Re: Saints sign Luke Walsh : Wed May 29, 2013 7:13 am  

Sadfish wrote:

He's actually played better since soward signed.

Or maybe he's played better since he signed for us, knowing that he's going to get a fresh start? That can invigorate some players can't it?

I've learned my lesson from bigging up Lance Hohaia prior to him coming over here and so I'm not going to be one to drool over this signing. However, he is a 7, he can do stuff that a 7 does (I've watched him each week), we don't have anyone at the club just now who can do what a 7 does at first team level and so I'm happy with the signing. I hope he does a good job for us next season.

Re: Saints sign Luke Walsh : Wed May 29, 2013 7:39 am  

The first positive is he is a 7.

So that beats our current 2nd rower, fullback combo.

The 2nd positive he's comes full ready to play, he has experience so we are not starting at year zero like we have with Lance, Gaskell, Smith, Eastmond. It's nice to have fresh legs but not all at once.

3rd positive

He's performed well in a better competition.

It all bodes well, the only unknown is the Perry effect. It's hit other aussies before and cant be pre-determined. Although a warm welcome and having mates out her helps.

Re: Saints sign Luke Walsh : Wed May 29, 2013 7:43 am  

SaintsFan wrote:

I've learned my lesson from bigging up Lance Hohaia prior to him coming over here and so I'm not going to be one to drool over this signing. However, he is a 7, he can do stuff that a 7 does (I've watched him each week), we don't have anyone at the club just now who can do what a 7 does at first team level and so I'm happy with the signing. I hope he does a good job for us next season.

I agree with this. By the sound of things he could turn out to be either a brilliant or an underwhelming signing, but in either case he will be a significant improvement to the side.

Re: Saints sign Luke Walsh : Wed May 29, 2013 7:45 am  

SaintsFan wrote:

I've learned my lesson from bigging up Lance Hohaia prior to him coming over here and so I'm not going to be one to drool over this signing. However, he is a 7, he can do stuff that a 7 does (I've watched him each week), we don't have anyone at the club just now who can do what a 7 does at first team level and so I'm happy with the signing. I hope he does a good job for us next season.

I think this is the right way to treat it. He's a round peg for a round hole, so will be an improvment. Whether he's a good, bad or indifferent scrum half for us is yet to be seen, but he's a scrum half, which is the start we need.

Re: Saints sign Luke Walsh : Wed May 29, 2013 9:49 am  

Glad it's all sorted, and a good signing for us. Natural Scrum-Half who knows what he is doing, and is without doubt an improvement on what we already have in the side. Whatever happens, he is an improvement in what we already have, which is a positive, and I think he'll do well at Saints. Quality half-backs aren't easy to come by at the minute, so I think the club deserve some credit here.

Re: Saints sign Luke Walsh : Wed May 29, 2013 10:01 am  

Tez the Saint wrote:

Glad it's all sorted, and a good signing for us. Natural Scrum-Half who knows what he is doing, and is without doubt an improvement on what we already have in the side. Whatever happens, he is an improvement in what we already have, which is a positive, and I think he'll do well at Saints. Quality half-backs aren't easy to come by at the minute, so I think the club deserve some credit here.

Depends on how he plays. His recent surge of form has made people think this is a decent signing, as has some of the stuff written about him a few years back when he broke through and was singled out as a potential international.

BUT, there are glaring deficiencies in his game that could easily lead to him becoming a big hate figure for the fans. Kyle Eastmond was mercilessly dealt with for not taking on the line, yet he did it far more than Luke Walsh will.

Hopefully the move to SL and a move open (Lower standard) league will give him the confidence to really kick on and dominate games. If he's as good as Dobson or Dureau then it'll be great. But this could go the other way very easily, particularly if the club doesn't continue to strengthen. If you put Walsh behind a pack with the likes of LMS, Thompson and Laffranchi as starting props next season, he'll be slaughtered and we'll be no better off. The club HAS to get rid of the dead wood, especially in the pack. Any new deals for the likes of Wellens, Laffranchi, Perry or Flanagan simply cannot be allowed to happen, or there is no point signing a half back.

