What's going on with this guy?

Arm injury still seems to be hampering him but is general play is pretty dire. No pace, missed tackles - does he offer any mpre than Flannery or Meli in the centre. Emergence of Josh Jones is also making it more obvious

You are right, there is definately something not right with him.

By last year's GF, he'd become viewed by many fans as a really important player to the side, and his defence in the final itself was immense - indeed his injury was IMO the turning point of the match.

But he's been poor this year.

I have some sympathy with him over the arm injury. However prior to that he hadnt set the world on fire. Not that i ever expected that.

He is more of a solid pro rather than anything special.

The emergence of 18 YEARS OLD Josh Jones, and the quality we have with Wheeler and Makinson may mean he struggles to get a contract renewal.

We also have Percival coming through who may get an appearance next season.

I'm actually amazed at how slow he is. I don't know if he was once quick and has lost it, but I'd expect a player so thin with no physical threat to be quicker he is.

Jones looks physically up to the task. Whether he has the foot speed and/or skill to make a good centre is still to be answered.



Which means it'll be approx five years before he's a fully mature pro. By that time Shenton will be long gone and close to retirement.

I commented on shenton after the hull game, he just don't look right and his arm/shoulder looks weird, it's of sync with his body.

His defence has been very poor and his attack poor also.

He isn't slow. He's just not playing well. Either it's his arm which is troubling him or he is just off form. That happens in sport.

I think it's his arm, he's clearly not happy with it yet and seems to be carrying it.

The big thing saints need to work out, if it's just a case of it getting up to strength and him being ok mentally with it or is this permanent.

He's off contract at the end of the year so we need to decide pretty quick.

I beg to differ. See his 'chase' for the length of the field Hull try for proof. He is nowhere near as quick as his frame suggests.

Well that's 2 centre spots up for grabs. I reckon we could only feasable fill one from within in such a short turn around. Jones is only 2 games in, unless people are advocating leaving him in long term rather than a short burst of games. Well that is also what people advocated with Foster, Lomax, Gaskell etcetc. You need to pace the young lads into the team otherwise you get the over hype of recent years of players with potential being accelerated into a team with no experience around them.

Lets face it our back line has
Wellens, Meli, (some now saying shenton), Gardner, due to retire or move on in the next year or 2 years.
We should not be throwing youth in to every spot, it would end up with our back line having Wheeler as the most experienced player. Drip feeding one or 2 in alongside more experience players would provide a better balance (IMHO).

The fact we've only ever played with one out and out centre since willie talau left many years ago was always going to be a problem if our one centre got hurt.

The young lad at London looks a very very good player, he's fast, great feet and is more than holding his own at the moment.

I've been very impressed with young josh jones. He's not looked out of place at all and is physically ready at 18 years old for super league.

I've just got a feeling that jones is going to a top player!

Heard he isn't happy. I'd have him back home though. Was at Old Trafford last year, and he was going well until that injury

The Hull board seem to think that Jordan Turner (the guy who burned Shenton) has signed for a club in gods country for next season as its closer to home.

If Shenton is off contract at the end of this season, i would certainly look at replacing Shenton with Turner.

Shenton is on a three year deal

He looks speedy to me. He was also on Roby's shoulder for the bombed try scoring opportunity recently. Roby was going full whack and he isn't slow.

Question re: Shenton's retention is still very simple. Who do we replace him with? There is no centre in the British game not already signed up to big contracts any better than (or even remotely as good as) him. The British game is at an all-time nadir as far as 3/4 talent is concerned. Shenton might be a fairly mediocre player by the standards of Saints #3s and #4s past, but an absolutely fantastic and irreplaceable player given the game's current setup and talent pool. Any possible replacement we could sign would inevitably be a step down from him, at least in the short to medium term. He's still clearly suffering from the injury and was becoming a vitally important player in Saints' defensive line before it - we've got little choice but to keep playing him and hoping that he recovers that standard of form and that the injury doesn't permanently hamper him, and to make all possible attempts to resign him if he does.

Shenton has been a disappointment for me.

If you are a centre who offers very little in attack then you need to be a fantastic defender. Even when on better form I thought his defence was overrated, and at the moment he's a genuine weak link in our line.

Northampton Saint, you either underestimate the current crop of British three-quarters or overestimate their predecessors. Warrington, Huddersfield and Leeds each have a pair of English centres that I'd have over Shenton. Your point about availability remains, though. There wouldn't be any point in letting Shenton go if we couldn't replace him, but he isn't providing value for money at the moment and any sort of new deal would need to reflect that.

I agree with this.

I'm pretty shocked how poor he is in defence, I always thought we was solid in defence but he's a weak link and when you miss tackles in the centre it can be costly.

His attack is pretty poor also, unless he's put in the clear then the is little chance of him beating a man. Hes not strong enough to break a tackle and he doesn't have a step.

The problem is getting another centre to replace him as the ain't many available.

It says everything about centres in the British game at the moment that the best one out there is still probably a 32 year-old who's been mostly a shadow of when he was at his pomp for over 7 years, who has played a handful of games the last couple of seasons and who can't hold down a first team spot due to rampant personal issues. Very, very depressing indeed.

Lets face it has Shenton put in any memorable performances since he joined Saints?
He is a run of the mill player.

He was doing ok at the end of last year until his injury, i'm willing to give him more time to get over it

But nothing more than ok. At no point so far has he reached the potential he seemed to offer at Cas. I don't think anyone thought he'd be the next Paul Newlove. But there was EVERY reason to believe he'd hit the kind of performances that, say, Gleeson did prior to brain explosion and transfer to Warrington. Right now he's nowhere near and shows few signs of turning things around.

Which brings us neatly back to Keiron & Mike Rush. Do they have the experience and ability to coax Shenton back to his best? If not and we have to wait for Brown the rot might be too great to overcome and Shenton is effectively finished at the club.

Until we can get better quality ball out to the right it doesnt matter who we have their if the service they get isnt to good.

Shenton was OK in the Leeds game, I was not going to make a judgement on him too early this season. Last year was his settling in year and lets face it settling in he did far better than some do in their first year.

eg Perry.

So far he's had more service this year but still seams to be lacking something even on last year. However he has a 3 year deal, so worse case senario he will be ok for one more year. I hope he can turn it around for himself and our sakes, but if he cannot, then that means we may need to go shopping for a centre in 2013.

Whilst we have Wheeler and Josh Jones, I would doubt that both will seal a centre spot, it's possible but if that happened it would be very similar to having 2 young halfbacks left to fend for themselves.

With Ade and Meli due to retire, you could end up with a real derth of experience in the wing and centre spots. I can see us long term filling one centre spot and one winger from within and one centre spot and one wing from buying in. Where from depends on too many factors, such as overseas quota, Shentons form and salary cap.