But there's none available I hear you cry

There aren't good players available anywhere in the world



It's in the paper today that they have signed Blake Green from Hull KR. Another very good halfback, perhaps not the Hull KR halve I'd sign, but I'd take Green at Saints. A Green and Smith combo has potential, particularly when you consider the tide of quality coming through from fullback there. Kicking game tick, creativity tick, unpredictability tick.

When is our next signing being announced? Or are we done for another season now?

Just like the was no props available last year yet unnamed about 8.

Green is a non-fed player. We couldn't sign him if we wanted to. He's also a huge downgrade from the player he's replacing. If there [iwere [/ia lot of good players available Wigan wouldn't be going from a half back pairing of Leuluai/Finch to one of Smith/Green.

We could get rid of a certain Kiwi fullback we've had playing in the halves all season. Tomkins/Green/Smith is so much better than Wellens/Hohaia/Lomax. The Wigan combo has more pace, more creativity and more organisational attributes. It also has a pretty superb kicking game, both long and short.

We also didn't really need to sign an Australian second rower to pretend to be a prop forward.

Agreed.

We've signed a kiwi fullback to play stand off and a average Aussie backrow to play prop and we wonder why we can't beat the likes of Wigan.

Only if he wants to go.

I wish we could ditch Hohaia as easily as you suggest, but I suspect we'll be stuck with him. I'm not suggesting that our situation is better than Wigan's, or that we've done a good job of our recruitment over the last couple of years. I'm just saying that this signing is not evidence that there are good players available. In fact it is quite the opposite - three years ago Wigan wouldn't have looked twice at Smith or Green.

You are right potentially, but half backs can often get better the older they get. Smith looks to be maturing into a very solid player and Green could be a dangerous player.

We should be looking at every possible opportuntity to improve the squad and we're not doing it. Manu in for Flannery is a positive move, Turner in for Shenton isn't. With Wellens and Meli still hanging around it looks we're probably going to be no better than we are this year, i/e solid but not really in contention with our big rivals when it comes to the really big games.

Go to that well known video sharing site and type

Hull kr Blake Green Rugby League Highlights.

He has pace, good hands and a decent kicking game. my only concern is that he has missed a large chunk of this season with injury(ies) mainly a blood clot in his leg. I'd hope that Wigan have given him a thorough medical.

The key is that we are quota full, so unless we can convince a player to go, we are stuck with UK halves and they mostly come with a transfer fee. I would not have wanted smith as I don't think he would have brought the game control and experience we needed in crunch games. There are players out there whether we can get them, well I'd doubt it this year. I've said all along 2014 will be the year brown can make a big impact chopping and changing, I think he can shift something like 7 to 8 players for 2014 and some of those will also be overseas.

I hope I'm wrong but bar 3 games this year Lance has been looking more and more like the square peg in the round hole. I was hopeful after the catalans match that he had settled and started to find some form even if we had to give up on his kicking game.

I agree with you that in order to move up a level we need to be looking to replace our older establishement figures with better, younger players, but I'm just not convinced that we can. If our best option to replace Wellens is someone like Scott Grix, who was mentioned a month or so ago, then we'd be far better off sticking. I'd also be amazed if we could bring in an English player who is remotely as effective as Meli.

You only have to look at the boatload of geriatrics who've just been given new contracts at Wire to see that the market isn't offering high quality options, even for a club with money to spend. Look at Leeds as well - they've just used up one of their non-fed spots on a bloke who has 8 NRL appearances.

We do have a world cup winner at FB playing for us already and he is the fastest player at the club at an age below 30 that could fill the FB role at the club for the next 3 years???


Just a thought!

When you look at it now, that seems logical. But look at the names that HAVE moved in recent seasons. Greg Eden could be developing as our fullback now, we COULD have Jodie Broughton and Joel Moon on one wing, we COULD have Chris Hill at prop and Danny Brough in the halves. Those kind of players will be on the move this season again and we need to make sure we identify those players and do our best to sign them. Matty Smith has just moved, you're not telling me we wouldn't be better with Hohaia at 1 and Smith at 7 than Wellens at 1 and Hohaia/Lomax goofing it up?

