Does anyone keep an eye on how ex players are doing. Interested to hear opinions

Josh jones i would have liked back st saints
clough, dixon, ashurst, and any others i cant think of.

That James Graham seems to be doing alright, might be worth another punt



Can't help but laugh at the Wigan fans continued disagreements about Matty Smith, but come what may, no one can deny where hes got to from Eastmonds shadow (who is hardly tearing up trees these days). Scott Moore seems to be winning over alot of the Wakefield fans at the moment, and Ashurst is a regular for them now - Does anyone know if the Andy Yates that is in the Wakefield squad is the same Andy Yates that came through the Saints academy?

Jamie Ellis, Gary Wheeler and Chris Dean are the only others in the top flight iirc?

Lee Gaskell (Bradford), Tom Armstrong, Jake Emmitt, Andrew Dixon(?) (Leigh) and Ste Tyrer (Halifax) are in the championship

The disappointing thing with Jones is that he made absolutely no impact in the other game and was back in SL for the back end of pre-season. Given the injury crisis in the backs he'd have been perfect at left centre all season, and the horror show against Catalans at the very least could have been part-avoided as he is a seriously good defender. Would sooner pay him Peyroux and Owens' combined wage going off their contributions so far.

Whilst the other three you mention served us pretty well you could hardly complain that we've missed any of them, that said I'm surprised only one of them is still at SL level. Of the rest I can quickly think of, Wheeler, Moore and Ellis are all decent players however the first two were given ample opportunity and the latter developed away from us. Wheeler had real potential at one time but enough was rightly enough given his injuries.

Always had a soft spot for Gaskell personally, looked like he could go right to the top when he first broke through and was very disappointed when he left. Unsure of the reasoning behind his departure but I felt more could have been done to nurture his talents.

Didn't Armstrong go part time to finish his studies? He looked a good player too although I haven't kept up with how he's doing now tbh.

Yates did come through our Academy.

Josh Jones is having a really good season for Salford. A very strong runner, who makes his fair share of breaks and metres. Very good signing for us.

I've always thought Jones was good. Big lad but he can shift too.

Surprised Saints didn't go back for him, maybe Cunningham not a fan of the way he left?

Yes the very same, left Saints for Hunslet then on to Leeds.

I think it was more that we'd replaced him with a similar player (Peyroux) by the time he came back. I like Jones as a player but with the salary cap it would be difficult to justify having two centre/utilities in the squad. We may well have been spent up anyway.

Jamie Foster is still at Huddersfield isn't he? He's another one.

Carl Forster at Salford and Chris Dean at Widnes from 1st team Super League squads who've been forgotten. In the Championship there's Gaskell, Paul Clough, Ian Hardman, Jacob Emmitt, Andrew Dixon, Tom Armstrong, Danny Langtree, Jordan Hand, David Hewitt and Matty Fozard.

Then if you consider players who were in our youth teams but have since been released still in Super League, you could add;
Matty Whitley - now at Widnes but played at both Warrington and Saints on scholarship.
Josh Wood - now at Salford but was at Saints on scholarship.
Joe Ryan - was at Saints until he was too old for u19s, now at Warrington playing reserve rugby.

Ant Walker is at Wakefield but not getting a look in currently.

Matty Ashurst probably one of our best players this year, Scott Moore not doing to bad either now.

Scott Moores raw talent was never in question. His problem is that he has a brain the size of a pea that tends to explode at the worst times on the pitch and also led him into far too many issues off the pitch. Unfortunately he will go down as one of the players with massive potential that he has never come close to fulfilling.

Or driving a car at 2.00 am in his underpants.

Whats wrong with that?

On the topic of ex Saints players I went to Bradford v Salford and Paul Clough absolutely dominated the salford pack and made Tasi look look like a school boy. I know you shouldnt judge from one game but i knew there and then that tasi wasnt even a championship level player

Regards

King James

I thought clough had massive potential but then he just seem to stop improving.

Cant remember if it was ashurst or dixon, but one of them reminded me of lee gilmour and i never thought we should have got rid

Why? Do you think this is normal / acceptable behavior for a rugby "star" or otherwise?

FTR was a massive Scott fan until he went AWOL with his senses and I'm pleased he is doing really well at his current club Wakefield. He says his wild days are behind him and I hope they are.

Probably Dixon, He did remind me a bit of Gilmour too, proper wide running second rower with a bit of pace

Paul Johnson the prop went from looking a decent prospect with us, to Wakefield and most recently Widnes but not heard about him in a while?

Clough was a good player when he broke through into the first team. I think he was a second rower when he came through but was the victim of trying to bulk up second rowers into props at a time when we had few front row options.

Scott Moore sent off tonight.

TBF he was sticking up for Gibson after a shocking tackle from Ah Van

Did well at Wakefield then went to Hull.

Driving a car in your underpants? Next you will be telling me its criminal to drive a car in a vest

Kind regards

King james

I think he's been injured.

Ant is a good player, he would be worth another go. If he works cheap then he would be good squad fodder.

We have a small army of ex players at Rochdale. Lewis Gailbraith, Danny Yates, Warren Thompson, Jordan Case, James Tilley, Alex McClurg all played in their last game while Gaz Langley has pulled on a shirt for them in the last year. Warren Thompson never got offered a first team contract but seemed a good player.

Mile Greenwood has had a good career at Fax. Carl Ashall is at Barrow (never understood why he never had a pro contact), Carl Forber is at Workington, Connor Dwyer is at Swinton I think, Tommy Johnson is at Crusaders.

Where is Paul Johnson these days? Same for Dom Speakman?

Even though none of these players are losses to the club it is good that Saints have produced so many professional standard players over the last decade.