: Mon Jun 22, 2009 9:43 pm  

ROBINSON wrote:

Chair Maker - don't talk daft about Schofield.

Schofield finished top try scorer in the NSWRL (forerunner to NRL) 13 tries in 18 appearances in 1986.

He is i understand 2nd in the all time try scoring list for GB with 30 tries. Thats more than the likes of Offiah and Boston.

By any stretch of the imagination he was world class

: Mon Jun 22, 2009 10:04 pm  

ROBINSON wrote:

From watching him, obviously. if you took your blinkers off, you'd understand.

Statistics are nothing - you know full well that a 'tackle' is counted no matter where in the tackle you come in, whether you manage it on your own, to if you're the third man in over the top.

One on one, Newlove was shaky.

Was he phuck. If I were to base my argument on statistics gathered from one or two matches you'd have a point. But taken over the DURATION OF A PLAYER'S CAREER there's no hiding place. You can only evade the statistician's pen for so long. If Newlove was weak on one on one's - blinkers or not - it would have dragged his ratio down.

But don't believe the numbers. Ask the players. The next time you speak to Chris Joynt or Anthony Sullivan why don't you tell them that Newlove was dodgy in defence. After that, come back here and give us chapter and verse.

: Mon Jun 22, 2009 10:36 pm  

It's worth making the point that the arrival of both players at their respective clubs kick started a decade (and more) of SL and CC success.

Without a doubt, Newlove won us our first league title. He gave us the one thing that Wigan (and Widnes, briefly) bought from under their rivals for years - cutting edge. At his best Newlove was almost unstoppable. If you gave him any kind of room he'd murder you. His footwork and balance were beyond coaching (the step he put on Sailor in the WCC was sublime). I can't remember how many tries he scored for us in SL I, but I do recall a few corkers.

IIRC, Loughlin was the least successful of the three Saints that went to Bradford. They were a weird side back then. You'd sift through their line-up on match day from one to thirteen and be convinced they were over-achieving. I guess that was Smith's forte - turning yard dogs into greyhounds.

: Mon Jun 22, 2009 11:30 pm  

Something like 28-32 tries in his first full season at Saints IIRC.

: Tue Jun 23, 2009 8:37 am  

Methinks Mugwump protesteth too much. Maybe he's trying to convince himself.

: Tue Jun 23, 2009 8:41 am  

Carlos Alberto wrote:

Something like 28-32 tries in his first full season at Saints IIRC.

36 in 27 matches - incredible.

: Tue Jun 23, 2009 8:45 am  

FearTheVee wrote:

36 in 27 matches - incredible.

bloody hell he would walk MOS with that tally nowadays

: Tue Jun 23, 2009 9:21 am  

ROBINSON wrote:

Methinks Mugwump protesteth too much. Maybe he's trying to convince himself.

Mugwump is right though.

I can distinctly remember Newlove missing a bad one-on-one tackle on Greg Barwick in a match against London Broncos in '96. The reason I can remember it is because it was a rarity (Gidley, an excellent defensive centre by anyone's standards, missed a similar one on Senior earlier this year). Perhaps he was more shaky in his earliest years at Fev (I only started watching in 1992), but for the duration of his Saints career he was at the very least a competent defender and IMO considerably better than that.

Add that to the fact that he was fast, powerful, had sublime footwork and was an excellent winger's centre and it's not difficult to see why Saints fans rate him so highly.

: Tue Jun 23, 2009 10:09 am  

Mugwump wrote:

snip

Amen, brother.

: Tue Jun 23, 2009 10:36 am  

FearTheVee wrote:

36 in 27 matches - incredible.

He was injured for large parts of that season as well.