why?

I'm not the one making definiive statements as to whre leon will be playing next year! [size=50(although what I've heard tonight suggests your going to end up with egg on your face)[/size

Tell us then,what have you heard.

nah, more fun seeing reaction on here in next week or so

Sounds like an order for Mcdonalds

Interesting that this rumour still has so much smoke around it. It does make one wonder if something is actually ablaze.

It would be interesting to see if Saints actually signed anyone to replace him or whether they just saved the coin and went with what we already have.

I think we all know what the likely answer in that situation would be.

i did hear that he wanted to leave.bradford are his preferred destination,which i can understand considering he still lives there.

This is all great except what happens when we get injuries, or even [ian[/i injury? We have to assume that like this year we'll rarely put out a completely 1st choice back line.

Indeed. Selling Leon would be excusable if he were replaced by a similarly experienced but more creative stand off. Not under any other circumstances, IMO.

A suitabley creative player would be able to switch between 1/2 and 5/8, meaning we'd then only have to get one of Wheeler, Eastmond and Lomax on the pitch at a time, which may be do-able



I wonder whether Royce will employ split half backs, or 1st and 2nd?

Its quite a tough one this and its not going away in a hurry. Latest sketchy rumours are that Orfords future wont be decided until early November, so nothing can happen until then. There's clearly a concern over the fitness of the players who would step in for leon, Lomax/wheeler and then there's gaskell a year younger again i think, but are any of these ready to take the 6 shirt at saints full time? a year in that position will make or break them, it worked for Tomkins so it could work for us.

Are you Paul Cullen?

Well we coped pretty damn well this year without Pryce and Eastmond for long periods.

If Pryce left, we would have Eastmond, Ellis, Wheeler, Lomax, Moore, Gaskell, Flannery and Wilkin who can all cover in the halves.
I would just be tempted to sell Pryce for say £100k and then bring through some of the younger players. The alternative is to see Pryce leave 12 months down the line, with Saints getting nothing.

We've got enough 'younger players' IMO. Just because they are young doesn't mean they are any good. If you bring through 5 'wonderkid' style players, only one or two will ever turn into anything. Acting the big dog against kids, 95% of whom won't make it at any level is one thing, doing it in SL is another.

Of the current crop:

Eastmond - Superb technically, has that individual magic. But injury prone and seems 100% destined for Union.
Lomax - Should be playing fullback. Wellens is a big weakness in the big games. Having Lomax at 6 instead of Leon is a massive drop on current ability levels. He's an exciting player but it would be an =#FF0000[size=200[uENORMOUS[/u[/size risk throwing a halfback partnership of Lomax and Eastmond in together. With Keiron gone we're already down to very few 'old heads'.
Wheeler - I can't honestly remember what he looks like he's spent that much time out. I have only seen one run, away to Huddersfield, where he looked SL quality. All the other games I saw he looked a nervous kid who has spent too much time in the gym working on his guns and too little paying attention in training.
Ellis - To be fair to him I have no idea how good he is. He looked terrible in one game I saw, dropping everything. I heard he was leaving the club, did this not happen?
Gaskell - Had a couple of very lively cameo performances this season and looked very good. Reminded me of David Peachey. Looks too tall and gangly to be playing in the halves, fullback or centre looked more natural positions for him.

Moore is a hooker, Flannery a waste of an overseas spot and nowhere near a halfback either.

IF we let Leon go the position he vacated would become like our 'other' centre spot has been since Wild Bill left. Various kids and players from other positions playing there and us basically carrying them.

I bet we're the only side in SL who cannot field a 13 with players in their natural positions.

The only realistic replacements are lomax, wheeler and Gaskell. Wheeler Was almost permanently injured for the last two years, lomax I really like but also seems a little fragile, and Gaskell needs at least another year before he breaks into the first team full time.
Wilkin, flannery and Moore are never halves, this year proved that and I doubt ellis will be with us long if rumours are true

If Pryce goes, a quality replacement is a must. I'm pretty sure that if Pryce is following Potter, McManus has already gone a long way to sourcing his replacement.

It would leave too big a gap for us to paper over with a young 'un

Bradford admit to Orford asking for a release, more Leon fuel?

That's the 2nd time you've posted that in the last couple of days. What makes you so certain?

If Leon goes now, we're fooked for a replacement. Any marquee players are signed up by know. We could try and get Barrett to change his mind about retirement, but even then, I don't think we've got a quota space.

If I were Leon, I'd want to give Bradford a year to recover under their new coach before going over, anyways.

The ones highlited arent anything like the standard needed for a half. The others havent been tested there at top level.
No halfs no pots.

I could imagine that if Eastmond and either Lomax or Wheeler got a decent run, they could look good, but no Saints fan at the present moment is going to put their faith in having more than one of the three fit at any one time. Hopefully we'll get our conditioning sorted so that we're not having this problem next season and we'll be wondering why we didn't cash in on Leon when we had the chance

It's looking bad for us with Orford putting in his release request officially. Looks like the rumours are true as months ago people were saying "If Orford goes we're signing Leon Pryce". The 'If' part has now been proved right, it'll be interesting to see what transpires from now on.

Losing Leon and not signing anyone else is suicide IMO.

There also linked with about another 5 or 6 half backs, so Orford handing in a transfer request means nothing.

Agreed. We'd find our sleves in a not dissimilar position as we finished this year. Likely our pack would make sure we scraped through to the big games at the end of the season, only for us to be dumped out.

I don't wish to push it, old bean, but can you tell me why you're so sure about Eastmond to union? PM if necessary.

There's a thread on the Leeds board linking them with Burrow.

I've heard them linked to Leon Pryce, Rob Burrow, Thomas Bosc, Maxim Gresque, Peter Wallace, Luke Robinson and Rhys Hanbury. And thats just me.

whats happened to the rumours of bringing Smith back from Salford?