From what a hear (from other people) we have signed Zeb.

In the last few hours he has also just started following Saints on social media. Spent years with Catalans yet never followed our club, gets linked in the papers in OZ then follows our club. Biggest Troll I know if he hasent signed.

Hope its not a 5 yr contract

Swap for Greenwood? Unbelievable if that has happened IMO.

Is this the guy who was at Catalan the season before last, Sebtaia

He was a 2nd rower but played at centre to cover injuries and was devastating in attack.
When he went back in 2nd row he didn't impress as much

Same bloke, pretty good player and should still show up well in the Superleague comp. Made plenty of breaks and offloads for Catalans which has been in short supply at our club, a 2 year deal would be good short term business. If Greenwood doesn't, hack it in the NRL hopefully he can return to the club a bit more experienced from a tougher NRL.

I don't mind this. Greenwood had set his heart on a move to the NRL and was going at the end of the season anyway. All we've done is traded a potentially distracted player for a professional old head. Taia has real size to him and is a better player than Greenwood currently.

Greenwood has done well to get his move and good luck to him. I've often criticised players for not taking a punt and believing in themselves and he's gone and done it. It will be an absolute baptism of fire moving mid-season with no pre-season to adjust to the country, the heat and the new team. I remember Gareth Ellis was criticised when he first went for being incredibly raw defensively and needing weeks to be coached properly. And he was regarded as world class when he went. I'd be amazed if Joe was playing first grade over the next month or two. Saints need to keep in touch and ensure he comes to us if he does come back with his tail between his legs like all Wigan's players do when they fail miserably.

Played really well at catalan when I seen him. I'd say a upgrade on Greenwood

Looked good the times I saw him for the titans last season too.

Regards

King James

He's 32yr old now which isn't great

Let Greenwood go, put a first option clause in his contract should he return. Get an experienced (and better player at present) in Taia in exchange, and sign Greenwood back in a year or 2. Win/win.

So when do we find out if this is actually happening? If it's true, it would seem to make sense for Taia to arrive this week so he's got a full week with the lads before the Leigh game? Has anyone else bar this one Aussie journalist commented on it?

3 year deal for Taia according to AUS press.

I'll probably get shot down for this but I don't rate Greenwood. He's not a bad player but he's certainly not great player and doesn't seem to be progressing. As most know on here, I watched the u16s and u19s regular and I never expected him to make first team.

He does run great lines and I doubt many players in super league run those lines as well but that's all he offers. For such a big lad he doesn't run his size and constantly gets smashed when having to take a drive. He misses far to many tackles by going to high and getting knocked off. He also gives away far to many penalties from high shots and lying on.


I'd definitely put a first option on him if he does want to come home just to be safe.

He,s just hasn't,t got that aggressive streak to consistently trouble the opposition, sometimes I call him "Gentleman Joe", maybe the NRL can toughen him up. If he comes back to Superleague, Saints need to see some improvement before having the option to re sign him.

He is no great loss.

How quickly some turn on a player! lol

I don't think it's about turning on a player. I wish Greenwood all the best. But he hasn't kicked on from his great early start. When he first broke into the team, his size, coupled with the lines he chose, made him all but unstoppable in the opposition 20. I thought he was going to be potentially a new Sculthorpe. But he broke his leg, and since then hasn't achieved the same pre-break form, let alone moved forward.

St Pete is correct in that he doesn't run his weight. Very tall, thin players are relatively easy tackling targets, so they have to develop methods of making themselves less easy to put to ground, like Scully's handoff, or develop an offloading game to take advantage of height and reach. Greenwood hasn't really done either. I can't say I've seen a problem with his defence, but then a second=row shouldn't have any defensive weaknesses, and we're not short of second-rows who can tackle.

So overall, I think we gain from this swap. But I hope that we make sure he goes with our best wishes and good relationships, so that if he does kick on in the crucible of the NRL, and decides to return to England, he can rejoin us a better player.

Who's turned on him? Most agree he's not a big loss zeb taia is currently better than him. Not one person on this forum from what I've seen has said anything bad about him.

LMS and Walmsley now following him on Twitter.

From an outsiders point of view I agree with St Pete. Approx 18 months ago Joe and Ben Currie both came to the fore and at that time I thought that Joe looked like he could be the better player. But since that time Joe seems to have overall stagnated whilst Ben has gone from strength to strength.

Deal completed! www.sportinglife.com/rugby-leagu ... 10774989/-

Deal completed! www.sportinglife.com/rugby-leagu ... 10774989/-

St Pete - interested you say you watched the 16s and 19s when JG came through. I did at that time too. I remember quite a few of the lads who signed at the same time from Blackbrook as joe and went to Australia on tour with saints.
Where are they now?

Joe Bate
Danny Jones
Marcus Baines
Callum Welsby
Josh Jones - know of him of course now Salford.

I've lost touch with things as am now living abroad so keen to know.

Callum Welsby plays for Blackbrook I believe. Marcus Baines no longer plays and is now a Junior Process Engineer with PQ Corporation after graduating with a degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of Manchester.

Danny Jones was at Barrow Raiders for a spell but no sign of him there now. Joe Bate was at Rochdale up until 2014 but again no sign of him now.

Thanks for the update. Just goes to show that lads who go through scholarships and sign at an early age often don't make it to super league level.
Joe G and Josh Jones being the exception to the 6 lads.
Adam Swift I recall being a late "bloomer" who didn't come through the system until 19/20.

Another example of lads being heralded as "stars of the future" are the Evans twins Ben and Rees signing with Warrington of course. They were quality playing with Burtonwood Bulldogs at the time. Ben suffered with injuries to be fair and now with London while you just have to read the Wolves forum to see how their fans don't rate Rees one bit.

Morale is juniors shouldn't give up if they aren't signed at 16/17.

This signing is another example of how the mentality has changed regarding contracts. Taia has been given a contract equivalent to three years at the age of thirty two. This would never have happened when the club had ambition to win trophies. McManus and whoever advises him are constantly paying on the cheap for utility players who are at best average. Some of the recent signings have been to say the least woeful. I won't bother naming them as I am sure you know as well as I do who they are. Silverware is won by teams who have a few players with exceptional talent in their given position, who in turn can win games with their individual skill. Sadly I do not see any in the red vee.