2012 - What would you do? : Sun Apr 03, 2011 11:13 am
Saints are in a pretty tough position. We have so many established players off contract this season. Eastmond, Pryce, Graham, Puletua, Wilkin, Flannery, and Gardner (Plus Armstrong who will obviously be released) I believe. That means we are very, very likely to have to replace Jammer from the NRL as there just aren't enough decent English props about and I don't think the few that are good enough are off contract anyway. With Tony P also possibly going, that would leave us having to sign two big forwards. I expect Wilkin, Gardner and Flannery to get new deals if they want them as they are all solid first teamers and actually bettering them would be a tough ask and an expensive one.That leaves us with the problem of Lomaskell. About a month ago when Kyle confirmed he was selling his soul I think most people would have advocated going and recruiting a top class NRL half back. Stevo and a few more in the rugby league press were convinced at the time that we'd already signed a replacement for Eastmond and that he was an international half back. Royce also came out with a statement numbering the players on the shortlist to replace Kyle.
Now, having seen the buds of life emerging in Lomax and Gaskell will the club still push on with that and spend a big chunk of the cap on a half back? Or has either or both of the young guns shown enough promise to shelve that idea? Leaving it until later in the season probably isn't an option as most players worth signing would have sorted their futures out by then.
Personally I would like to see some effort to align the number of outgoing senior players with an equal amount coming in. But knowing Saints that isn't very likely. In an ideal world I'd like to see us sign at least 2 big forwards (1 if TP doesn't leave) and a proper centre for once so we actually have two in the side like you are meant to. I would also like to see Leon signing for another year or two. This would mean Lomaskell would get enough game time but with an old head about the place. How likely is it that Pryce will stay?