Daryl Clark to Saints for 2024?

[Old Frightful]

Two year deal apparently.

Anyone know owt?

[Moe syszlak]

For once wire are letting a player go at the right time instead of keeping them on(Stefan ratchford springs to mind!). We've had his best years and injuries are starting to take their toll on his body. Still a good player, but nowhere near his form from years ago. We get a large chunk of cap space freed up and have a replacement ready in Danny walker.

[GeordieSaint]

I wouldn’t mind Clark. I am not convinced by Lussick so losing Roby is a massive loss. Clark isn’t Roby but he’s an experienced hand.

We also desperately need two centres (Percival is forever injured). I’d be taking a cheeky stab at Keighran at Catalan and Cross at Salford who are both OOC. 

[Josef K]

Clarke must be better than Roby & Lussick as they have offered rag all, neither offer a decent run from acting halfback and their kicking game is just as bog standard. Roby should have quit last season. Wellens must be seeing a different game from other supporters and wants to keep him (Roby) on the pitch as long as possible. But it shows how poor Lussick is that he can’t displace a knackered 37yr old.  

[Ragingbull]

Deal was done a couple of weeks ago

[Tippytoe]

1 hour ago, Ragingbull said:

Deal was done a couple of weeks ago

Is there a swap/make weight deal going on? Heard a few things but nothing concrete?

[ELBOWSEYE]

10 hours ago, Josef K said:

Clarke must be better than Roby & Lussick as they have offered rag all, neither offer a decent run from acting halfback and their kicking game is just as bog standard. Roby should have quit last season. Wellens must be seeing a different game from other supporters and wants to keep him (Roby) on the pitch as long as possible. But it shows how poor Lussick is that he can’t displace a knackered 37yr old.  

Clarke has struggled the last two seasons, yes he still has the quality to decide games but is slowly getting pushed out by walker who still has a lot to learn.teams need two hookers in the squad so I don't know what Powell has in mind for the second hooker.

[Alffi 7]

From a Wire point of view, Walker needs to be playing good minutes now - he’ll be 24 next year and is more than ready. Clark will want to be the main 9 wherever he is, which he deserves.

 

For him to stay at Warrington he would need to take a significant drop in salary and probably need to accept splitting his time between 9 & 13 in the game - which he does very well, but I’m sure hd would rather stay at 9.

 

Clark is allegedly on close to marquee money at Wire, if we can free that up and with potentially a 3rd marquee spot on the horizon, it will put us in a good spot to strengthen other areas with a key signing.

 

Clark has been a great player for us and would be a shame to see him go, but I think it would be the right move.

[Madrileño]

12 hours ago, Tippytoe said:

Is there a swap/make weight deal going on? Heard a few things but nothing concrete?

Why would there be?

He is out of contract!

[Chris22]

I'd be happy with that. Roby is irreplaceable and Clark is the best possible replacement.

This year is the first time that Roby has looked his age on the field, yet he's still one of our most influential players.

[ELBOWSEYE]

24 minutes ago, Madrileño said:

Why would there be?

He is out of contract!

The compensation for Warrington is freeing up a lot of salary cap.

[Wolford6]

Superleague exerts high physically-demands on players. From watching RL for over forty years, I've seen most players go into decline at a rapid rate. Their bodies have just had enough.

Daryl Clark has ben a great player but he's not wanted by Warrington. At age 30, I can see why Saints would offer him a 2-year contract. But it's only a temporary fix. They could do a lot worse than invest in Thomas Doyle as well.

[Just Browny]

It's been round a few times now which tends to mean it is going to happen.

I would be sad to see Clark leave and I think he would strengthen Saints  who were noticeably weak in this area on Friday. Warrington also said a few weeks back that we were trying to keep him, so I don't believe this is a planned move. 

Walker is becoming a very fine player but you need two hookers. Clark's role has become a mix of hooker and loose and (when he has been fit) he is very effective there.

[WN83]

Saints will bounce back this season and challenge for honours but I still think their squad needs a couple of fresh bodies in it going forward in to next season. They seem to have a few players currently getting towards and past 30 years of age, who are picking up niggles reasonably frequently. To me Clark is a good player but could fall in to that bracket as well. There's no doubting his quality when he is fully fit mind, so if he can stay clear of problems, he'll do a good job. 

[Tippytoe]

1 hour ago, Madrileño said:

Why would there be?

He is out of contract!

