Re: Au reviour Leon - Where do we go from here? : Tue Aug 23, 2011 11:19 pm  

St pete wrote:

He'll never be a patch on Sam Tomkins and he's not ready to be our first choice scrumhalf with a inexperienced stand off in hohaia.

Isn't that my point

Re: Au reviour Leon - Where do we go from here? : Tue Aug 23, 2011 11:25 pm  

saint at wire wrote:

He can't get into his club starting 13 though and has had poor reviews.

He has made 16 appearances this year, granted mainly from the bench, however he has still started 7 of those 16 appearances. From the looks of it the warriors are essentially doing what we have done with Pryce, in that they are getting rid of an older player to allow young players to develop. Only difference is that in the NRL they think 28 is past it, while in the UK its more like 31.

He is rated a far better player than Dureau, Dobson, or Chase who were considered not good enough for the NRL. Hence why they ended up playing in the UK.

People therefore need to get things in perspective.

Re: Au reviour Leon - Where do we go from here? : Tue Aug 23, 2011 11:45 pm  

Still trying to accept the news!! pryce will be a massive loss but i still feel we do have players with enough quality to carry us on for the next few years!

Re: Au reviour Leon - Where do we go from here? : Wed Aug 24, 2011 7:36 am  

People criticise Wellens at full back for not being creative enough, stating that the role of full back is that of a "3rd Half Back", but then find it unacceptable that an international fullback wants to play in the halves.

Re: Au reviour Leon - Where do we go from here? : Wed Aug 24, 2011 9:46 am  

saint at wire wrote:

He can't get into his club starting 13 though and has had poor reviews.

Rangi Chase couldn't get a game in the NRL either and look at how good he's doing, same with clint greenshields, understudy at the dragons to probs the best fb in superleague. Why don't people wait to see the guy play a few games first before passing judgement. Also lets not forget that leon pryce was a winger/centre/fullback when he signed for saints.

Re: Au reviour Leon - Where do we go from here? : Wed Aug 24, 2011 9:59 am  

A lot will depend on injuries, as with a full strength squad I can't see us struggling at all. Whilst losing Graham is the biggest blow, I don't think it will be catastrophic if we can keep all of our props fit. If Wheeler could manage to stay fit, that would also make a huge difference in our attacking ability and pace.

A fully fit side such as this

Lomax
Makinson
Shenton
Meli
Foster
Wheeler
Hohaia
Puletua
Roby
Perry
Soliola
Flanaghan
Wilkin

LMS
Laffranchi
Flannery
Clough

With options such as Gaskell, Wellens, Magennis, Ashurst, Dixon, Ashe, Moore and Gardner (if the last 2 are still around) makes us one of the strongest teams in the league. Again, the biggest factors will be injuries and how far the young players develop.

Re: Au reviour Leon - Where do we go from here? : Wed Aug 24, 2011 10:10 am  

Smurf wrote:

Stuff

It's all well and good picking sides that we think look dangerous but will the club REALLY move Wellens from fullback? I'm not at all convinced they will as despite his horrific performances over the last year they haven't shown any signs of moving or dropping him.

It will be 1 - Wellens, 6 Lomax and 7 Lance no doubt.

Re: Au reviour Leon - Where do we go from here? : Wed Aug 24, 2011 10:20 am  

Saddened! wrote:

It's all well and good picking sides that we think look dangerous but will the club REALLY move Wellens from fullback? I'm not at all convinced they will as despite his horrific performances over the last year they haven't shown any signs of moving or dropping him.

It will be 1 - Wellens, 6 Lomax and 7 Lance no doubt.

I have heard that Wellens himself wants to move into the pack after an off season of training with the forwards, that could be nonsense but it is what I have been told. Whether that works for him or not remains to be seen, but he has a much larger frame than Scott Moore and he hasn't struggled physically since beefing up.

But even if he was picked at full-back every week, I was just using an example of the options we have, not the squad that will be picked. I believe that it is one of the best squads in the league.

Re: Au reviour Leon - Where do we go from here? : Wed Aug 24, 2011 12:18 pm  

The Chair Maker wrote:

On the subject of Lafranchi who some people are commenting on as being a backrower to replace Jammer.

I would bare in mind that Frank has actually played 30 games at prop in the NRL so isnt inexperienced in the role. Granted he plays mostly in the backrow and can be pretty devastating as a backrower for example in 2008 he scored 12 trys in 20 appearances playing in the NRL, which is phenomenal.

David Fairleigh the best Saints prop since Ward played mainly in the back row down under, he managed around 27 appearances at prop in his NRL career, which in length and quality is similar to that of Lafranchi's.

If Frank can give the same impact as Fairleigh then we will do ok.

On a similar note, the likes of Andy Platt, Jamie Peacock and Adrian Morley were all props converted from the backrow. I'm not too worried about our front row punch, particularly if we can keep Perry fit.

Re: Au reviour Leon - Where do we go from here? : Wed Aug 24, 2011 12:37 pm  

Cragganmore Kid wrote:

On a similar note, the likes of Andy Platt, Jamie Peacock and Adrian Morley were all props converted from the backrow. I'm not too worried about our front row punch, particularly if we can keep Perry fit.

At the moment we have:

LMS
Perry
Puletua
Laffranchi
Clough

When you list it like that it's enough. But I'd still like to see another added to that list for squad depth. With Saints over the last couple of years we've had probably 2 injured on a consistent basis. We've coped purely because Jammer is a machine and we've often won games with only two genuine props in the 17. That won't happen post Jammer as no one in the squad can even approach his level of work.

Main focus HAS to be signing/introducing a fullback and a prop/big forward.