Every player is hit and miss. Check what the Aussies think of Dobson and Dureau they say this guy Walsh is twice the player of those 2 but so was Seymour. Lets see what he can do over here before judging him.

From the looks of it he is very inconsistent in the NRL but on his day he can dominate games. Lets hope every SL game he dominates.

Good to see people on here are detached from reality as usual. Saying a scrum half does not take enough hit ups or get enough metres is like saying a prop doesn't score enough tries. Miller looks a useful player but he is a much bigger risk given his experience and age. We need a safe bet and Walsh is the best man available that fits the bill and yes this includes the overrated NRL drop outs currently in Super League. What a bunch of crying women.

Hey, I was just quoting what was said in the link.

And besides, hit ups are part of taking on the line aren't they? He appears to have a reputation of not taking on the line. So no hit ups would fit in with that reputation. As indeed would making no metres. I would have thought a halfback should make some metres. Unless, of course, he never takes on the line.

I was wondering about the hit ups comment. I thought the thread had suddenly changed to a thread about props.

We are a bunch of panic monkeys.

We need a 7, we have got a 7. Is he a better 7 than Wilkin? Must be.

The fact we have got anyone from the NRL has surprised me.

Lance is still contracted for 2 more years and he's not a kicker or an organiser. So long as Walsh can run plays and kick a ball, the rest can be done by 6 and 1.

Those expecting a Sean Long, well he ain't around for a price that SL can afford.

Of course he is. We just don't have the ambition to sign him anymore. Had he been around now, we wouldn't have bid and he'd have signed for Warrington instead.

Just looking at the top team in our comp.

Matty smith average gain 3.5m

So it's not really a great stat for a number 7

It all depends on the player on which way but confidence can be coached. Usually lack of confidence happens when there's a powerful sense of doubt that the individual is struggling to overcome. Coaches can help significantly in addressing that. If a player makes mistakes they normally build that doubt up out of proportion leading to repetition of mistakes. A good coach can help normalise reactions to failure, stopping that person from dwelling on failure.

Mental coaching is about how your mind works and getting it to work for you so that you don't become a slave to your own emotions. Confidence is nothing other than that, an emotion or a state of mind, in the same way that fear, anger, depression are. A good coach can help get a player to that state of mind. I'm not saying it's easy but it is definitely coachable.

On Walsh. Nothing blows me away on what I hear about him but given the other names being banded around e.g. Brough, Smith, Dobson, I'd rather roll the dice on a guy I haven't seen because none of those three just mentioned could start in the NRL, anywhere.

Brough Dobson and smith wouldn't get a start in the NRL but we ain't t looking for players to play NRL. All three certainly can play super league and proven very good hapfbacks in super league(maybe not smith yet).

Dobson is ideal for what we need, he's a organiser, he has great passing game, great kicking game, takes the line on and also kicks goals. Dobson also has that win attitude and hates losing, he's very grumpy when loses.

Its hard to comment on Walsh, he's not had great comments over in oz by the ex players working for the networks and has also been dropped this year for poor form but I've also been told he will go well over here.

Can we wait until he's played for us before writing him off?

Any chance to have a go at the club though ey?

Spot on. Some people just like moaning. And I'm sure there's one or two that get some strange pleasure in seeing us suffer as it fuels their own personal grudges/agendas/vendettas. Sad really.

One thing for sure, Brown got to get this signing right or we well and truly in the $hit.

He does not need to be a world beater. If he is great, but to have a proper 7 will do me.

Get two proper props and we are back up and running. I'd like a 6 too but I'm not greedy.

I agree with that. But some people jump at any opportunity to be negative and put the club down.

People are forming opinions of a player they have never seen play. They are going off the opinion of one or two journalists and one stat from his last game. Typical knee-jerk nonsense from the doom and gloom brigade.

In the NRL, he's up against players like Cronk, Thurston, Marshall, Todd Carney, Pearce, Shaun Johnson, Reynolds, Sandow, Soward, Cherry-Evans who are all quality players. In SL, the scrum halves are nowhere near that level of quality. I'm confident he'll be a good signing against a much lower standard of opposition.

Can we start a thread about a player who we may sign in 5 years time. So we can start with the negatives early on.

I would propose Rob Mulhern, we may sign him as a prop come 2nd rower in 4 years time so quick lets get on his back as not being Saints standard.

I also hear there are a few pregnant women knocking about, maybe we should start a thread on them for not producing players of St. Helens standard.

A huge number of 7's have looked dreadfully average in the NRL and then lit up SL in recent years. It's one position in which we simply don't compete with them right now.

Here's what (some) Panthers fans think of him..... www.pantherpride.com.au/index.ph ... to-england

Here's what (some) Panthers fans think of him..... www.pantherpride.com.au/index.ph ... to-england

Sadly sometimes that is the case.

The fact that St.Helens have signed a scrum-half currently playing for an NRL team should bring hope because as we all know the difference between the two competitions is vast at the moment.

Personally I would not be worried about his lack of breaks, he will be facing some much weaker defences in this country and Im sure he will bring other qualities too.

Paul Deacon rarely took on the line but proved his worth at both Bradford and Wigan.

Those extracts from the Panthers fan site in full - both pros and cons.

Positive :



Negative

Isn't this simlar to what we were told before we signed Perry, Le Franci and HiHo?
All unmitigated disasters using up a fair proportion of our salary cap.

It's hardly surprising people are cynical.

What is being said is that a player who is distinctly average in the NRL and has recently been dropped to the NSW Cup Comp is going to be really quite good in SL.

A player who has a good short kicking game but a poor long game and who doesn't take the line (ever according to the panther's forum) and who didn't get tackled even once in his last 80 minute game - really?
From a panthers team that would struggle against the likes of Leeds & Wigan.

Perry and Laffranchi came over with Australia and NSW caps and Hohaia as a world cup winner with New Zealand, so can't have been that average in the NRL.

Perry was a brilliant signing, just turned out to have left his heart in Oz, laffranchi and lance were signed for the wrong positions, hence bad signings.
I'd be happy if we got Walsh and he played to us potential, he's as good as we can hope for, and better than Dobson as an example

We screwed up with them bar Perry who is just shot with injuries and unlucky. Hohaia was a world cup winning [ifullback[/i who would have been a great replacement for Wellens and Laffranchi is a second row who can cover prop when we needed a monster prop to replace the monster that is James Graham. All 3 have pedigree

I think Perry came to play but the injuries he'd picked up before he came rolled into our pre season them kept getting little injuries until the hamstring put him out for the year.

I think injuries have caught up with Perry and he's struggled since then. Shame really

As has been said above.

Nothing wrong with all 3 players. Perry was unlucky, but we had that with Sia for year 1. Lets not forget his long injury. He came good, but he had years on his side.

Laffranchi and Lance are all down to the mystery that is our recruitment policy. Decent players played in their un-natural positions.

Walsh maybe NRL average, or as the other poster put it, may have lacked a 5/8th.

At Saints he will have Lomax from 1 and Lance at 6 so has little to no need to run at all. Just organise and kick.