Re: Transfer Talk / Rumour thread V4 : Thu Mar 02, 2023 9:56 am  

Shabino wrote:

The trouble is you can take none of this for granted. Saints were lucky to a degree to get Ben Barba. He was the spark for all of this. They’ve made some good calls, had good luck on injury front, but there are sooo many factors involved wit creating a winning team. Leeds has tried and our time will come again as some good young players pushing through again.

Holbrook was the spark - if anything Barba was a distraction which completely blew up our 2018 season (adding to our chokers tag). If we were lucky for anything it was getting Salford in the 2019 Grand Final, who were just as cagey and awestruck as we were, helping us finally get the monkey off our back, before Woolf came in and added a huge amount of steel to our mentality. I'm not sure we would have beaten Leeds or Wigan (or maybe even Warrington if you look at the CC final ... though different circumstances which I won't comment on) in how we played that game. Still remember the 2017 Magic Weekend against Hull though - it was crazy the difference Holbrook had made before he even started. Lots of fans (myself included) thought we needed a complete squad overhaul in that offseason, yet Holbrook kept everything the same and the rest was history.

As for injuries, this is a complete myth. We played the vast majority of last season without our 3,4,5 or 7 (and 6's left arm was out from Easter) and regularly missing 7-9 players a game at points last season, with our backrowers playing take turns on bans + people like Walmsley and Makinson picking up injuries here and there. I think a lot of people ignore this, because we tend to have a couple of experienced players outside of the matchday squad (people like Hurrell, Norman and Bell) as well as a currently brilliant line of talent from the junior ranks, from people who can do a job and fill a gap (Ben Davies, Dan Hill, Sam Royle) who you don't particularly notice, but that's what you need when filling gaps, through to the Welsbys and Dodds who are future stars, so we always seem better off than we are. It seems like Leeds recruitment this year is starting to copy this model.

Re: Transfer Talk / Rumour thread V4 : Thu Mar 02, 2023 9:57 am  

D4mo78 wrote:

You look at how we've managed this transition from a golden era compared to Saints and the approaches have been polar opposites. They had that period under Cunningham but quickly threw sentiment out the window. Now you look at their team and they have quality throughout. Young home produced players making up the core, with top quality overseas signings who fit perfectly into the gameplan of the club. And they can nicely integrate that the up-and-coming academy players. Add in recruitment like Tee Ritson and there's not really much to fault with how they approach things. Ours on the other hand has been very slap dash without a clear approach. Despite all the talk of our DNA. And now we're still trying to structure the team and aren't near the top table again

Spot on mate. Couldn't agree more. Very frustrating. We will get back up there and these next couple of years are huge. We have a lot of very good young forwards who could dominate in the years to come, Sangare, Gannon, Oledsjki, Holdroyd, Smith, O'Connor, Walters, McDonnell. If they all stay together and improve they could be different class. Then we have Handley and Newman in the back line.

However the spine of the team is a very different story and that has a huge impact, particularly on salary cap as they can be the most expensive players when you have to go overseas for the recruitment. Young Sinfield has potential but is a long way off yet.

Re: Transfer Talk / Rumour thread V4 : Thu Mar 02, 2023 10:37 am  

Magic Superbeetle wrote:

Holbrook was the spark - if anything Barba was a distraction which completely blew up our 2018 season (adding to our chokers tag). If we were lucky for anything it was getting Salford in the 2019 Grand Final, who were just as cagey and awestruck as we were, helping us finally get the monkey off our back, before Woolf came in and added a huge amount of steel to our mentality. I'm not sure we would have beaten Leeds or Wigan (or maybe even Warrington if you look at the CC final ... though different circumstances which I won't comment on) in how we played that game. Still remember the 2017 Magic Weekend against Hull though - it was crazy the difference Holbrook had made before he even started. Lots of fans (myself included) thought we needed a complete squad overhaul in that offseason, yet Holbrook kept everything the same and the rest was history.

As for injuries, this is a complete myth. We played the vast majority of last season without our 3,4,5 or 7 (and 6's left arm was out from Easter) and regularly missing 7-9 players a game at points last season, with our backrowers playing take turns on bans + people like Walmsley and Makinson picking up injuries here and there. I think a lot of people ignore this, because we tend to have a couple of experienced players outside of the matchday squad (people like Hurrell, Norman and Bell) as well as a currently brilliant line of talent from the junior ranks, from people who can do a job and fill a gap (Ben Davies, Dan Hill, Sam Royle) who you don't particularly notice, but that's what you need when filling gaps, through to the Welsbys and Dodds who are future stars, so we always seem better off than we are. It seems like Leeds recruitment this year is starting to copy this model.

Fair play, should have said Holbrook/Barba combo. You really can’t underestimate how good he was for you in that short period. Probably the best player I’ve seen in SL along with Sam Tomkins in his prime…..

