Saints first choice next year

Re: Saints first choice next year : Fri Sep 27, 2013 10:30 am

Saddened! wrote:

I'm sure they do. But how much of an input do they get exactly? Brown clearly spotted that Wellens was a terrible modern fullback that was holding us back massively, so he moved him. Is Wellens' new deal what Brown wants? I doubt it is, I highly doubt he gets a say in it. Mike Rush is probably behind decisions like that.

I'm sure he does. The fact that we've gone from the best side in Super League to being a mid table side outside of a realistic chance of winning trophies under his control suggests that, as I've been suggesting for a few years, the rugby side of things has been consistently secondary to the stadium and the financial stability of the club. Which is fine, as a fan I totally support that. If he came out and said we're holding back to build the stadium and avoid insolvency I'd totally support that and shut up about the lack of a quality outcome on the field. But then McManus contradicts that by claiming the club is spending the full salary cap (Which if true, removes any excuses for us being trophyless for so long) and his annual insistence that the squad is good enough to win Super League, which it clearly isn't. The recruitment and retention decisions over the past 5/6 years have also been awful. If directly constricted by the stadium and finances, again fine, but it isn't what they claim. The club isn't therefore immune from criticism, as mistakes have been made, consistently, for a long time now.

I'm sure there is a constant talk between the three over the squad and its evolution over the years - sometimes one might not agree with the other 2 but its better to have a group decide than one person! As bareshadows said its about balancing his team input (and already knowing the come back is you saying he has no team input - everyone does and it was summed up perfectly above) - I remember reading a while back about them having difficulties with Wellos contract as part off it is off cap due to him being here over 10+ years - so I don't know the specifics but sounds like his contract is changing to reflect his more modest role in the team - perfectly fine (and probably with the gentlemens agreement to recompensate him for it when he does move back room

Eamonn didn't build the stadium to save us from insolvency though - he propped up the club with never a complaint about it - he built the stadium so he didn't have to spend 1mill - 2mill a year - which is fair enough - but between the effective cap shrinking, and a few big name mistakes - it's no surprise were on the cap - and, if spending the cap is the only thing required to be successful explain London because they're spending the cap and more! So are the hull teams and Catalans (again and more as they agreed a favourable conversion rate for the euro) and probably most clubs in the top 10!

Some costly mistakes have been made, yes, but who would of thought an Aussie test prop would turn out like perry? Spouting that the club haven't been trying to win trophies because a mistake like that is just trying to be negative