I'm surprised you can actually spell "sycophantic" but I can spell "patronising", "son"! Did I actually say that Saints should offer Ade a new contract? I simply commented that trolls such as yourself (and others) should respect those players who have given great service to the club. I sincerely hope Ade gets a new contract (whichever club he plays for next season) because he's a good deal better than many of the wingers I've seen this season. I might also say that I'd be delighted if Wello gets a one-year contract extension as he's played well from the bench but I'd qualify this by saying that Wilko should be our captain for next season.

Which ever club Ade G signs for , we wish him well.


Tick, tock, tick, tock you mentioned Wello in a brave manner, I can see the steam coming out of Saddened's ears.

Toddy take a chill pill nobody is calling Ade it's just time for him to go, as with Wello

Gardner is gash and should have been despatched to another club years ago.

No pace , no threat , his only merit being he is not as fragile as he used to be ?

The difference now makinson and swift play as a pair is huge. A sense of excitement every time either of them get the ball. Neither of them is Quirk , Sullivan or Albert yet but they are exciting to watch.

To recap Gardner is gash.

I'm not sure what message you are trying to convey there. Just went straight over my head.

IMO he's useless. He will run the ball back all day and his one on one tackling is decent but that's about it. Positioning is awful, speed is no use as he will never put himself a position to use it and is still dodgey under a high ball. A couple of years outside Jamie Lyon and Matt Gidley boosted his career to a place his skill level didn't deserve to be at.

Quit sitting on the fence and tell us what you really think.

Plenty respect for Ade from me , I appreciate the effort he's put in for the club over the years but it's time to go. He has benefited from playing outside some fine centre's but for me has never been anything but average. I think he will be surpassed in the records by Swift who looks like a real prospect and possibly even Makinson who has the thing Ade sadly lacks.. pace

Ade has done well over the years, always like the way he ran the ball back (done that more than some of the forwards). I can't see him getting back in the team though.

I think there's some unwarranted criticism & revisionism going on about Gardner. He's a player who, though never a world beater and had a frustrating reluctance to take on a player on the outside, never given less than 100% for the club. I'm never comfortable when players like that get the sort of sneering criticism some have expressed in this thread.

As already mentioned, everyone respects what players like Ade have done. But there is no room for such sentimentality in sport. Gardner would only ever be backup to the kids in the team, and would probably fall behind kids coming through from the academy like Percival (I know I'd pick him over Ade on the wing).

Think the time has come for him to leave but its interesting that one poster says his one on one tackling is good, another says his finishing close to the line is good, another says he will run through a brick wall.....all good traits for today's wingers. His speed isn't what it was or should be though.

In his defence, its remarkable he's received so much stick for relying on his centres or not being that good......I think he was great in February 2007....just ask the Brisbane wingers.

I've always stuck up for Ade, however I don't think we can justify offering him a new contract. With Swift, Tommy Mak, Percival and now Dawson - he's no longer a shoe-in for a start. And I would imagine he earns a lot more than the players who are ahead of him.

Thanks for over a decade of service Ade - but I think a move away is best for both parties.

Our contract situation at saints does confuse me.

Why do we persist with the likes of Wellens and Laffranchi (when they probably will be here next season) but then get rid of Gardner? I don't understand the difference between those two situations and the opposite outcomes.

I'm not overstating Gardner's ability here, I just think he's as useful in his position as the two players referred to above are to their positions.

Why do we seem to have a different policy for different players? If anything, we have far more cover at prop/second row (laffranchi) and have more options at FB (Wellens) than we do have on the wing.

I'd guess at 2 things. At their peak, both players where a class above Gardner and now can cover a number of positions, Gardner can play wing.

Also, Boof (captain at the Titans when we signed him) and Wello have leadership qualities which Ade probably doesn't. Ade does tend to be injured for half of each season, as well.

I see the leadership point re: Wellens but not Laffranchi. From an objective POV he does not come across as a talker or someone who would take the lead.

Is wello a good leader with his little hissy fits and throwing his hands in the air all time? IMO wello isn't a great leader.

We've not had a leader since Jammer left.

Apparently he's very good at that in training and with the younger players too

He doesn't seem all that vocal, no. But like I said, he was skipper at the Titans and is apparently walking into a coaching role there once he returns, so there must be something about him that other players respond to.

I agree. Obviously I can't comment on what he like in the changing room/on the training field but on a match day he certainly doesn't come across like a leader and he doesn't set good examples to the younger players. He acts like a petulant child when things aren't going his way and it has gone worse as he has got older.

Wello?

Teaching them aeroplane impressions?

Has the club actually announced anything regarding Gardner? I don't remember seeing anything. I can only assume he is being given a new contract though as he wasn't in the 'goodbyes' at our last home game, and I believe he would be given his length of time at Saints.

And what about Josh Perry come to think of it? I doubt he would be mentioned in the 'goodbyes' if he was going but there has been no mention by the club of him actually leaving has there?

All very strange. I'd love to know what's going on at Saints these days. Is that Mascarandy still at Saints? He used to come on here and explain a thing or two?

It's got worse as his game has deteriorated. I think at first he blamed teammates for being out of position, then he started on refs for imagined infringements. Now he just shouts at the gods.

Whilst waggling his arms.