He told me Hopkins hadn't signed but saints was confident he would.

Lets be Honest though, if it was a choice between Wigan saints and Warrington then I'd certainly pick Wigan over saints. Wigan are the best team in super league, their coach backs all his young players and certainly isn't afraid to throw them (he gets a kick out of playing young lads) and they will pay better than us. Simple decision IMO

It makes you wonder if Hopkins would make the same step up as Chris Hill and perhaps Walmsley whilst neglecting our own. How good would Walker, Thompson and Greenwood look if they were playing for Leigh Centutions would they attract the same attention.
My preference would be to have Greenwood and Walmsley as our future props, plenty of physical size, speed and a potentionally a good offloading game.
Hopkins is a second row turned into a prop isn,t he, we have plenty of those at the club at the club at the moment.

When are we going to see our Andre Savelio making an appearance at prop this season.

I think Greenwood lacks the aggression to be a prop. He's a little soft. He runs good lines and prefer him running outwide where he's Made a good few line breaks.

Thompson could be a good prop when he beefs up a little, he's got the heart and aggression.

How many youth players have played this year? They've been the mainstay of the majority of our teams each week. I think it's unfair to say we've not used them this year, the only place they haven't been used really is half back, and in all honesty, had we thrown them in there it would have been like throwing them to the wolves considering the way we were playing and the lack of confidence throughout the team.

Wane put two young half backs into a winning confident team, that makes a major difference.

I think Wane shows great confidence in his young lads. I think he's been brilliant with them. He brought half of them thru and they keep their positions on merit if playing well.

Wigan seem to play with a rigid structure though. TBF to us, I don't think Brown knows what he is going to do from the first half to the second.

Having the same structure thru the youth and first team is a no brainer really but like you say, I don't think we know what we doing from one set to the next.

I will be honest guys I watch quite a bit of Leigh this guy is no Walmsley. I personally think we have got better in the system. And yes I was at Leigh today.

I think Brown has with the forwards and Percival.

Well to be fair the Leigh fans are saying he's probably a better prospect than Chris Hill and are genuine about his quality.

He was very impressive against us at the DW in the Challenge Cup.

I think Brown can be credited with bringing through Percy, Walmsley, Greenwood, Walker, Thompson, and to lesser extents Charnock and Hand, by giving them a chance in the first team.

Seems to try hard to blood them but protect them as much as possible

And that's the hard balance.
Personally I think browns done a good job of it

signed for us (Wigan) according to the WEP

I hope the lad does well at whatever club. What I will say look at his body shape and compare and contrast it to Hill and Walmsley he would be a two year project in comparison.

Never seem him play have you ? (Obviously)

Hi Loz, Sam will be a current day 13 and has more in his locker than Chris and I also feel 2015 will see him at his best
Saints tried the cheap option if rumours are true and lost him

I'm not surprised

Signed for Wigan. Missed out on a gem.

Boots n all have just echoed what I said about Shaun Wane and wigans confidence in youth.

But didn't you refer to him as the ape with no coaching intelligence?

No just a Ape who's thick but I admit he's done a terrific job in the weekly rounds.

I wouldn't comment if I hadn't.

Just goes to show that players aren't always the best sources!

Onething that strikes me about players "in the know" in these situations is that Hopkins is not going to want to be badgered by everyone who thinks he should go to their club, so he probably make a few non-committal comments like "yeah, Saints are a great club, I'd be interested if they made me an offer." to get people of his back. Next thing is that he's [idefinatley coming[/i.

If he'd said something to the press, or indeed a member of the club that was negotiating his signing, then that's another matter, but I'm afraid players must be victim to the rumour mill just as we are.