Newlove and other ex players : Tue Jun 12, 2012 7:27 am  

bewareshadows wrote:

Saints are you kidding me ability!. Manu is AWESOME, we have no backrowers in the academy who can do what he does, in fact there are very few back rowers in the whole of SL who can do what he does. That is why Hull FC wanted him, Leeds wanted him and we wanted him.

I love having local players but I want them to take that spot on merit.

I can't understand why you would argue against signing such a good player. When we signed Newlove, we had to let 3 local lads go, plus a ton of cash for that little gem. We already had a good local centre who could kick goals, but he was replaced with a non-kicking awesome centre.

Flannery has retired and Dixon will have to go to make room for Manu but the 2 combined do not offer what Manu does on his own, seriously combine their stats and see if it works out better. Just watching Manu you can see he is a creative force for Hull.

I did not even think it would be possible to shift him from Hull as he is that good.

It's a very good signing the only risk at all is injury from age and that is not a thing you can calculate, look at Eastmond, Wheeler, both young lads with an injury record in their first few years that Manu would struggle to hit over the whole of his career. I think someone posted he has missed 3 games in 3 years. On a 2 year contract it's low risk high reward signing. (bearing in mind the salary cap).

I think that is a very unfair comment. Paul Loughlin was every bit as good a centre as Paul Newlove. They had slightly differing styles but were equal in terms of talent. the only reason Lockers left in the deal was that Newy was Early 20's and Lockers was very late 20's

Re: Willie Manu : Tue Jun 12, 2012 9:06 am  

Top Saint wrote:

I think that is a very unfair comment. Paul Loughlin was every bit as good a centre as Paul Newlove. They had slightly differing styles but were equal in terms of talent. the only reason Lockers left in the deal was that Newy was Early 20's and Lockers was very late 20's

I was a massive lockers fan and he was the perfect wingers centre but in terms of pure talent he doesn't come close to newlove imo

Re: Willie Manu : Tue Jun 12, 2012 9:19 am  

St pete wrote:

I was a massive lockers fan and he was the perfect wingers centre but in terms of pure talent he doesn't come close to newlove imo

Pretty much agree.

Loughlin like many local St.Helens lads was vastly under appreciated by the Saints fan base.
Infact as a teenager i remember being sucked into the general fan mood that he wasnt that good a pleyer .
Its only when i revisited match videos from the late 1980's and early 1990's when i was older and wiser in understanding RL that i got a full appreciation of his ability and value to the team.

He is one of the few genuine world class centres Britain has produced in the last 30 years.

Re: Willie Manu : Tue Jun 12, 2012 9:24 am  

St pete wrote:

What's she on about?

SaintsFan is this board's Washington Generals at the end of the day. She's there just to prat about and look preposterous and stupid and give the rest of us something to laugh at and argue against. Boards need people like her to provide comedy value and avoid getting dull. Bless her.

Re: Willie Manu : Tue Jun 12, 2012 9:29 am  

bewareshadows wrote:

I'm now considering Saints Fan to be a well hidden Troll, is this some kind of retribution from a long standing and very patient Wigan fan after the Agent Millward incident???

Not just well hidden, but her many accounts have set up Sleeper numpty trolls all over the trolls. Ban one of them and another 10 spring up to take it's place. be very afraid...

Re: Willie Manu : Tue Jun 12, 2012 9:34 am  

The Chair Maker wrote:

Pretty much agree.

Loughlin like many local St.Helens lads was vastly under appreciated by the Saints fan base.
Infact as a teenager i remember being sucked into the general fan mood that he wasnt that good a pleyer .
Its only when i revisited match videos from the late 1980's and early 1990's when i was older and wiser in understanding RL that i got a full appreciation of his ability and value to the team.

He is one of the few genuine world class centres Britain has produced in the last 30 years.

Dobbin was great in his prime, one of a handful of players we had at the time who Wigan lusted after, but the injuries had knackered him good and proper by the time we got Newlove (and he wasn't kicking goals any more by then either). But Newlove was ultimately on a different plane - he cost us big but was well worth it.

Re: Willie Manu : Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:35 am  

St pete wrote:

I was a massive lockers fan and he was the perfect wingers centre but in terms of pure talent he doesn't come close to newlove imo

I think you have hit the nail on the head. Lockers was a centre in the true definition of the position. He made breaks and put his wingers in for plenty of tries. Newlove wasn't a centre by the true definition in ther way Lockers was, But he had the X-Factor and made breaks for fun. They both had some pretty good wingers outside them as well.

Re: Willie Manu : Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:47 am  

Northampton_Saint wrote:

Dobbin was great in his prime, one of a handful of players we had at the time who Wigan lusted after, but the injuries had knackered him good and proper by the time we got Newlove (and he wasn't kicking goals any more by then either). But Newlove was ultimately on a different plane - he cost us big but was well worth it.

I beleive that Lockers was the best centre in GB at one point, but I started watching around '93 when his form had become sketchy to say the least. He had a bit of a revival before he left, but nothing to ever rival what newlove had.

Re: Willie Manu : Tue Jun 12, 2012 11:28 am  

Top Saint wrote:

Paul Loughlin was every bit as good a centre as Paul Newlove.

From what I remember, we got Newlove, Bradford got Loughlin, Nickle and Dwyer plus £250k. And we got the best end of the deal, which just about sums up the difference between Newlove and Loughlin.

Re: Willie Manu : Tue Jun 12, 2012 11:43 am  

I would never bag Lockers as he was one of our best players in a barren time and a great centre, but Newlove was a different class.