Re: Manly game with Wane and Hampson : Tue Mar 01, 2022 3:26 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

I’m wondering if Woolf will in-prison his overseas players again when they pick the All Stars team?

Good to see you've moved on from this

Re: Manly game with Wane and Hampson : Tue Mar 01, 2022 3:33 pm  

Stu M wrote:

Good to see you've moved on from this

I’m sure Saints fans would love everyone to move on. We’ll see how we go this year with that All Stars team (and who actually turns out for England) and then maybe we can.

I’m being reasonable in saying Paasi and Matautia as an absolute minimum would be selected on merit, so let’s wait and see.

Re: Manly game with Wane and Hampson : Tue Mar 01, 2022 4:26 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

I’m sure Saints fans would love everyone to move on. We’ll see how we go this year with that All Stars team (and who actually turns out for England) and then maybe we can.

I’m being reasonable in saying Paasi and Matautia as an absolute minimum would be selected on merit, so let’s wait and see.

I can't speak for the situation with the All Stars other than yes I was surprised that we had no representatives. However from an England point of view, if I recall there was only Lomax that was sent home injured. He wanted to continue in camp but Wane said it wasn't worth the risk and sent him home.

I agree, lets see what happens before Woolf is hung, drawn and quartered.

Re: Manly game with Wane and Hampson : Tue Mar 01, 2022 4:52 pm  

Stu M wrote:

I can't speak for the situation with the All Stars other than yes I was surprised that we had no representatives. However from an England point of view, if I recall there was only Lomax that was sent home injured. He wanted to continue in camp but Wane said it wasn't worth the risk and sent him home.

I agree, lets see what happens before Woolf is hung, drawn and quartered.

Walmsley didn’t play either. Tough to say how bad these injuries were as you had a lot of time off due to other sides Covid issues after that.

The All Stars thing was pretty poor IMO but it’s been and gone. The game this June is on a free weekend I believe, so there’s no excuses at all for at least those two lads I mention playing for the All Stars and you’d have to think guys like Grace, Hurrell, Hopoate and Lussick are a shot as well. I can’t say I’m hugely confident because there (hopefully) won’t be many Covid rests this year and that may be seen as a chance for a recharging of the batteries by Woolf.

It’s funny that you said maybe Wane should’ve given the England job up when he took his Wigan role, well given Woolf has an active interest in trying to beat England to a World Cup, maybe the real question should’ve been if Woolf having those two roles is a conflict of interests? It’s certainly more of one than Wane having a background role at a superleague team, in an English competition.

Re: Manly game with Wane and Hampson : Tue Mar 01, 2022 5:27 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

Walmsley didn’t play either. Tough to say how bad these injuries were as you had a lot of time off due to other sides Covid issues after that.

The All Stars thing was pretty poor IMO but it’s been and gone. The game this June is on a free weekend I believe, so there’s no excuses at all for at least those two lads I mention playing for the All Stars and you’d have to think guys like Grace, Hurrell, Hopoate and Lussick are a shot as well. I can’t say I’m hugely confident because there (hopefully) won’t be many Covid rests this year and that may be seen as a chance for a recharging of the batteries by Woolf.

It’s funny that you said maybe Wane should’ve given the England job up when he took his Wigan role, well given Woolf has an active interest in trying to beat England to a World Cup, maybe the real question should’ve been if Woolf having those two roles is a conflict of interests? It’s certainly more of one than Wane having a background role at a superleague team, in an English competition.

Fair. You make some good points, Woolf could be classed as having a conflict of interest I agree. I'd rather him not coach Tonga and fully concentrate on Saints however to be fair to him he's not jetting off back there for mid-season camps or games so they will only play after our season finishes. I can see there being a max limit from each team though especially with the All Stars.

The only part of your post that I disagree with is you saying Wane has a background role. I don't for one minute think that such an experienced coach isn't having a big impact on a rookie coach and two rookie assistants.

Re: Manly game with Wane and Hampson : Tue Mar 01, 2022 5:39 pm  

Stu M wrote:

Fair. You make some good points, Woolf could be classed as having a conflict of interest I agree. I'd rather him not coach Tonga and fully concentrate on Saints however to be fair to him he's not jetting off back there for mid-season camps or games so they will only play after our season finishes. I can see there being a max limit from each team though especially with the All Stars.

The only part of your post that I disagree with is you saying Wane has a background role. I don't for one minute think that such an experienced coach isn't having a big impact on a rookie coach and two rookie assistants.

If it’s a free weekend it should be no limits and the best of the best get picked. That is what it needs to be to ensure it’s as good a warm up game for England as possible. If that means 10-12 Saints lads turning out, then so be it and we could have 8 or 9 as well including All Stars players.

I’m sure Waney does have a role to play in mentoring those young coaches and maybe in recruitment decisions and the like but it’s certainly not front and centre. A conflict of interest would actually be if he named no Wigan players and rested them and named umpteen players in his England 17 from the club Wigan player next after that All Stars fixture (difficult mind as it’s Toulouse but still )

One sure sign that Wane is keeping the roles absolutely separate is him picking Pearce-Paul in this training squad. I bet Lenagan has thanked him for putting a few extra quid on his next contract negotiation.

Re: Manly game with Wane and Hampson : Tue Mar 01, 2022 8:29 pm  

Stu M wrote:

Typical Wane, picking loads of Saints players trying to tire us out and de-rail our season

He's only picked them so that they will want a contract increase and thus hit Saints salary cap.