Realistically the above isn't going to happen. We'll hand new deals to Gardner, Wellens and Laffranchi and we'll be a mid table struggler again next year.

Re: Saints sign Luke Walsh : Wed May 29, 2013 10:13 am  

Saddened! wrote:

Kyle Eastmond was mercilessly dealt with for not taking on the line, yet he did it far more than Luke Walsh will.

Re: Saints sign Luke Walsh : Wed May 29, 2013 10:50 am  

Saddened! wrote:

Depends on how he plays. His recent surge of form has made people think this is a decent signing, as has some of the stuff written about him a few years back when he broke through and was singled out as a potential international.

BUT, there are glaring deficiencies in his game that could easily lead to him becoming a big hate figure for the fans. Kyle Eastmond was mercilessly dealt with for not taking on the line, yet he did it far more than Luke Walsh will.

Hopefully the move to SL and a move open (Lower standard) league will give him the confidence to really kick on and dominate games. If he's as good as Dobson or Dureau then it'll be great. But this could go the other way very easily, particularly if the club doesn't continue to strengthen. If you put Walsh behind a pack with the likes of LMS, Thompson and Laffranchi as starting props next season, he'll be slaughtered and we'll be no better off. The club HAS to get rid of the dead wood, especially in the pack. Any new deals for the likes of Wellens, Laffranchi, Perry or Flanagan simply cannot be allowed to happen, or there is no point signing a half back.

Realistically the above isn't going to happen. We'll hand new deals to Gardner, Wellens and Laffranchi and we'll be a mid table struggler again next year.

As I say, he is a natural half-back who so capable of performing there, and is without doubt an improvement on what we have at the club. That makes him a decent signing in my book, and unlike Hohaia, his kicking game is a major strength, and is one that will be important for us going forward.

As for Eastmond, it was only in his final season where he was critised for that part of his game. Best thing about Eastmknd was his ability to take on the line, and his ability to run out tired forwards up the middle and cause problems. For whatever reason, he failed to do that in his final season, but that's was his main strength really, and why he was considered to be as good as he was. You could argue that it was his distributional and organisational side of his game that was the worry. What we need is a 7 capable of controlling a game, and we have that in Walsh. Again, an improvement on what we have.

Like you say, we need to sort the pack out before next season. Without a decent set of props laying the platform, it's tough for any scrum-half, and I think that could turn out to be Walsh's main problem. If we sign a couple of props, then we'll be alright, but if we don't, Walsh will struggle, and will ultimately end up taking the same amount of stick that people give Hohaia. With a good pack in front of him, he will do well, and as I say, I think he is a good signing for us going forward. And a much needed one.

Re: Saints sign Luke Walsh : Wed May 29, 2013 1:27 pm  

Offside Monkey wrote:

:?

Walshy has had games where he hasn't been tackled once, despite playing for 80 minutes at scrum half. If you read the criticism of him this season (And there is plenty) it's focused around his inability to take on the line and commit the defense and his complete lack of a running game. I remember someone quoting a stat that at the start of 2011 he had been tackled twice in 8 games. With no quality at all in the 6 shirt next to him and such a weak pack meaning he won't be spending the game putting grubbers and cross field kicks in, it's highly likely that this will be an issue at Saints next season.

Talking of confidence, it really does worry me what will happen if we're not in decent shape in the pack next season. He seems to be very much a confidence player, awesome when he's feeling good and anonymous when he's not.

Greg Alexander wrote:

Walshie has it in him, he just doesn't know how good he can be. That's what I think he struggles with; he doesn't believe in himself enough. If he did, we could have a really, really good halfback on our hands because he's got a smart footy brain and a great boot. But he's been around first grade for six or seven years now and you just keep waiting for guys to show potential.

Re: Saints sign Luke Walsh : Wed May 29, 2013 2:02 pm  

Saddened! wrote:

snip

It was the comment about eastmond not running with it that confused me.

You're right, we need a 6 who can perform (who is our 6 at the moment?) and run at defences. We also need a pack that can lay a platform. If we trade in Laffranchi and Perry for a couple of decent starting prop, then we should look alright on that front.


However, what if Walsh gets injured? What if Roby gets injured again?