Joel Thompson Retiring

[Saint Toppy]

Joel Thompson has announced he's retiring at the end of the season and cutting short his contract at Saints.

Fair play to him for admitting he's not able to play at the level he wants to, and recognises its time to hang up his boots.

Mata'utia will probably take his No11 shirt for next year but with Bentley also leaving it leaves Saints looking at options for the 2nd row

[Hela Wigmen]

Nothing official as yet and it’s come from “The Mole”, who’s as reliable as Matty Dawson was at Saints. The article that says he’s retiring says there’s also personal reasons attributed to his decision. 

I was told a couple of weeks ago that Thompson asked Tim Sheens not to considered for the Exiles team for Friday. 

[Moove]

A shame for him but takes balls to admit that you can't take any more. Maybe SL isn't quite the cushy gig people like to make out.

Possibly an opportunity for Wingfield to stake a claim if he does retire? Looked decent in his admittedly limited opportunities so far.

Looking like a lot of change in one go for us next year. Coote, Naqaima, Bentley, Fages and possibly Roby and Thompson. Id like to see us move on from at least one of LMS and Amor too tbh. Welsby and Dodd will likely take two spots but that's a lot of cap space and experience to replace.

[Mark S]

Maybe getting battered around week in week out for a pittance isn’t really worth it anymore. 

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

40 minutes ago, Saint Toppy said:

Joel Thompson has announced he's retiring at the end of the season and cutting short his contract at Saints.

Fair play to him for admitting he's not able to play at the level he wants to, and recognises its time to hang up his boots.

 

How do you know they are his reasons for retiring? He might just really not like living in St Helens and has no other way out being under contract with them next year.

[Barry Badrinath]

14 minutes ago, Mark S said:

Maybe getting battered around week in week out for a pittance isn’t really worth it anymore. 

Probably fed up of refs in SL allowing players to throw themselves on the floor, to stop games.

[Hela Wigmen]

3 minutes ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

How do you know they are his reasons for retiring? He might just really not like living in St Helens and has no other way out being under contract with them next year.

There’s a news article appeared in Australia from The Mole. Cites his body not being up to it and personal reasons as the reasons why. 

[Waynebennettswinger]

9 minutes ago, Barry Badrinath said:

Probably fed up of refs in SL allowing players to throw themselves on the floor, to stop games.

Fair point, well made.

[Mr Frisky]

42 minutes ago, Moove said:

A shame for him but takes balls to admit that you can't take any more. Maybe SL isn't quite the cushy gig people like to make out.

Possibly an opportunity for Wingfield to stake a claim if he does retire? Looked decent in his admittedly limited opportunities so far.

Looking like a lot of change in one go for us next year. Coote, Naqaima, Bentley, Fages and possibly Roby and Thompson. Id like to see us move on from at least one of LMS and Amor too tbh. Welsby and Dodd will likely take two spots but that's a lot of cap space and experience to replace.

With a lot of the first team possibly on the move I would say they should keep Amor and LMS for an other year to help new players bed in to the saints way or stop young players from being bullied out of games.

[Spidey]

Maybe he's homesick?

[Saint Toppy]

11 minutes ago, Mr Frisky said:

With a lot of the first team possibly on the move I would say they should keep Amor and LMS for an other year to help new players bed in to the saints way or stop young players from being bullied out of games.

Amor  He should never have got an extension for this year, he's been awful. When Lees returns he'll likely get dropped anyway.

LMS is still worth another year, depending on his wage demands

[Waynebennettswinger]

Rumours now gathering pace that he has asked for an immediate release, they are just rumours for now though.

 

[Hela Wigmen]

Announcement made now. End of the season. Homesickness for his family. Understandable. 

[Eddie]

2 hours ago, Saint Toppy said:

Amor  He should never have got an extension for this year, he's been awful. When Lees returns he'll likely get dropped anyway.

LMS is still worth another year, depending on his wage demands

I expect Amor is worth a lot in training and the dressing room tbf, even if he is a bit off the pace these days. 

