Webbo wrote:
Going back a fair few years before that, we sent scouts to watch a young winger at Preston Grasshoppers, a right flyer.
Reports came back that he'd had a decent all round game, and rumours were that wi*an were also dead keen on him. We signed him up straight away, full of delight about getting one over on the Pies, unaware that for the match we'd seen, Dave Tanner had replaced the injured Mark Preston.
Preston went on to have a great few years at wi*an, scoring shedloads of tries. Dave Tanner forged an unspectacular career at Saints as a mediocre utility player.
Tanner was unspectacular - but he was not mediocre. Tanner's problem was pace - or lack thereof. Which presents certain challenges when you're occupying a wing berth in a post-Offiah era where clubs are falling over themselves to acquire the (often dubious) talents of RU speedsters.
It's difficult to accurately express the sense of utter hopelessness one felt scanning the teamsheet at martial bearpits such as Craven Park or Thrum Hall, where you knew Saints needed plenty of quick points on the board in order to demoralise the local pack of mountain trolls, only to discover your right centre/wing combo is Mark this-ball-is-mine-and-I'll-be-damned-before-I-pass-it-to-anyone Bailey and David Tanner.
That said, Murphy loved Tanner - and not without some justification. He was reliable and made very, very few mistakes (handling, positional play etc). He was an outstanding tackler. Indeed, outside of Gary Connolly and Scott Gibbs I don't think I've seen a better defensive back in a Saints shirt (he absolutely pole-axed Karl Harrison and left him on a stretcher with nothing more than an orthodox front-on tackle). He offered a lot of utility and in an injury crisis could occupy (albeit slooowly) any spot from one to six. Finally, he could kick goals.
Look, by no stretch of the imagination was Tanner a runaway success. But when you take into account the number of games he played, his versatility and the paltry sums it took to sign and retain him I'd argue he was pretty good value for money.
