After watching Saints cup tie with Wigan I'd say they need to spend their money wisely and not throw too much cash at Wille & Jordan as they look as though they'll need to replace quite a few players to bring any kind of success back starting with Wellens and one or 2 of their quota players.

I seriously doubt Saints will be winning anything for a while as they just look so poor in every aspect and unrecogniseable from all you expect to see in a St's team.

Hohaia is gash

I agree and is closely followed by Josh Perry.

I said on another thread (or maybe this one).

There need some props, as they are all average.

Turner could be a decent signing thought as Shenton looks poor and Meli will be gone.

I really don't know why they don't play Gaskell in front of Hohaia.

Makinson looks a very good player though, I'd have him at FB.

Wellens can still do a job, but not at FB, I use him at LF.

I think Saints should stick Lomax at Full Back, Wellens to LF, Gaskell at 6 and sign a 7

I believe Crooks should now be given more game time ,now we know turner is off .There are games I believe he should be picked ahead of Turner. Wouldn't it bode well for Hull fc next season for him to gain as much experience in a position we have struggled with in the past ?. Arundel is still only a rumour , Martin will probably leave & Whiting wants to play in the pack.

Bowden will probably play more games now that O'Meley is injured but I did say he will play more games than Crooks will this season anyway. The forwards aren't something I'm to worried about tbh as we haven't had any confirmation of Moa leaving .
Lynn will be gone next year and last I heard Briscoe is still a Hull player next season.

Sums it up completely. Those who are blase about us losing good quality players need to wake up and smell the coffee

I don't believe anyone has been blase about good players leaving, but there's nothing anyone here can do about it. We just need to accept that players will always leave and, of course, be replaced. Do you not think that our current management team will do what is necessary to replace them with better?

Can I just check, have we lost the equivalent of Darren Lockyer and Wally Lewis?

Turner has been garbage for the last two seasons, he has potential but he and McRae simply don't get on, as for Manu, we've had his best, let Saints pay him a fortune whilst we watch Gareth Ellis in the black and white hoops.

If our current management team thought they could replace them with better then they wouldn't have offered the players contracts in the 1st place. They can only pick up what is available and there is a dearth of talent

Surprising how many people miss this point.


This is true. We're fishing in a pretty small pond alongside a lot of other fishermen.

do we have any proof we actually did, especially in Turners case?

I think Jake has some secret microfilms.

Of course they would attempt to keep them. What I'm saying is that once a player has made up his mind that he's leaving the management will do what's best for the club and attempt to replace with better.

But it's a simplistic view of it, or based on some assumptions unless you know the precise details of what's gone on.

I can see the point more with Manu than Turner, as it would appear that we’ve gone back with several offers to try and convince him to stay, and actually gone on record as saying that he’d be one of the highest earners at the club. With Turner, however, all I’ve seen from the club is that he’s been made what they feel is a very fair, good offer, and they would be happy if he accepts it. Now it could well be that Turner wants more money, but the club feel that if they are going to pay any more than what's on offer, then actually, yes they can indeed replace him with better. It's not that long ago most fans were up in arms that our squad is full of overpaid players we've consistently retained, now we might not be letting players hold us to ransom and could possibly lose a few as a result, there's still outcry. The club will never win, but IMO the current regime have so far earnt a bit of leeway and faith.

I made a similar point a few weeks back when the Manu outcry was at fever pitch. They may have offered Turner a salary commensurate with (their judgement of) his ability and it may be quite possible that they'll replace him with someone better. Or as good, but for not quite as much money as Turner wanted. Either way, I have faith that they know what they're doing.

Fully agree.

Pretty much every post on here is based on some assumption or other.



It's a reasonable assumption IMO that if you offer a player a contract you didn't have anyone better lined up for that position at the time of the offer. That doesn't mean that someone can't be found, but they may or may not be better depending on who becomes available.


There's been no outcry from me. I expected a high player turnover for the very reasons you state and I reckon there'll be plenty more to come. My point wasn't that we should have gone balls-out to keep Manu and Turner, merely that replacing them with similar or better quality players may no be as easy as some think.

True, but I was more offering that people are perhaps not missing the point mentioned at all, but instead not convinced that it is entirely the case.



No more reasonable than assuming you have other options and that the player in question is only the best one up to a certain price. If this was a player we were looking to bring in and he turned us down for more money elsewhere, we'd probably be seeing posts saying the club were right and he's not actually that good anyway, and I'd see little difference to this situation.



The reality of the situation is that as fans not directly involved we have little idea just how difficult/easy it would be to replace Turner. Even if it is difficult, that does not mean we won't pull it off, either. I therefore find it pointless at this stage to be getting overly bothered and defeatist that it looks like he is going, and don't understand the seeming assumption that it is a big loss before seeing who the club get in and how they go first.

I'm not saying it's necessarily a good thing that he might be going, but personally I think the level of concern about it (and Manu, to a certain extent) should be reserved for situations like the loss of a key player (which he isn't), or when it is a position we are looking particularly short on numbers for (and they're both behind prop and fullback/halfback for that at the moment). Of the prospective losses this year, I personally think that Moa eclipses either player.

Regardless of whether Turner is leaving or not, Crooks will need to get some game time to help his development. I don't agree with people that think we should just drop Turner for him because he's leaving. Crooks will need a certain amount of games, but just chucking him in at the deep end isn't going to be the best for his development.

Youth players should get their chance, either when players get injured or to rest players and then it is up to them to take that chance.
They shouldn't get games because we're dropping someone that wants to leave.

Easing Crooks into certain games isn't chucking him in the deep end , He will need to play some time.

Is this turner thing even official? The only news I've seen is the article in HDM which says that talks are still ongoing and that the mail understands that he is close to signing for saints.

There will no [iofficial [/istatements till either the club give him permission to talk to other clubs, or Sept 1st. Of course most deals are done and dusted before any of the above happen.

Im still not convinced Turner is going, the only news about the situation is on here or HDM neither of which is reliable

I never said it was. In fact, I was agreeing that we should be. I imagine that was the plan all along, and the situation with Turner shouldn't change that.

What I don't agree with is people saying we should be dropping Turner for Crooks simply on the basis that he's going at the end of the season.

If we had Greg Inglis of two years ago (same age as Turner) and he decided he wanted to leave, would people drop him? I highly doubt it.

I'm not saying Turner is anywhere near as good as Inglis. But it appears that people have certain rules when it comes to dropping players that are leaving that don't apply to others.