When?

Or it could swing the other way. He'd gain confidence from steaming in for so many tries and might turn out better in the fumble department. Sullivan wasn't all that hot early in his career and he turned out okay.

Kevin Penny wouldn't score any more than Gardner. Ade's ability to finish when being tackled close to the line is his greatest (and most ignored) asset.

Didn't London hold a "Prop Idol" open trial once (half as a publicity stunt)?

We could go to all the amatur clubs from the surrounding areas asking for lads to enter. Get the press in, let speccies in to watch for free....

Candidate must:
Be between 18 and 20
Be 6' 1" minimum
Weight 13st odd minimum
Be able to run 50m in less than X seconds
Be able to run 100m in less than Y seconds
Be able to run 400m in less than Z seconds
Must have two arms (with hands)

Run the above tests to sort the wheat from the chaff and then go into skill tests to find the best rugby players.

You never know, you may unearth a gem.

Whilst I agree that it is his best asset, I'm not so sure it's that much better than many other wingers in the league.

Just imagine what he could do with a world class centre like Gidley. He would be worth a punt in my book.

Would be good to see some real pace. At the right price would be worth
a go.


The thing with Gardner is that you know the mistakes and limitations
will show but there are no real positives anymore.
Are Celtic after a winger ?

Feck off Ade Give a rookie with pace a go !

Keep Meli for this season then feck him off and get some more
pace on the other flank.

Even if Penny dropped half of his chances, he'd still probably score more than Gardner. Gardner's ability to squeeze in the corner seems to be dwindling along with everything else. He tries his best and thats fair play to him but Penny has the one asset that our three-quarter line heavily lacks, and with good coaching could be devastating.

BREAKING NEWS : penny and graham in transfer swap deal

Tony Smith? Potter? No contest!!

No, no , no and well no sorry Kevin.

After publically humiliating himself at Knowsley Road (when it was Knowsley Road) against us in the Cup that was enough for me to know we should pass.

If he gets better then yes but he needs some more weight on him the lad, looks like hese been on the ryvita for the last 20 years.

I hope he makes it. Love them for your side or hate them against you there's nothing like watching a winger with real pace. FWIW in terms of experience he's probably not much less experienced than Ryan Hall was at the start of last year. From what I've seen he could do with a bit more 'meat' on his bones, and may never be the best defender, but as I say I'd rather watch an exciting attacking winger than any number of 'solid' pros.

Ryan Hall has developed mainly because of the excellent service given to him by his centre partner, Senior. (Donald too looked a far better winger with Senior inside). Penny with Gidley could be even more devastating.

To be fair, penny has had pretty good centres at wire

He's got plenty of raw ability and needs to be nurtured carefully in a good set up.

Hold on, a couple of months back we were saying we weren't a good set up.

Plus with our fans, we'd murder him. He'd end up a crying mess in Compost Corner.

exactly, saints wouldnt be the best place for him now

So where would be a good place for him?

It occurred to me that we two English wingers in Penny and Ainscough with heaps of ability and potential who need to be getting better coaching than they have had already. We have few enough promising backs in this country without allowing those with a bit of potential to drift.

Is it necessarily down to coaching though? I'd have thought two cashed up clubs like Wigan and Wire would be likely to have good solid coaching infrastructures. Certainly the pies have had no trouble bringing in Tomkins and continue to churn out solid Super League players.

Could it not be that Penny and Ainscough, despite having clear ability in some areas of the game, simply aren't any good at other areas of it?

Who

I would not say that anyone at Warrington is a great centre that provides quality ball to their winger on a regular basis.

When he was getting slated, he had King at his very worst inside him.

paul johnson, henry fa'afili, ben westwood, simon grix, then in 08 he got matt king.

only grix hasnt been an international

international wingers and a backrow forward

but not poor players. Again in all fairness, as others have said king was in v.poor form at the time, and as you say the other players weren't natural centres

Gidley is a world class centre. If he was English he'd be striaght in! That's the difference. The others weren't centres and King is a damn good finisher but can't set anything up like Gidley does! Penny would be very dangerous off the back of Gidley's skills!