Re: Next Year's Squad! : Thu Jul 14, 2011 7:23 pm  

wigan_knight wrote:

I mean if you signed a out and out full back for next season..would saints allow him to leave if say for example widnes offered him a 2-3 year deal.

I would without a doubt.

Re: Next Year's Squad! : Thu Jul 14, 2011 8:07 pm  

St pete wrote:

I'd have him at saints. The fact we've only got one centre in shenton on the books at saints is utter shocking!

We've had lomax, meli, flannery, wheeler, Dean, sia all play there over last two years. Why not sign a centre? Every club in rugby leave has at least two!

I think we are ok with centres at the moment. We are certainly comparable with any other SL club. You have to accept that the only way we will get a player of Jamie Lyons quality is if we bring them through the junior ranks at Saints. No top class aussie centre is going to come to Britain.

For me Meli has been a revelation there, he is a real danger man in that position. You only have to look at all the trys Foster is scoring to see the impact Meli is having.

Shenton has been on the whole a defensive workhorse, however offensively he has been pretty average. His stats attack wise are nothing like as good as Meli's.

For me the main weakness for Saints next year is in the front row. With no Jammer, we needed to sign two props to replace him. 6 players able to play down the middle is a must. At present we will have 5 players if we say LMS, Lafranchi, Puletua, Clough and Perry are the middle of the field guys. Which means we need to sign one more as a minimum. Otherwise if we get any injuries to the pack, then we will be having to go 80 mins with a lightweight pack that will get steamrollered once the first interchanges occur.

Re: Next Year's Squad! : Thu Jul 14, 2011 8:31 pm  

The centre is a problem position for us. We've got shenton who's ok in defence but not great in a attack and then we've got meli who's a winger and is a liability in defence against good sides like in the grand final against Wigan and the game against Warrington when they took him apart.

I've never seen or heard of a club in all my life that only has one centre. It's no wonder the likes of warrington and Wigan try and hit us out wide.

The prop is another problem for us next year, weve got TP, perry and lms who are specialist props and clough and laffranchi who are backrows by trade. Perry looks to be injury prone which mess us up even more. The fact that perry, TP and laffranchi are knocking on a little is also slight worry as these 3 will be our props for the next two seasons!

We also need a ball playing halfback with good leadership skills to direct us round the field and IMO lance and lomax won't work.

Re: Next Year's Squad! : Thu Jul 14, 2011 10:09 pm  

The centre position is a problem for English/British Superleague. You know my thoughts on signing players in their thirties, but I'm delighted that Wigan have signed 33 year old George Carmont for a further year.

You thought you had one in Tyrer, we thought we had one in Goulding / Marsh but it hasn't worked out for whatever reason. From my contacts inside Wigan I know we are looking everywhere for a top class centre (as I guess every club is) but they are as rare as rocking horse poo.

Re: Next Year's Squad! : Thu Jul 14, 2011 10:27 pm  

St pete wrote:

It's pretty obvious wello will be starting fullback and captain next year going in to our new stadium.

If pryce goes then we will have lomax and lance in the halves which IMO isn't good enough. None are ball playing halves that can control a game and direct us around the pitch.

Why can't we offer pryce a good enough deal to stay? He's so important to the way saints play and will be a massive loss.

Our recruitment just don't make sense and I'll stick by my prediction for 2012, we will not make top 5 and will battle it out for 6th, 7th or 8th.

Can't see why having a team with Lance next year will cause us to end lower than a team with just Lomax and Gaskell this year. Makes no sense, people ask for more experience halfbacks we get one and then people say we will finish lower next year because of it.

Leon leaving will have as much impact next year as leon being injured this year. Whether injured or not playing he can't effect the league positions. For me next year we are stronger in the halves than this year. 2 backs with a years extra experience and a seasoned international. This is a vast improvement on a year with 2 rookies running the show for the entire season.

