Bennett, Paul James, Dan Biggar, Andrew Bishop, Nikki Walker, Ian Gough, Ian Evans and Ryan Jones none of whom you would give a thought to putting into a World XV
note: I'm not saying all these players are crap (although some of them are) just nowhere near a World XV
as for the future, Ashley Beck and Hanno Dirksen in particular have impressed me
