When you look at how Graham has had to carry the Saints pack this season Fozzard can only improve them. Graham has to do less work and thus is likely to be more effective. (Good for England too)

Seems a strange signing though as he was deemed not good enough for them 12 months ago.

Yes. I can draw you a diagram if you like.

Funny reading the desperation defending posts from the Saints fans.

Funny how the Rhinos props have battered Saints around the Old Trafford pitch in 2 consecutive GF's. I know JP is a machine but surely he cannot be good enough to handle the Saints pack all by himself?



Saints are signing an over the hill prop that Hull KR are happy to let go.

Leeds are signing young solid props that have made a big impression at such a young age at their previous clubs.

Why was Fozzard let go 12 months ago?

Did Daniel Anderson deem him not good enough for St Helens? Or was the Salary cap excuse used?

For me this just indicates what a lot of Saints fans have been saying for months - Mick Potter simply is no where near as good as the fine coach Daniel Anderson is.

No need I'm not bothered how you & Hull KR choose to waste their money.
FWIW if I was a Saints fan I'd rather see Saints investing money in making Hargreaves a better prop and blooding the props from the current academy team but what do I care?

Compare with our signing of Amor.

Which one do you think is the sign of a progressive club?

Exactly. Like the Saints fans have said, it is not meant to be a 'headline'signing, but to help Frodsham, Maggenis, Cooper, Dixon and Ashurst develop. I'd wager a big sume on two of those names having a big future.

As for why he left 12 months ago - salary cap and noone could have foreseen that JC would end up as a benchwarmer.

We've been doing that over recent years thanks, you might have noticed him playing for us.



You mean like Frodsham and Emmitt who have played at prop this year? And Ashurst and Dixon who have played in the back row?

These forwards we have been blooding smashed your reserves last week, but thanks for your interest in our forward development. Perhaps you'd like to share the secret of your prop development so that we can push through more Baileys and less Grahams?

Certainly.

Get them to peak when it comes to a Grand Final and it will reap dividends.

I often wonder how, with all these inferior, unheralded, non men of steel we keep handing your vastly superior, much more heralded players their a[irse[/is every October?

Easy, you have lots of terriffic players better than their Saints counterparts (Webb, Hall, Senior, Donald, Peacock, Sinfield etc).

Bailey isn't one of them.

Not sure what that has to do with not blooding academy props though, which was the point I was replying to.

Sheer quality

S'funny that 'cause all I ever read is how your lads are so much better than ours, whether it be in the RL media or on here.

Maybe I am paranoid but its' left me scratching my head.

The whole board is paranoid! It's a feeling borne of winning the GF from 2nd. I'm sure you'll all be less bothered about what people say and write once you win it from top this year.

That's twice you've mentioned Bailey. Slagging him of won't make Fozzard a better signing I'm afraid, but he does seem to be the goto man for you lot in a crisis.

thackray must have turned them down if fozzy has signed because he was offered a 1 year deal at saints and a 2 year deal at celtic looks like he maybe going to wales although he said he didn't want to move down there

Well, unlike some other Saints fans posting on here, I think resigning Fozzard is not only a mistake but also embarrassing. We let him go because he wanted a two year contract and we weren't prepared to give him a two year contract, as is our policy. However, based on what Potter recently said, our injury crisis this year has triggered a panic buy of a 'bargain prop' (Potter's words). However (again), Foz is not reliable injury-wise, something we already knew when we let him go, so I think the whole thing will backfire. So far as I know, Hull KR released him because they don't rate him, judging by the fact that he doesn't get the game time, which is really encouraging. Not!

Mr Big has made it quite clear that there is no spare cash for next season. Some of that is bound to be because we have had an ageing squad of extremely good players who have been costing us a fortune. We are slowly releasing those players. We're replacing them with cheapo youngsters who undoubtedly have talent (just a really good crop from our academy of that year) and one new foreign signing who himself has bloody dodgy knees!

The other reason for us being cheap as chips is of course the looming new stadium, which is bound to cost a small fortune in initial outlay before we see any signs of revenue from the stratospherically improved facilities it will bring. Therefore, we are going to look like the weakest squad in the league for at least two seasons, which most of us have known for most of this season. But I suppose it is necessary to invest in the future for the club.

i would have thought at 3/4 years younger paul jackson would have been a far better alternative

Very possibly. But Foz is known and obviously available and presumably cheap.

Saintsfan, i never thought you woud say it, but you have just spoke some sense. Congratulations.

he knows the players and set up as you say and will be cheap.
i would agree he will take some of the heat off graham.
however, if he is worse than this season, and that is a possibility, then 12k a year, or however much he is on, is a waste of money

Not often you see a Saints fan admit that one





I can understand the Fozzard signing in the salary cap context but this...



...is still the funniest thing I've read all year

He's obsessed.

How happy I will be with this signing depends on what other business we get done.

If Fozzard is coming in as a 4th choice prop then it would be an excellent signing. He'd represent a considerable improvement on Hargreaves in that role and won't be costing a bundle. A front four of Graham, Fa'asavalu, Fozzard and another top drawer prop (allowing Puletua to move into the second row where he is far more effective) would be a match for anyone in SL.

If he's our replacement for Cayless then you'll have a point about us moving backwards (although in practice that won't be the case, as Cayless has hardly played a game in two years). Even in this case though, we have talented prop forwards coming through in the shape of Frodsham and Emmitt who probably aren't physically ready yet, so one year from a solid old pro while they develop further is no disaster.

Oh look. ANOTHER thread about super leagues most successful team

There There