: Sun Apr 05, 2009 12:17 am  

im sceptical of this.

I suspect ex Leeds player Mcdermott is trying to do a bit of psychological unsettling of Saints young players.

With Matty Smith, Kyle Eastmond, Gary Wheeler and Jonny Lomax we are not short of young halves who already have first grade experience.
Add in Scott Moore who is an ex halfback and also Jamie Ellis in the academy and you can see that halfback is not a weak area for Saints.

: Sun Apr 05, 2009 12:59 am  

The Joker® wrote:

Would have been a strange one really how would they have used him?...

Stand Off: Leon Pryce
Scrum Half: Sean Long
Hooker/Interchange Hooker: Keiron Cunningham/James Roby

Unless it would have been something like:

Full Back: Leon Pryce
Stand Off: Danny Brough
Scrum Half: Sean Long
Hooker/Interchange Hooker: Keiron Cunningham/James Roby
Loose Forward: Paul Wellens

Leon Pryce disappeared just before last years GF and still didn't return for the WC so Saints tried getting Danny Brough to replace him but he got injured. Now Leon has finally returned Saints have put the deal off until the end of the season but they will use Brough to give Longy a rest throughout the season and for when Leon disappears again, probably around october time.

: Sun Apr 05, 2009 10:56 am  

LS14 RHINO wrote:

Leon Pryce disappeared just before last years GF and still didn't return for the WC so Saints tried getting Danny Brough to replace him but he got injured. Now Leon has finally returned Saints have put the deal off until the end of the season but they will use Brough to give Longy a rest throughout the season and for when Leon disappears again, probably around october time.

Actually there is a good chance Leon will be disappearing some time the end of April (after sentencing).

: Sun Apr 05, 2009 11:02 am  

Rhino Roy wrote:

Think it was based around Long winding down, apparently stains feel that after Long is done, they dont see Eastmond as a replacement who can boss a game, and see him more as an impact player so the story goes. I have seen eastmond a few times and he is a good impact player, but lacks a kicking game so it does maybe explain

That is the veiw of some, however, I think its incorrect.

Eastmond has had a fair bit of first team action, but very little of it has been at 7, where he can stand at first receiver. Some Saints fans say "he's too similar a player to pryce", but imo all this is really based upon is the fact he has alot of pace. He's filled in at full back, 5/8, centre and a bit of hooker, and done them all well enough, but I don't think we've seen what he's all about in terms of his natural half back game.
I also think it false to say he hasn't got a kicking game.

His main problem at the moment seems to be that he's a little fragile. He is tiny, did Rob Burrow struggle when he was a teenager?

: Sun Apr 05, 2009 11:06 am  

Offside Monkey wrote:

Some Saints fans say "he's too similar a player to Pryce"

Apart from the obvious off-field antics, is this such a bad thing?

: Sun Apr 05, 2009 11:54 am  

LS16_Rhino wrote:

Apart from the obvious off-field antics, is this such a bad thing?

I think that they assume he's more of a running player like pryce, rather than a distributor/organiser like Long, and perhaps you really need one of each to make a hlaf back partnership work.

As I stated though, I think their wrong to make this judgement.