Re: We need some halfbacks! : Tue Apr 09, 2013 1:10 pm  

bewareshadows wrote:

Martyn to Hooper was a downgrade
Hooper to Pryce was a downgrade
Pryce to Lance was a downgrade

Did Hooper and Pryce not play in the same team? I seem to remember Hooper getting number 16 and playing in the back row/loose forward.

Re: We need some halfbacks! : Tue Apr 09, 2013 1:10 pm  

bewareshadows wrote:

Snip

Overall I think that's pretty fair, although Pryce was by far a better stand off than Hooper, who was an excellent loose forward. It's worth noting also that Long was pretty poor in his last couple of seasons at Saints, once Scully was out of the picture he was left with all of the organisational responsibility.

Re: We need some halfbacks! : Tue Apr 09, 2013 1:22 pm  

I heard Smith was offered a deal at saints at the start of this season, he was all for signing it and then Wigan offered £12k more a year. Saints refused to match it and the rest is history. I'm not sure Smith is the answer and long term, I think we as a club need a better organiser, but most fans would give their right arm for any recognised 7 given the current situation.

Re: We need some halfbacks! : Tue Apr 09, 2013 1:25 pm  

The Chief wrote:

I heard Smith was offered a deal at saints at the start of this season, he was all for signing it and then Wigan offered £12k more a year. Saints refused to match it and the rest is history. I'm not sure Smith is the answer and long term, I think we as a club need a better organiser, but most fans would give their right arm for any recognised 7 given the current situation.

It amazes me that a lot of our fans continue to underestimate Matty Smith

Re: We need some halfbacks! : Tue Apr 09, 2013 1:26 pm  

St. Rughead wrote:

Did Hooper and Pryce not play in the same team? I seem to remember Hooper getting number 16 and playing in the back row/loose forward.

It gets a bit Muddy with Hooper.

I think the plan was Scully to 6, but with Scully's injuries (from memory) Hooper ended up doing quite a few turns at halfback. There was also the odd guest appearance from Lyon at half.

But if you take it as a trio

Long, Martyn, Scully
Long, Scully, Hooper
Long, Pryce, Hooper (scully doing guest apperances)
Long, Pryce, Flannery (At this point I think we can say the 3rd pivot was lost from Saints and we proceeded with only 2, although I'd argue Pryce was more a 13 than a 6, but that's by the by. Flannery was not a pivot)

Long + Pryce alone was not enough for the GF.

Then it all gets messy with injuries again but we get several combo's

Long Pryce
Long Smith
Smith Pryce
Eastmond Pryce
Eastmond Lomax
Lomax + random
Wilkin Wellens

Re: We need some halfbacks! : Tue Apr 09, 2013 1:30 pm  

Saint Simon wrote:

It amazes me that a lot of our fans continue to underestimate Matty Smith

It's the curse of seeing great players. Next to them everyone else looks distinctly average. But Smith would have given us 3 years of organisation and Eastmond could have run his pony show next to him. Then Lomax could have played off him. It may not have been in the same class as Leeds, but we would certainly have been more effective against the top 2.

Re: We need some halfbacks! : Tue Apr 09, 2013 1:48 pm  

bewareshadows wrote:

It gets a bit Muddy with Hooper.

I think the plan was Scully to 6, but with Scully's injuries (from memory) Hooper ended up doing quite a few turns at halfback. There was also the odd guest appearance from Lyon at half.

But if you take it as a trio

Long, Martyn, Scully
Long, Scully, Hooper
Long, Pryce, Hooper (scully doing guest apperances)
Long, Pryce, Flannery (At this point I think we can say the 3rd pivot was lost from Saints and we proceeded with only 2, although I'd argue Pryce was more a 13 than a 6, but that's by the by. Flannery was not a pivot)

Long + Pryce alone was not enough for the GF.

Then it all gets messy with injuries again but we get several combo's

Long Pryce
Long Smith
Smith Pryce
Eastmond Pryce
Eastmond Lomax
Lomax + random
Wilkin Wellens

Looking at what we have, can't we get that Random person back, it would be an improvement

Re: We need some halfbacks! : Tue Apr 09, 2013 4:05 pm  

Saint Simon wrote:

It amazes me that a lot of our fans continue to underestimate Matty Smith

I think you are missing the point. Underestimating him would be saying that he's not SL standard, which Im not.

Would I prefer to have Smith than Wilkin, Hohaia or Wello at 7, absolutely. Do I think Smith is a better organiser than Dobson, No. Do I think he has a better running or kicking game than Danny Brough, definately not. He would come in and do a job for us, but he isn't my long term preferred choice. It's clear that Saints don't think he is either.

Re: We need some halfbacks! : Tue Apr 09, 2013 7:42 pm  

The Chief wrote:

I think you are missing the point. Underestimating him would be saying that he's not SL standard, which Im not.

Would I prefer to have Smith than Wilkin, Hohaia or Wello at 7, absolutely. Do I think Smith is a better organiser than Dobson, No. Do I think he has a better running or kicking game than Danny Brough, definately not. He would come in and do a job for us, but he isn't my long term preferred choice. It's clear that Saints don't think he is either.

The goons think differently.

Re: We need some halfbacks! : Tue Apr 09, 2013 8:03 pm  

im surprised smith is getting some credit here, as when wigan signed him alot of people thought it was hilarious. not a dig, just curious.