Re: Nathan Brown's list of priorities : Sat Apr 07, 2012 5:40 pm  

1 Pace
2.Pace
3.Pace

Re: Nathan Brown's list of priorities : Sat Apr 07, 2012 6:22 pm  

bewareshadows wrote:

Yes but that is where we are.

Saying sign brough is just pie in the sky. May as well say sign Darren Lockyer as we would have more chance of signing him than Brough.

It was a tongue in cheek comment by me, it will never happen but he's the sort of half back we need.

I've no doubt that Lomax and Gaskell will be great players but they've a lot to learn, especially Gaskell.


Catalans managed to find Dureax who most of us had never heard of so there maybe others out there. If it means unloading someone off the quota it will have to be done.



S57

Re: Nathan Brown's list of priorities : Sat Apr 07, 2012 6:29 pm  

1. Buy or develop a capable, organising boss halfback. Don't care if he's old or slow. But needs to be able to control the game and act as a brain for the team. Dureau, Finch, sort of thing.

2. Buy or develop an attacking centre. Doesn't have to be the new Newlove or Lyons, A Kallum Watkins-style big lad with pace would do.

3. Find the best fullback at the club and stick them in there to replace Wellens in all the backs moves, so we have that attacking option which every other big club have, but we don't.

The pack's fine at the moment. But it's been a long, long time since I've seen a Saints side who actually tried to score by creating space and moving the ball to the threequarters. I miss it.

Re: Nathan Brown's list of priorities : Sat Apr 07, 2012 6:39 pm  

I know it's not always welcome when opposition fans offer advice, but here goes anyway.

You are being let down big time by the quality of your imports. Unless Brown can get a lot more out of them or move them on, he won't do much more than he has achieved at Hudds.

Re: Nathan Brown's list of priorities : Sat Apr 07, 2012 6:43 pm  

Finfin wrote:

I know it's not always welcome when opposition fans offer advice, but here goes anyway.

You are being let down big time by the quality of your imports. Unless Brown can get a lot more out of them or move them on, he won't do much more than he has achieved at Hudds.

some, but not all. Soliola and Laffrachi have been great, Lance average and Perry, Flanders and Meli less so

Re: Nathan Brown's list of priorities : Sat Apr 07, 2012 7:09 pm  

St pete wrote:

Danny Brough has been the best British halfback in super league for the past two years.

Even if I did agree (which I don't) the gap between him and whoever the next four or five is so small as to be insignificant. You're talking like he's Andy Gregory or Sean Long when he's not. He plays at a good level, possibly even good enough to make the England team, however he's not that much better than those around him. It's because he has a kicking game and that's it. Big deal. Get our coaching working on our kicking game with the people who actually have a good natural kicking ability and we've saved ourselves £x in transfer/signing on fees etc.

Btw, it's not a certain that Brough would want to come to Saints either. Oh and he was 29 in January.

Re: Nathan Brown's list of priorities : Sat Apr 07, 2012 7:59 pm  

It really depends on the personel that we have left at the end of the year as to what has to be done. However I'm going to go on the assumption of some retirements that may not happen.

FB: Lomax
Wing: Ade
Wing: Makinson
Centre: Wheeler
Centre: Shenton
SO: Lance
SH: Buy in ( I would like to see Gaskell as SO, with an experience SH alongside, but I think this will not happen, with Lance on a long deal)
Prop: Buy in
Hooker: Roby
Prop: Buy in
SR: TP
SR: Sia
LF: Buy in

Bench: Perry, LMS, La Franki, Flanaghan

That would be for year 1.

Year 2: Shenton and Ade to be replaced, Ade possibly from within if Foster can sort out his game. Shenton buy in or Josh Jones may have had the time to develop.

Perry to be replaced, TP to be replaced although at this point dixon maybe a good SR.


People may say that our pack is ok . But I think we are still one prop short. And given that some props are good some games and annoymous in others, then we need 2 very effective props to help give us that consitent go forward even when the chips are down.

Re: Nathan Brown's list of priorities : Sat Apr 07, 2012 8:57 pm  

St pete wrote:

1) quality experinced halfback

2) a good attacking centre

3) Tackle breaking forward

1. Sean Long
2. Jamie Lyon
2. James Graham

Re: Nathan Brown's list of priorities : Sat Apr 07, 2012 10:22 pm  

McClennan wrote:

Even if I did agree (which I don't) the gap between him and whoever the next four or five is so small as to be insignificant. You're talking like he's Andy Gregory or Sean Long when he's not. He plays at a good level, possibly even good enough to make the England team, however he's not that much better than those around him. It's because he has a kicking game and that's it. Big deal. Get our coaching working on our kicking game with the people who actually have a good natural kicking ability and we've saved ourselves £x in transfer/signing on fees etc.

Btw, it's not a certain that Brough would want to come to Saints either. Oh and he was 29 in January.

He's 29, he'd be young signing for us then. We've give lance who was 29 last week a 4yr deal, we've signed Laffranchi who's 32 on a 2yr deal, we've signed perry who was 30 on a 3yr deal.

If your idea of "just coach players to kick" of it was that easy we could just coach all out young players to do whatever.

We've not got a player at the club that can do what brough does.

Re: Nathan Brown's list of priorities : Sat Apr 07, 2012 10:43 pm  

St pete wrote:

He's 29, he'd be young signing for us then. We've give lance who was 29 last week a 4yr deal, we've signed Laffranchi who's 32 on a 2yr deal, we've signed perry who was 30 on a 3yr deal.

If your idea of "just coach players to kick" of it was that easy we could just coach all out young players to do whatever.

We've not got a player at the club that can do what brough does.

Gaskell, who we must remember has yet to physically mature, already possesses as great a leg strength as any halfback I've seen hammer a ball in SL. That kind of ability you just can't put a price on (think of the enormous disadvantage we had with Long who couldn't get the ball beyond 40m which meant we were giving up anywhere up to 15 yards per game on every set of six!). Yes, he does have problems directing the ball but that all comes with experience.

His short game is also very good and we pick up a lot of tries because of it. Where Lee is currently struggling is with his intermediate kicking (30 - 45 yards) but again, this is more an issue of wisdom and knowledge as opposed to innate talent.

Every rugby league pitch is different and it takes time to first identify the various eccentricities of camber and then adapt one's kicking to capitalise on such. And let us not forget that Gaskell is currently at an enormous disadvantage to other SL halves in that he doesn't have a home pitch he can make hay on because Langtree Park, for the moment, is as foreign to him as any other ground.

Again, the problem here is not ability - it's experience and coaching. Under the right tutelage and physically mature Gaskell has the talent to be as good as any halfback in SL - including Brough.