Re: Ade Gardner : Wed Sep 07, 2011 8:48 pm  

Saint Simon wrote:

yep, dropping him now for Ade would be just dumb

If saints had been on the ball recruitment wise then both ade and Meli (when he was winger) should have been replaced two years ago.

How Meli got a two year deal last year in the form he was in was unreal!

Re: Ade Gardner : Wed Sep 07, 2011 8:54 pm  

St pete wrote:

If saints had been on the ball recruitment wise then both ade and Meli (when he was winger) should have been replaced two years ago.

How Meli got a two year deal last year in the form he was in was unreal!

to be fair meli got something like 21 trys last year, with no recognised centre. letting a player like that go would have been dumb!

Re: Ade Gardner : Wed Sep 07, 2011 9:00 pm  

Saint Simon wrote:

to be fair meli got something like 21 trys last year, with no recognised centre. letting a player like that go would have been dumb!

His form the year before didn't warrant a two year deal. Lucky enough he's played pretty well.

He should never play wing again as he's a liability.

Re: Ade Gardner : Wed Sep 07, 2011 10:42 pm  

.. Must say I think a year would have been right but he definately deserves something.

Ade was doing excellent work. He was doing a brilliant job clearing our line. He would more often than not take the first run after we had fielded a kick. He was hitting the ball up hard and with pace followed by a very quick play the ball. What this resulted in was a defence on the back foot which was then exploited by James Roby running into acres of space from dummy . Ade has also without doubt ironed out his vulnerability under kicks and was pretty solid in that respect.

Since he has been out we have been much less effective working away from our own line.
.

Re: Ade Gardner : Wed Sep 07, 2011 10:53 pm  

two years is i think right for both Ade and Saints.

Ade still has something to offer Saints and i would expect a fully fit Ade to be one of our starting wingers over the next two years.

As for Makinson and Foster, they are both young kids learning their trade. Going with two inexperienced wingers is a recipe for disaster in big games.

I am a big fan of Makinson in particular. For a 19 year old he is outstanding. Think how good he may be in two years.
I see his future at centre or alternatively at fullback. His pace in both of those positions is better utilised than on the wing. In the modern game its more important for a winger to be 6ft 2, a good catcher and finisher than to be necessarily fast. Its a brucie bonus if you end up with someone like Josh Morris on the wing who also possesses good pace. If you doubt this just look at Australia were most of the real quick men play either at fullback or centre.

Re: Ade Gardner : Wed Sep 07, 2011 11:21 pm  

It's a strange one. We need all the squad depth we can, but the one position we achieve it in is the wing, which is possibly the easiest position to cover.

Unless Makinson is playing fullback next season, this doesn't sound like a very ambitious use of the salary cap.

Re: Ade Gardner : Thu Sep 08, 2011 7:12 am  

OK here is my 2 penith worth.

For years and years I defended Gardner thinking he would just open his legs one day and leave all for dust. It never happened and so I bowed to the majority posistion that he was more of a liability than an asset. Then he comes good. So long as its not stupid money I have no problem keeping Gardner. Some have said that in recent weeks Foster has been a bit slack on keeping hold of the ball. If we did not have Gardner there would be a lack of competition for places on the wing. Competition brings the best out of people and should keep foster and makinson aiming high. It also helps as also some have said that foster wants to negotiate upwards. Ive no problem with this but the club needs to negotiate down so a wing replacement and lomax kicking is a viable alternative.

Kickinbg wise I do hope we are not sitting back and just saying foster is great. We need 2 or 3 kickers regularly practising incvase of injury or if foster gets a better offer.

Lomax would be one but also the other back should see what value a kicking ability adds to your arsenal.

Re: Ade Gardner : Thu Sep 08, 2011 10:24 am  

Makinson and Wheeler are both good goal kickers

Re: Ade Gardner : Thu Sep 08, 2011 10:38 am  

BackrowSaint wrote:

Makinson and Wheeler are both good goal kickers

Not a patch on jamie foster.

I think Jamie has been little slack on the playing side of things over the last month. Maybe he needs bringing down a peg or two.

Re: Ade Gardner : Thu Sep 08, 2011 1:17 pm  

St pete wrote:

Not a patch on jamie foster.

I think Jamie has been little slack on the playing side of things over the last month. Maybe he needs bringing down a peg or two.

Oh without a doubt Jamie is leagues above, I'd happily argue he is the best kicker in the league. I was just pointing out that if Jamie was missing for some reason we have options.