49er wrote:
Saints likely to be after Brodie Croft if Dodd ends up in Australia although McManus would hate to pay a fee.
Fortunately for Eamon, Mike Coleman would cover any transfer fees/ marquee salaries these days so it won't concern him. The last one he paid was either Fages or Amor (I can't remember which came first) so not totally opposed to it, though he is paying for solar panels at the ground at the moment, which tends to distract the club (who could forget cladding-gate)
Anyway since its being spoken about, Saints are expecting Hopoate, Roby, LMS, Mata'utia, Royle, Norman, Hill and Baxter to leave the club this year. Of those Roby and LMS are retiring, Mata'utia is returning to Australia (though apparently this is in doubt due to his concussion issues and may end up staying) and Norman is potentially going to be stepping away from the game, as hes making more money on his PT business. Royle, Hill and Baxter are all youngsters, and I hope for your sake its not Hopoate. There is obviously the Dodd situation which may change things, but I believe the club is intent on digging their heels in.
On the incoming front, there's obviously Clark coming in to replace Roby, a prop (rumoured to be Thompson, but hes also linked with Wigan etc - but would be "cheap" from a salary cap perspective as hes home grown), and an outside back (rumoured to be Keighran at Catalans ... though thats from someones milkman so take that how you like it). If Mata'utia does go we are likely to go for another outside back, and theres likely a few backup/ development signings as well, but no huge amounts of major changes incoming.