Saint Toppy

Of course they are, its the pussies in the NRL

Really !! So its too unsafe for a team to come over and form a 'bubble', living together, training together etc. for a short period of 4 week, but its suddenly safe to come over to the UK to live, bringing your family (who's kids wont be vaccinated). I'm sorry but thats utter guff. Didn't see the Pakistan cricket team whinging at old traford this week about playing a test match here in NW England. As I said previously, show some balls RFL. If they wont let their players come over for the tournament then we shouldn't be letting their players over here to work.

Presumably then as its not safe to travel to the UK no current Australian or Kiwi NRL players will be signing for SL clubs for next year ?? I mean if its not safe to come over for 4 weeks then its certainly not safe to come over hear and live is it !!! Time for the RFL to show some balls and say if the national teams dont come to the WC then they wont be accepting any registrations from Australian or NZ players who want to play in the UK.

Glad someone finally got it

If true, god awful signing by Saints - talk about scraping the bottom of the NRL barrel !!!

I just don't see anything special in Young to be honest. He always looks really ponderous and his positioning is poor. Huddersfield fans were raving about him a few seasons ago when he played against Saints, but he was absolutely awful that day with numerous dropped balls, missed tackles and poor positioning, with him at fault for several of the Saints try's. He's getting his chance at the moment to show what he can do in the NRL but he's got a very long way to go.

Not when their other main RL skill sets are poor - I give you Kevin Penny & Brimah Kebbie - lighting fast, pity they were pretty useless a passing, tackling & catching.

Always found those trackers stats on speed a bit of a joke, I mean when you have Nathan Brown as the 4th fastest players in the NRL Put the fastest players in the NRL together in a straight race, I doubt Young or Farnworth would even get near the top 10 fastest

Selective Stats picking. So he had 1 good game against by far the weakest team in the league a month ago. The Dogs were that bad he was one of 3 Brisbane players who ran for over 200metres in that game. Meade, Isako & Carrigan also made more runs than him, with Meade & Carrigan also having more post contact metres.

The Stats don't count complete misreads, they only count things like errors and missed tackles. If he's in the wrong position to even attempt a tackle it doesn't get picked up in the Stats. Watch his overall play, he makes plenty of rookie errors in defence. He'll no doubt improve but as things stand at the moment he isn't the answer for England. Just because he's playing in the NRL doesn't make him international class.

Experience ! he's still making too many rookie errors at club level, particularly with poor defensive reads. He's also still learning when to inject himself into the game, some weeks you see him almost trying tooo hard, which then just forces him to come up with more errors. Its not being helped by plenty of other players around him also making poor decisions at the moment. If he was playing in a much more structured and better coached team, like Melbourne, I think we'd see his game develop much faster. Prime example is Remus Smith, real rocks & diamonds player at the Dogs, prone to making the stupidest mistakes. Now he looks a completely different player and a real stand out centre.

I agree, the doggies will improve this year to lift off the bottom now they're not salary cap constrained, but not enough to make the 8. My tip for the spoon this year would be the Dragons. Their halves (Norman & Hunt) are woeful overpaid donkeys, and their forwards will get steamrolled once Vaughn or Kerr leave the field.

Saints are willing to release Barba but want either cash or a player exchange of their choice.

I remember thinking at the time what an absolutely textbook tackle. Got his shoulder square on to Napa's thigh and stopped him dead in his tracks. At first it just looked like a dead leg but to damage the ankle must have had some real power in the hit.

He'll end up back at Wigan next year with John Bateman heading the other way to the NRL.

I think that's quite a harsh sacking. I know they got hammered this weekend but given everything that's happened at the club over the last few years(none of which was Taylors fault) I think he's done a remarkable job to keep the team playing as they have been

I don't think it was just Whitehead & Soliola who pushed him out the team (though they both probably bring more than Fensom does anyway). Young Bateman really stepped up in 2016 and probably deserved his place in the team ahead of Fensom as well. Throw in the fact that Hodgson can also play at 13 and I reckon Fensom's days were always numbered at the Raiders.

If Stewart doesn't get a regular starting spot I'd expect to see him in SL before the season's out, most likely Catalans, Wakey or Salford

Regardless of his off-field discretions, you do realise how pi$$ poor he's been during his time at Catalans (when he's managed to actually make it onto the field that it and not been sat in the stands injured)

Oooh Err missus

Thank god for that. His agent has been offering him around SL clubs with Saints being one of them who talked to his agent. However when they found out how much money he was after they walked away. A 2nd string player wanting 1st team money.

For me its not the lack of variation and the unexpected, its the lack of leadership & creativity in the key positions of 7 and 9. I don't rate Lichaa or Mbye. The Dogs need a 7 with a good kicking game and someone to lead the team around (to compliment the running game of Reynolds) and they need a 9 who will control the ruck and get the best out of their big pack. I think they should have gone for Luke Walsh when he decided to head back to the NRL and also Segeyaro

There's no restriction in SL for the marquee player. The club can pay them whatever they like and only £100K counts on the cap for club trained players and £175K for all others (which Foran would be). So there's nothing stopping any SL club offering him £1M+ a year if they think he's worth it.

Any news in the Aussie media about Titans prop Luke Douglas ? Was told this weekend that Saints have offered him a 2 year deal to come to SL next year.

Hearing some strong rumours that Melbourne Centre Ryan Morgan has agreed a 2 year deal with Saints to come to SL next year. Anything in the Aussie press about this ? also that Luke Walsh's proposed move to Manly has fallen through. He still wants to return to the NRL (or rather his missus does because she wants to be close to family for their young baby) but he's without a club now for 2017.