Just something I heard at an amature game this weekend 

No big deal!

[Josef K]

1 hour ago, Just Browny said:

It's been round a few times now which tends to mean it is going to happen.

I would be sad to see Clark leave and I think he would strengthen Saints  who were noticeably weak in this area on Friday. Warrington also said a few weeks back that we were trying to keep him, so I don't believe this is a planned move. 

Walker is becoming a very fine player but you need two hookers. Clark's role has become a mix of hooker and loose and (when he has been fit) he is very effective there.

I think Saints need strengthening in a lot of places, centre, wing, prop, hooker.  I don’t think Hopoate will be offered a new contract, he has been very unlucky with injuries but doesn’t warrant a an extra year. We are short of props unless Dan Norman has an amazing turnaround but he hasn’t been given much of a chance over the last two years, so he has to be on his way out. The signing of clarke is needed if it happens. 

[Saint Toppy]

I think this is the start of a bit of a transition phase for Saints and over the next 2-3 years they've got a lot of rebuilding to do.

Roby is irreplaceable and the options for a new No 9 are pretty limited. I don't think Clarke is as good as he was a few years ago but maybe a change of club & environment may be what he needs to rediscover some of that form. That being said he's still one of the best hookers in SL and given how poor Lussick has been he's about as good as Saints can get as a replacement at this time. Saints have 2 very good teenage hookers coming through the juniors in Pemberton & Nolan but i'm not sure either will be ready to step up as the 2nd hooker in the first team next year, so it wouldn't surprise me of Saints sign 2 new hookers for 2024 and release Lussick.

The other areas that I think they'll need to focus on is centre, prop & 2nd row. Hopoate has turned out to be a real dud so I think the prospect of him getting a contract extension would be fairly slim (I bl**dy hope so anyway), and with Percival's ongoing injury problems and Hurrell being 32 i'd say after hooker then a replacement centre would be  a top priority.

With LMS looking like retiring and Norman not having really developed as hoped then bringing in another good prop is something of a must. Delaney is a real good prospect and if anything there's an even better one in the Academy in Noah Stephens, so I think these 2 guys will step up to cover for Norman's replacement. However what they definately need is replacement for LMS for 2024.

Mata'utia has indicated that he wants to return to Aus when his contract is up at the end of this year, and while he's had is injury & disciplinary issues he's put in some top class performances for Saints. Batch & Sironen will be first choice so they'll need someone who can fill in for either of those.

[Mr Frisky]

Andrew Johns was banding Clarke around in the NRL about 3 years ago saying he was a great player for the NRL - he missed his chance of NRL but he has been on big money at Wire and Saints are probably giving him a good deal as well.

[headtackle]

I think Clarke has had his best days and Wire know this 

I think we would be paying over the top and taking a bit of a risk

For me the easiest solution is to let Lussick go. Roby's replacement could be James Bell. He has had a great season so far and for me has the qualities to make him a good hooker. He tackles well and can distribute. He could do a solid job and would try this option sooner rather than later.

  

[Madrileño]

12 hours ago, Tippytoe said:

Just something I heard at an amature game this weekend 

Fair enough. Sounds like total nonsense though. 

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

On 08/05/2023 at 18:50, GeordieSaint said:

I wouldn’t mind Clark. I am not convinced by Lussick so losing Roby is a massive loss. Clark isn’t Roby but he’s an experienced hand.

We also desperately need two centres (Percival is forever injured). I’d be taking a cheeky stab at Keighran at Catalan and Cross at Salford who are both OOC. 

Teams are targeting Roby now....presumably assuming he is going to tire more quickly now he is old

[Tippytoe]

7 hours ago, Madrileño said:

Fair enough. Sounds like total nonsense though. 

Probably Madrid but you never know. 

[Damien]

A good signing for Saints this and I think Clark will go well there.

[Saint Toppy]

I've heard a few rumours now that the signing is pretty much done & dusted but both clubs don't want to announce it as yet. Warrington because they don't wan't Clarke to get backlash from the fans, and Saints because of Lussick.

Apparently when he signed for Saints Lussick was all but promised the No9 shirt when Roby retired, and with Roby having already stayed on an extra year and it now looking like Saints have signed Clarke then Lussick isn't happy.

[Dunbar]

On 09/05/2023 at 10:22, Chris22 said:

Roby is irreplaceable and Clark is the best possible replacement.

Makes sense.