We do pass the ball wide , sadly just trying to ship the ball as fast as possible (apart from Lance who passes slower than a North West counties prop) doesnt work at amateur level never mind Superleague

I think we should wait a little before throwing money at Laffranchi, see how his form and fitness is this year.

The "second class" was in inverted commas for a reason, meaning that is what used to be commonly said at the start of the SL era.

However, there is an element of truth in this now.
You cannot compare Laffranchi and Perry and especially Flanders with some of the great Aussie players we have had in the last decade. I believe the standard of Aus players prepared to come over to the UK has gone down and will continue to do so as the NRL SC increases.

He's no prop. He made absolutely no impact last season and if he's going to be playing prop going forward, it's another lazy recruitment decision.

As a backrower he might do better, he wouldn't be bullied as much as he is at prop.

Why?
If he can't hack it at prop he isn't going to get any tougher by changing his number.

I think the point saddened is making is the fact Laffranchi can be dominated by big physical packs, if he was in the backrow, he'd be running wide.

Laffranchi had played his career in the backrow and IMO he's not a out and out prop but a solid hard working prop.

Doh! He'd be running at centres, halves and backrowers for the main part and wouldn't be taking the 'hard yard' balls that go to the props by default.

I could have had a ford and a Peugeot for the price of my Mercedes so what's your point?

And correct me if Im wrong but didnt Laffranchi get selected for Australia as a backrower???

He sure did

we need that lazy git of a player Perry playing rugby, with 2 big props playing well laffranchi in the team works

NB started playing smaller pack at hudd even playing Gilly at prop, but we still need that impact from LMS and perry. with TP, manu and sia filling up the pack it could work with good size and speed.

this falls down with a poor 6/7 and 'not the fastest' 3/4 line to convert the speed of the pack, i can see much of the 2013 season falling at the feet of roby....again

give laffranchi an extra year, he played well last year, i believe he does add to the team and with him not being on our overseas quota, what do we have to lose with 'no props on the market'

Laffranchi is a quota player. He's an Aussie so he's classed as quota.

I'm not sure what I'd do with Laffranchi, he a a solid season last year but nothing special. We do need at least one "proper" prop IMO as Perry is finidhed, Laffranchi gets dominated against the bigger more aggressive packs, lms is a impact prop and I've no idea what to expect from TP who IMO was very poor last year compared to previous years but playing second row didnt help.

Also, what's the rush to get him signed on a new deal before the season starts?

No team can sign him until September anyway. I'd keep our options open until may/June. We should see what's about, what type of form Laffranchi is in, make sure he's healthy etc.

We've got Perry, Laffranchi and TP all off contract next year, we shouid have some cash to throw about if players are available.

The delelopment of Alex Walmsley will also be interesting.

i agree with Walmsley i like the look of him, im also looking to see a little bit of Carl Forster he looked ok when he played last year.

i was under the thinking that laffranchi had an Italian passport and as such didnt count?

Unless he was he here playing super league pre 2008, he still counts on the quota. Example - Meli is exempt due to being here pre 2008.

I believe the September rule has changed, I think it's May or June now.

I think you have sort of answered your own question with the later point. Losing 3 of our starting props at the end of the season could spell trouble, particularly as there seems a real dearth of decent props available. Saints need to balance the possibility of paying a little over the odds for a player who is solid, against scratching round for 3 props in a dead market. TP appears to be pretty well done for, and Perry has been a sad let down. Laffranchi played pretty well every game last year, and gave his all in every one of his appearances for Saints. I belive his professionalism on and off the field may well tip the balance in favour of extending his contract.

On the subject of Perry.

I am interested in how he goes this season as it is the first full off season of training he will have had at Saints.

People forget that when we signed him he consequently suffered an injury and missed a lot of his first season.
He also then needed further surgery at the end of his first season and therefore got little to no pre season before the start of 2012
As a consequence he was grossly unfit at the start of the season which showed in his performances, forcing Royce to take him out the side for 6 or so weeks to get some fitness.
After he came back his performance improved and he was a pretty solid prop for most of the season.

Therefore its not inconceivable that with a full off seasons preparation he will be in a lot better shape and therefore perform at a higher level than in the previous two seasons.
This is something we have already seen in Sia Soliola who was poor his first season, average his second season and then excellent last season, which was the first time he had got a full off season under his belt while at Saints.

Something to bear in mind is that Remi Casty of Catalan dragons made the dream team at prop last year.
He played 27 games and made 2164 metres from 294 carries
The other prop was Chris Hill who played 24 times and made 2414 metres from 319 carries
As a further guide current England international prop Lee Mossop finished with stats of 1958 metres from 258 carries in 21 appearances.

Josh Perry wasnt that far behind these players with 22 appearances and 1823 metres from 256 carries.

The problem really is that Saints fans have been spoiled by having watched James Graham make nearly 4000 metres a season, and as a result when we see a forward make half this yardage, we assume they are rubbish, when infact they are not far short of GB/England international standard prop.

The extra year is an existing option year in favour of the club on his last contract. Rather than a new contract extension. It will be signed and announced soon enough.

Laffranchi did quite well last season for me, if he goes well again this year I would offer him another year. Perry is the worry for me, we need him to at least do something this year.

Last time I heard about him post last season wasn't he seen running (sic) down Prescot Road naked?

Yes

He ran more meters Down prescot road than he'd made all year.

And he still got caught before he got in the clear

At least for our sake, it was a fixed penalty he got this time and not one of his many on the field

As far as I remember he didn't get any points either

He wasnt going fast enough for that !