Re: Tony Martin : Fri Oct 07, 2011 9:30 am  

Martin has played on the biggest stage in the world and has about 15 years experience to call on.

think super league are still waiting to see this tbh

Re: Tony Martin : Fri Oct 07, 2011 9:31 am  

PAUL M wrote:

Eh? Yeaman has almost 10 years experience, how much does he need? How can Martin help Crooks and Turner? He's hardly been a worldbeater. They will only improve with gametime and that is likely to be reduced with Martin signing.

We don't need money in the pot we needed a quality centre and if there was no options then we should have stuck with what we had and spent more money on a quality forward.

Maybe the new coach wasn't happy with 'sticking with what we'd got' and believes that Turner and Whiting aren't good enough centres. They certainly aren't world beaters either. Doubt he's seen much/any of Ben Crooks yet. I'm sure the club wanted a better centre than Martin and that's why it's a one year deal. Martin is better than some are giving him credit for on here. I think this is the definition of being unable to recruit what we wanted in the timescale forced by the recent takeover and the recruitment already in place.

Re: Tony Martin : Fri Oct 07, 2011 9:32 am  

Kosh wrote:

Is the right answer.

I appreciate that people are trying to find the positives here, but I honestly can't think of a single reason why we wouldn't have been better off signing nobody and going with what we already have. Martin brings nothing to the party IMO.

He's at least as good a centre as Whiting or Turner IMO and quite possibly better.

Re: Tony Martin : Fri Oct 07, 2011 9:36 am  

Staffs FC wrote:

He's at least as good a centre as Whiting or Turner IMO and quite possibly better.

not being funny or anything but whiting plays his hart out week in week out and wears the shirt with pride not seen nothing of martin and is a nothing signing

[Kosh]

Re: Tony Martin : Fri Oct 07, 2011 9:42 am  

Staffs FC wrote:

He's at least as good a centre as Whiting or Turner IMO and quite possibly better.

If he's only as good then why bother?

You know I usually try and have a balanced view but I must admit I'm struggling with this.

Re: Tony Martin : Fri Oct 07, 2011 9:44 am  

Did he and sharp ever play together at Harlequins? With whats happened with Gleeson, i dont think is not a bad signing for a year. Hopefully this will help Sharp out having an experienced centre beside him, it is going to take time to change this team around, maybe this will give Gentle time to recruit a centre for the 2013 season. I rather have solid centre than inexperiened centre. Is a combination of Sharp/Martin better than Whiting/Turner i do, only time will tell.

Re: Tony Martin : Fri Oct 07, 2011 9:47 am  

[u][/u]

Danny 2 wrote:

not being funny or anything but whiting plays his hart out week in week out and wears the shirt with pride not seen nothing of martin and is a nothing signing

why judge him if you havn't seen him

Re: Tony Martin : Fri Oct 07, 2011 9:48 am  

Kosh wrote:

If he's only as good then why bother?

You know I usually try and have a balanced view but I must admit I'm struggling with this.

It suggests that the coach/DOR are erring on the 'quite possibly better' side of the argument.
In fact for Turner in particular it's not great news unless Gentle is considering moving him into the second row.

Re: Tony Martin : Fri Oct 07, 2011 10:03 am  

PAUL M wrote:

Eh? Yeaman has almost 10 years experience, how much does he need? How can Martin help Crooks and Turner? He's hardly been a worldbeater. They will only improve with gametime and that is likely to be reduced with Martin signing.

Of corse he will help their development, he has won an NRL final. Albeit a long time ago, he definaltey has been there and done that. Not saying I agree with the signing at all, just his experience will help the kids.

PAUL M wrote:

We don't need money in the pot we needed a quality centre and if there was no options then we should have stuck with what we had and spent more money on a quality forward.

Agree with this completely. We needed a quality centre and we haven't got one. We have a has been. I hope I'm wrong.

Re: Tony Martin : Fri Oct 07, 2011 10:09 am  

PAUL M wrote:

We don't need money in the pot we needed a quality centre and if there was no options then we should have stuck with what we had and spent more money on a quality forward.

This puts it in a nutshell for me. A new signing should fill a gap or improve on what we already have. Whether he is a better centre than Turner or Whiting is debatable, but he's certainly not enough better to justify his signing, IMO. Add to that the fact that he's 33, and Australian, and I'm quite disappointed.