Re: Rumours thread. : Sat Apr 30, 2011 9:39 am  

St pete wrote:

I don't think mac is so stupid not to plan ahead for contract improvements. Don't forget we will prob have Gardner, flannery, Pryce join jammer and eastmond in leaving saints and maybe TP.

That's a serious amount of cash to throw around. Eastmond, Graham, Pryce and TP will be among the highest paid at the club.

Also, meli is off contract at the end of 2012 which could be used to give foster more money if he carries on his development in the way he is now.

With the loss of above players it's Defo possible for saints to bring in laffranchi, waterhouse, hohiai and maybe two props (if TP goes). We have a ready made replacement for ade now in foster.

Was forgetting about pryce, it seems like he has left already! I think we will keep Gardner, at least to reduce the amount of turbulence and the risk with bringing in so many new players. Despite the loss of graham Nd tp, I'm really looking forward to next year.

Re: Rumours thread. : Sat Apr 30, 2011 9:46 am  

Will lance be a direct replacement for Pryce or is he in fir eastmond?

Our ins and outs for 2012 is up in the air at the moment. It's going to be interesting to see how it all ends up.

We know for sure that Graham and eastmond are going and also have Gardner, TP and flannery.

It seems that laffranchi will be in for flannery.

Any thoughts?

Re: Rumours thread. : Sat Apr 30, 2011 9:49 am  

SomersetSaint wrote:

Was forgetting about pryce, it seems like he has left already! I think we will keep Gardner, at least to reduce the amount of turbulence and the risk with bringing in so many new players. Despite the loss of graham Nd tp, I'm really looking forward to next year.

I think we should let Gardner go, we have a ready made replacement in foster. We could use gardners wage to help bring in another player in a postion we need.

Re: Rumours thread. : Sat Apr 30, 2011 9:56 am  

St pete wrote:

I think we should let Gardner go, we have a ready made replacement in foster. We could use gardners wage to help bring in another player in a postion we need.

I don't see foster as a Gardner replacement. They are our starting wingers now with meli as a centre. Gardner would need to be replaced if he goes, replacing him with another biscuit kid will be risky, GArdner appears fairly robust and rarely misses a game, which is more than can be said for any of the home grown replacements

Re: Rumours thread. : Sat Apr 30, 2011 9:58 am  

SomersetSaint wrote:

I don't see foster as a Gardner replacement. They are our starting wingers now with meli as a centre. Gardner would need to be replaced if he goes, replacing him with another biscuit kid will be risky, GArdner appears fairly robust and rarely misses a game, which is more than can be said for any of the home grown replacements

I think wheeler would be our first choice centre before meli. I'd rather let Gardner go. His form this year has been good but that don't make up for the last 3 years that he's been terrible.

Re: Rumours thread. : Sat Apr 30, 2011 10:03 am  

If all our off contract players ( eastmond, ade, jammer, Pryce, TP, flannery) do leave then Royce and the club got a big rebuild on their hands.

We would need a halfback ( maybe hohiaia), 2 props and a backrow.

I bet royces head is up his booty!

Re: Rumours thread. : Sat Apr 30, 2011 2:07 pm  

Going forward a year or two i see the backs looking as follows:

Lomax at Fullback
centres: Shenton and Makinson
wings: Gardner and Foster or Armstrong and Foster.
halves: Wheeler and Hohoia

There are other combos as well, depending on who progresses from the academy and reserves, as people like Josh Jones will come into the reckoning, just as Makinson has this year.

Personally would offer Gardner a new two year deal to see him upto about 30 years of age. We could then take it from there. He certainly deserves a testimonial at Saints, being one of our all time top try scorers.

Re: Rumours thread. : Sat Apr 30, 2011 3:03 pm  

Laffranchi really doesn't interest me all that much. I mean, if he has a clean run with injuries for two years then yeah - he would do a job for us. But what are the chances of a 30-yo Australian second row (with a stack of miles on the clock) staying fit for very long?

If we are going to bring over NRL players they have to be no older than 28. That way we at least have a chance of seeing plenty of game time out of them.

Re: Rumours thread. : Sat Apr 30, 2011 6:33 pm  

The Chair Maker wrote:

Going forward a year or two i see the backs looking as follows:

Lomax at Fullback
centres: Shenton and Makinson
wings: Gardner and Foster or Armstrong and Foster.
halves: Wheeler and Hohoia

There are other combos as well, depending on who progresses from the academy and reserves, as people like Josh Jones will come into the reckoning, just as Makinson has this year.

Personally would offer Gardner a new two year deal to see him upto about 30 years of age. We could then take it from there. He certainly deserves a testimonial at Saints, being one of our all time top try scorers.

I would rather see Hohoia at full back and Lomax in the halves, but other than that I'd be pretty happy with it if Makinson kicks on. Almost all English appeals as well.

Re: Rumours thread. : Mon May 02, 2011 12:32 am  

Saints have signed Laffranchi on a 3 year deal. Done and dusted!

Great signing IMO!