The club just needs to refocus on being successful on the pitch and start making better decisions. It just seems we panicked when we lost players. When Kyle and Jammer left the recruitment that followed was awful and a very costly mistake for the club. There doesn't seem to be a plan in place at all. Perhaps it's been caused by the disruption in coach, but the development of the youth has been awful as well. We had Foster, Makinson, Gaskell and Lomax who all looked sensational prospects a year or two ago and none of them have progressed, in fact they are all headed backwards at an alarming rate.

I'd still love to know who is reponsible for assembling the squad at Saints? Is it Eamon? Rush? Is it Kel Coslett? Is it the coach and if so who decided on Turner and Manu? The next two seasons are absolutely vital. We'll either kick on, improve the squad and reep the financial rewards of the stadium or we'll continue our rapid decline and become firmly entrenched in mid table and set for a decade or more of anonymity.

You know the standards in Super League are depleting when the top team is signing Matty Smith and Blake Green as first choice half backs.

Greg Eden this, Greg Eden that. A couple of seasons ago people were talking in exactly the same about Owen at castleford and now nobody cares about him, mainly because they're all going on about the new kid on the block.

Yes, we should have a better solution at fullback than Wellens.
Yes, the Hohaia as a half back signing was a poor idea.

Past that though, Its hardly all doom and gloom. If we celared up the above and get the side a bit more geared up for the big games, then we could really build on our 3rd place standing.

Resign Meli, play him in the centre with Turner outside him. Move Lance to fullback and bring Gaskell in at #6. Go for Hanbury at Widnes as back up. They've just signed Mellor from Wigan and Brown so would listen to offers. Send Wello or Wilkin the opposite way if necessary.
Play Ade outside Jones and make Wheeler, Swift, Makinson and Foster work to prove ther're more than just an able deputy with some loan deals.
Sign a starting prop and move laffranchi into the [ibig 13[/i role. Unload Wilkin to free up cap space. Sack off Magennis and bring Forster in.

I'm sure I could make a sympathetic highlights reel that made Gardner look like Ettingshausen...

Sounds good. When can you start?

I've phoned Eamon to tell him I'd help out for free, but he wasn't there. I left a message, but no one's got back to me yet.

Hohaia is more than good enough for this league. He held down a starting spot in the NRL for several seasons, which is more than most other Super League players could manage. The reason why we're not controlling the game has to come from the coaches and given that they've plumped more often for Wilkin running the show you can make up your own mind on that one.

Not in the halves he didn't. He played most of his games at hooker or halfback. He can't control a team, he isn't an organising half back and he has no kicking game.

If we brought Billy Slater over and played him at scrum half, he'd struggle. Round pegs and all that.

Hohaia should be moved to fullback and Wello released.

You could argue we have not enough of the right players and too many playing where they should not.
We are not short of numbers per se, but numbers in the right places.

ie

Wellens still pretty decent FB
Lance an NRL standard FB
Makinson a young up and coming FB
Lomax someone who could play a number of positions but will struggle at SH without another experienced half to help.

But there you have potentially 4 FB's

I cant understand why people are getting upset about this signing. He is a very average Aussie that if he was coming to Saints, would be just another in a long line of whipping boys for the half wits to moan about. Get over yourselves.

Nobody is getting upset about it. It's just further proof that there are players out there and that we really didn't need to buy an NRL fullback and play him at scrum half, where he is pretty terrible. The excuse from people on here is that there are no players of any quality available anywhere, but yet other clubs manage to sign players better than our own on a pretty consistent basis. Either of the signings Wigan have made recently would improve our side and they have a decent looking trio now. They have the pace, deceptive running and out and out class of Sam Tomkins, the pace and kicking game of Green and the organisational qualities and kicking game of Smith. Contrast with us, we have a fullback who simply doesn't contribute anything, one half that is like a headless chicken and couldn't organise a set of toy soldiers and another, albeit quite talented, who is drowning under the pressure of having no one with him who can kick or organise. I know which average players I'd rather have and it's not ours.