If Turner was staying, and all our centres were fit, would you drop him?

Yes, Yeamo and Martin are better. HTH

Yeaman is a finisher, not a creator of tries. Yeaman does not have the ability to draw a man and release his winger. Yeaman is a head down, run into the opposition type.

Turner, this season, has shown he has far more in his locker



HTH

I prefer Martin at right centre inside Sharp, and would take Yeaman over him on the left. So yes I would.
But I wouldn't drop him for Crooks just because he's leaving, if that's what you're getting at.

In your opinion. Mine and many others differ.

I find it amusing that BONES hasn't answered this one yet...

Why? Manu isn't a developing player, Lyne is and Moa hasn't already signed somewhere else (to my knowledge).
There's potential, while Martin's in the squad, to ease Crooks in to the role. Which helps us long term. It's not going to affect us too adversely and we're not going to win anything this year. Why not?

Not saying I'd do it myself but it's certainly an option.

Why does it matter that Turner is developing?
And if Moa signs for someone else, you'd drop him? He's developing.

And why aren't we going to win anything this year? Reckon Gentle thinks like that? We are contenders. Winning the league isn't likely, but it is possible, and we shouldn't throw the season away on developing young players when we don't have to.

Moa has been completely open and honest about his situation, and it's a lot different being a 24 hours flight away from home and a 2 hour drive. The two situations are not comparable.
Do you think playing Turner will make the difference of us winning the grand final? I'd think you were delusional if you did.

Derby hat trick and a couple of long range tries?

I personally think there's no doubt he's improved this year, but not enough to eliminate my nagging doubts about him. I actually think we'll learn more about him with the next blip in form and see how he reacts, there's every possibility we're seeing the best 2 months of form his career will ever have. Also, whilst I don't think it's entirely true to say he has only performed against the weaker sides this year, I can't honestly say I think he's come up against a genuinely good centre yet, either.

Disagree that he's been FAR better with ball in hand. He's probably looked a yard quicker, but other than that he was just as good last year, even as a critic of him I've never doubted his attacking ability. The vast majority of his improvement has been in defence.

It doesn't matter at all and I find it absolutely amazing people believe he should be dropped, yet some of these people think it is alright to develop Russell who [uis a Wigan player[/u



Maybe as a club we should stop any dual regulations as we could not possibly want other teams contributing to the development of young players.

You're forgetting about his significatly improved defence.

Some people just adopt the "he's leving, he's crap, we can get better" approach. If there were better players available then saints would sign them instead of turner

Let us hope Arundel is dropped at Cas 'eh since he is signing for us

This is mainly down to a better structure on our right hand side that Gentle has brought in.

There is no doubt that he has improved this year, but not as much as some claim on here, I have seen words like Exceptional, will be an England international and top 3 centre in SL being thrown about, which is going a bit over the top IMO.

Also there is no way in the world that martin is currently better than Turner, Martin is a very average player, who should now be our 4th centre.

Using what measure is Martin better than Turner?

Spot on IMO. Although I might have Martin as third based purely on not wanting to rush Crooks.

He'd have to be playing first.

Totally agree.

Fair point



However the point I am making is very clear.

Just to clear up, The last time i had checked, Joe Arundel hadn't signed his contract with you. There were rumours suggesting it was all a done deal etc, And thats why some of the spiteful Cas fans turned and seemed not bothered.

He is a mate, And as a mate i have advised him to come to you, There is potential there, Much more personally for him, Than at Cas. The offer you have made is better than the Cas one (Which he was happy with btw), But you can offer him more in long term security and opportunities to play in the big games, And that will probably win him over

The rumour for this has been out a while, Michael Shenton is apparently returning to Cas, So St Helen's still have a gap to fill.

As for Turner, As someone said, 90 miles a day to training and for matches, Really isn't ideal and the move he is making is a sensible one.

And, Whilever both he and Manu are playing to their full potential, You play them. Who cares about what they do next season, Surely your sole focus is achieving this year, Not been spiteful.

Quite right as well.

I like outside backs who are quick enough to go the length of the field. For centres I also like them to have ball handling skills in particular being able to give their winger the best possible chance with accurate and well timed ball. This is why whilst recognising the input Yeaman has had to the team I've always felt he lacks in certain areas to be judged as a great centre. Turner has shown this season that he can do both of these things against opposing centres who have been selected for international squads. Does this make him a potential international or even a great centre ? No it doesn't but he is young and British and there are not too many around of that type that can do it. Defensively he looks far better within the improved structures in place under Gentle. He also has the physical attributes required to play top level.

So I think this is a pretty big loss to the squad. It wont bring the club to its knees of course but we obviously wanted to keep him and Saints obviously think he's good enough to play in their team. Can't blame him for going at all if he wants to move location. I haven't really seen enough of Arundel to know whether IF he signs he can do a similar or better job. If he does sign then here's hoping he can otherwise we will be weaker in the centre position next season.

I agree with much of what you have said here. However I like my outside backs to score trys first and foremost, that's were Yeaman excels. I know he has his shortcomings but he's a tryscorer just like Briscoe, they have a knack of being able to get over the line when it matters. Pace and great hands are all well and good but they count for nothing if you can't score. Yeaman is still our no1 centre for me and until we sign better will remain so.

Probably worth mentioning that Hall had a better scoring record than Yeamo while he was here. Think Turner might have a better strike rate also.