Re: Next Year's Squad! : Thu Jul 14, 2011 10:34 pm  

bewareshadows wrote:

Can't see why having a team with Lance next year will cause us to end lower than a team with just Lomax and Gaskell this year. Makes no sense, people ask for more experience halfbacks we get one and then people say we will finish lower next year because of it.

Leon leaving will have as much impact next year as leon being injured this year. Whether injured or not playing he can't effect the league positions. For me next year we are stronger in the halves than this year. 2 backs with a years extra experience and a seasoned international. This is a vast improvement on a year with 2 rookies running the show for the entire season.

Exactly what we thought in 2004.

Re: Next Year's Squad! : Fri Jul 15, 2011 4:32 am  

bewareshadows wrote:

Can't see why having a team with Lance next year will cause us to end lower than a team with just Lomax and Gaskell this year. Makes no sense, people ask for more experience halfbacks we get one and then people say we will finish lower next year because of it.

Leon leaving will have as much impact next year as leon being injured this year. Whether injured or not playing he can't effect the league positions. For me next year we are stronger in the halves than this year. 2 backs with a years extra experience and a seasoned international. This is a vast improvement on a year with 2 rookies running the show for the entire season.

I never said we will be weaker having lance in the side, I said I don't think lomax and lance will work as a combination. None have the ability to direct us around the field and control a game and none have a long kicking game.

When you say we've signed a experienced halfback, do you mean we've signed a experienced fullback that will be playing n the halves?

We've done well with lomax and Gaskell but we've still yet to beat a top side and have struggled big time in many other games which IMO with good halves may have won. I'm not having dig at the young halves as they are young and done a terrific job but without a proper ball playing had I don't expect to win anything.

I think the forward pack this year has carried us thru the injurie situation and helped the young halves. The likes of jammer, roby, TP, sia and especially wilkin have took pressure of the halves. Next year we will have a weaker pack with the loss of jammer.

Re: Next Year's Squad! : Fri Jul 15, 2011 7:47 am  

St pete wrote:

I've never seen or heard of a club in all my life that only has one centre. It's no wonder the likes of warrington and Wigan try and hit us out wide.

Wheeler is our first choice centre, he's just injured.

Wheeler and Meli are better centres than most in SL. Soliola has also played there at the highest level. Then we have Shenton.

We clearly have more than one centre at the club.

Re: Next Year's Squad! : Fri Jul 15, 2011 8:06 am  

SaintsFan wrote:

H But while his form over the three weeks between injuries was terrible, he was playing great at one point during the season.

Agreed. I think he scored a few whilst we were struggling to perform early on, but I was critical of his handling ability in that 2nd pivot position. However, he seeemed to settle into it whe we started to hit some form. The last month though, he looks shot to bits.

People like to forget that because they want a Billy Slater at 1 instead, even if it means putting up with a defensive liability (as I'm sure Eastmond will prove to be agains the Dragons, for example).

Bah! The full back should be able to take a Puig Albert stance on defending - If a player manages to break the line, its not his fault, why should he have to interupt his ciggerette break to tackle him?

If we have someone who is defensively sound AND a pacey, creative attacking player then we will know that we have the best replacement for Wello.

This may point toward Lomax being full back long term. Let's face it, talented as he is, Eastmond isn't a patch on Lomax when it comes to bravery on the pitch.

Re: Next Year's Squad! : Fri Jul 15, 2011 8:53 am  

FearTheVee wrote:

Wheeler is our first choice centre, he's just injured.

Wheeler and Meli are better centres than most in SL. Soliola has also played there at the highest level. Then we have Shenton.

We clearly have more than one centre at the club.

I'm talking a out and out specialist centre, not a 21yr old who's played stand off all his life ( wheeler), not a 32yr old defensive liability that's played wing his whole career ( meli) and not a guy whos been struck by serious knee injures who played the last 4 years as a backrow because he lost what little pace he already had ( sia).

All the above have covered the centre well but none are specialist centres.