Re: Transfer Talk / Rumour thread V4 : Thu Mar 02, 2023 3:06 pm  

Magic Superbeetle wrote:

Holbrook was the spark - if anything Barba was a distraction which completely blew up our 2018 season (adding to our chokers tag). If we were lucky for anything it was getting Salford in the 2019 Grand Final, who were just as cagey and awestruck as we were, helping us finally get the monkey off our back, before Woolf came in and added a huge amount of steel to our mentality. I'm not sure we would have beaten Leeds or Wigan (or maybe even Warrington if you look at the CC final ... though different circumstances which I won't comment on) in how we played that game. Still remember the 2017 Magic Weekend against Hull though - it was crazy the difference Holbrook had made before he even started. Lots of fans (myself included) thought we needed a complete squad overhaul in that offseason, yet Holbrook kept everything the same and the rest was history.

As for injuries, this is a complete myth. We played the vast majority of last season without our 3,4,5 or 7 (and 6's left arm was out from Easter) and regularly missing 7-9 players a game at points last season, with our backrowers playing take turns on bans + people like Walmsley and Makinson picking up injuries here and there. I think a lot of people ignore this, because we tend to have a couple of experienced players outside of the matchday squad (people like Hurrell, Norman and Bell) as well as a currently brilliant line of talent from the junior ranks, from people who can do a job and fill a gap (Ben Davies, Dan Hill, Sam Royle) who you don't particularly notice, but that's what you need when filling gaps, through to the Welsbys and Dodds who are future stars, so we always seem better off than we are. It seems like Leeds recruitment this year is starting to copy this model.

What Holbrook did with Saints was similar to what Rohan Smith has done with Leeds

Smith took over last year and with practically the same squad (bar hardaker) totally turned them around.

And some fans are calling for his head already

Our squad/cap/recruitment has been mismanaged for years it will take longer than we would like to sort out but we are on the right track IMO.

Next year is a big one for us I feel

Re: Transfer Talk / Rumour thread V4 : Thu Mar 02, 2023 10:13 pm  

Shabino wrote:

The trouble is you can take none of this for granted. Saints were lucky to a degree to get Ben Barba. He was the spark for all of this. They’ve made some good calls, had good luck on injury front, but there are sooo many factors involved wit creating a winning team. Leeds has tried and our time will come again as some good young players pushing through again.

There are lots of factors in pretty much every facet of sport, but the teams who do the best are those who stack the odds in their favour. We were lucky at Leeds to have the golden generation come through together, but that's because the club made huge moves to sign the best youngsters and have the best system in place. Then we had more hits than misses with our recruitment. Barba was a gamble for Saints given the circumstances he arrived in, but so was Ali for us.

There are plenty of Sliding Doors moments in sport. But right now, Saints have stacked the odds in their favour. Great recruitment at home and from the NRL, brilliant academy a clear way of playing and a structure to for players to transition to the first team. We fell off with our academy and its coaching, seemed to have had more misses than hits with overseas recruitment and had a number of promising youngsters fail to spark. Could call that unlucky but ultimately as a club, we haven't helped ourselves

Re: Transfer Talk / Rumour thread V4 : Fri Mar 03, 2023 10:13 am  

Shabino wrote:

My friend who’s very knowledgeable and has watched Johnson says he has excellent distribution and a calm head. Simply needs to get a good few games in a row this year, before we judge….
Can’t do any worse than current incumbent….

Made his comeback for the reserves last night and scored a try. Hopefully he can kick on.

Re: Transfer Talk / Rumour thread V4 : Fri Mar 03, 2023 10:47 am  

ArthurClues wrote:

Made his comeback for the reserves last night and scored a try. Hopefully he can kick on.

That’s encouraging, hope so. Can’t just buy a quality 9 at minute too , so we really need him to kick on. Am sure Leeming will be released and if this year too, so big opportunity

Re: Transfer Talk / Rumour thread V4 : Fri Mar 03, 2023 11:14 am  

Corey has excellent hands for a hooker, can pass equally on either side, and delivers accurate fast ball from dummy half. This is his strongest point. His weaknesses are a little bit of a lack of pace (but not too bad) and his defence needs work (like most kids who haven’t played so much against men).

It’s a big year for him, if he applies himself he can go past both Leeming and O’Connor.

Re: Transfer Talk / Rumour thread V4 : Fri Mar 03, 2023 12:30 pm  

batleyrhino wrote:

Corey has excellent hands for a hooker, can pass equally on either side, and delivers accurate fast ball from dummy half. This is his strongest point. His weaknesses are a little bit of a lack of pace (but not too bad) and his defence needs work (like most kids who haven’t played so much against men).

It’s a big year for him, if he applies himself he can go past both Leeming and O’Connor.

The key thing is that he gets a run playing at hooker whether it is the reserves, the championship, or even in the first team. He's often been played at scrum half just because he can pass and kick, which is pretty pointless in terms of his development. I would hate to see us move him on without truly finding out about him.

Re: Transfer Talk / Rumour thread V4 : Fri Mar 03, 2023 2:32 pm  

batleyrhino wrote:

Corey has excellent hands for a hooker, can pass equally on either side, and delivers accurate fast ball from dummy half. This is his strongest point. His weaknesses are a little bit of a lack of pace (but not too bad) and his defence needs work (like most kids who haven’t played so much against men).

It’s a big year for him, if he applies himself he can go past both Leeming and O’Connor.

As long as great distribution, lack of pace not that bad. Can’t all be young Roby’s or Daz Clarkes. Is he tough enough to become defensively strong ? as this is imperative for a quality 9. Diskin was a brilliant defender….and what an advantage.