Mugwump wrote:
Blaming Royce for the half-back situation is nonsensical. McManus shares as much or more of the blame for allowing the Eastmond saga to drag into the start of last season - giving us no chance to recruit a good half.
Had McManus given Eastmond an unequivocal deadline "sign or leave" half way through the season before we could have attracted a good playmaker.
McManus didn't. Instead he thought he'd lucked out with Lomax showing good form immediately after the Eastmond transfer. Unfortunately McManus made the fundamental error of mistaking temporary form for inherent class.
Hang on. At the start of last season, we had Eastmond (the most exciting halfback to emerge in British RL in some time)& Pryce (hugely experienced & a proven top class performer for Saints, able to guide KE through) as first choice halfbacks. Eastmond was halfway through a 2 year deal and many expected him to leave at the end of it. Very few expected him to effectively give up playing RL with the season still in front of him.
How do you know that McManus hadn't given him that ultimatum the season before and had his bluff called? Which chairman would have turned down the chance to keep him for the second season of a 2 year deal (with maybe the chance of getting him on another deal at the end of it) in favour of taking the moral highground and demanding he sign an extensuion or sod off?
During last season, it was obvious Pryce was also going to leave - and we signed Hohaia to play halfback (or the PR was complete guff). OK, Hohaia hadn't played halfback fulltime - but he had experience there and it was (is) his favourite position.
It's still early days, but I think Hohaia is a good buy and has shown he can be a top class halfback in SL (Leeds, Wire - remember he was the only HB on the field for most of today's game and was expertly targetted and nullified by wi*an)
In all, I can't see - without the benefit of hindsight - what McManus could have done differently in the circumstances, apart from maybe sign a different experienced halfback (which we don't know were available, especially for the salary we'd be able to offer, especially-especially given the exchange rate at the moment)