[Davo5]

Wants to be nearer to a beach ?

[Waynebennettswinger]

2 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

Wants to be nearer to a beach ?

New Brighton isn’t that far away Davo

[Mr Frisky]

2 hours ago, Hela Wigmen said:

Announcement made now. End of the season. Homesickness for his family. Understandable. 

Thought is was only English players in the NRL who break contracts due to home sickness....

[Davo5]

1 hour ago, Waynebennettswinger said:

New Brighton isn’t that far away Davo

Would rather swim in the Ganges,less turds,dead bodies & Tesco trolleys.

[Whippet13]

5 hours ago, Mr Frisky said:

Thought is was only English players in the NRL who break contracts due to home sickness....

No, happens both ways, just that it's only the Australian clubs and their pet media who try to incite "burn them at the stake" mobs whenever a British player decides Australia isn't their dream destination after all.

[Mr Frisky]

6 minutes ago, Whippet13 said:

No, happens both ways, just that it's only the Australian clubs and their pet media who try to incite "burn them at the stake" mobs whenever a  British player decides Australia isn't their dream destination after all.

Yep - I was being sarcastic......

[Whippet13]

11 minutes ago, Mr Frisky said:

Yep - I was being sarcastic......

Yeah I know mate.

[Saint Toppy]

17 hours ago, Eddie said:

I expect Amor is worth a lot in training and the dressing room tbf, even if he is a bit off the pace these days. 

What utter guff, its pointless having any player who isn't delivering anything on the pitch either as a player or as a motivator to his team mates. James Graham was a prime example, well past his best as a player last year but he was still a leader, organiser & talker out on the pitch. Amor doesn't deliver any of those things, long overdue to move him on.

LMS is different, while his own performances aren't what they were he's a big talker on the pitch, particularly to the younger players, and just as much so off it. In fact when Woolf joined Saints last year he was asked what it was like first walking into the dressing room and he said the first person to stand up and speak to him on behalf of the players was LMS, not the club Captain. 

[Davo5]

2 hours ago, Saint Toppy said:

What utter guff, its pointless having any player who isn't delivering anything on the pitch either as a player or as a motivator to his team mates. James Graham was a prime example, well past his best as a player last year but he was still a leader, organiser & talker out on the pitch. Amor doesn't deliver any of those things, long overdue to move him on.

LMS is different, while his own performances aren't what they were he's a big talker on the pitch, particularly to the younger players, and just as much so off it. In fact when Woolf joined Saints last year he was asked what it was like first walking into the dressing room and he said the first person to stand up and speak to him on behalf of the players was LMS, not the club Captain. 

Been on the pitch much ?

[Saint Toppy]

1 hour ago, Davo5 said:

Been on the pitch much ?

You don't have to to see Amor's contribution (or lack of)

His individual performances are poor and there's no signs what so ever of him taking up any sort of leadership role on the pitch. So unless he somehow morphs into someone completely different off the pitch then he's not worth keeping on beyond his current contract this year.

Even if Roby retires at the end of the year there's still other experienced players in the squad who already provide that leadership role, like Lomax & Walmsley. In fact Knowles has already been talked about as a future captain at Saints because he's already started to take on some of that leadership roles out on the pitch.

[Davo5]

2 hours ago, Saint Toppy said:

You don't have to to see Amor's contribution (or lack of)

His individual performances are poor and there's no signs what so ever of him taking up any sort of leadership role on the pitch. So unless he somehow morphs into someone completely different off the pitch then he's not worth keeping on beyond his current contract this year.

Even if Roby retires at the end of the year there's still other experienced players in the squad who already provide that leadership role, like Lomax & Walmsley. In fact Knowles has already been talked about as a future captain at Saints because he's already started to take on some of that leadership roles out on the pitch.

So no and as such you really haven’t a clue on what he brings to the side in terms of leadership,obviously Saints recent coaches have a different view of him than you.