I'm presuming you mean Leon and not Karl!!

In which case he would be a great signing but I very much doubt it will happen.

We can dream!

Maybe Saints want to free up cap space because Simmons is bringing Benji Marshall with him

I'll have a pint of what you're having!

Beaver would be at centre if I were picking the team.

depends if he was classed as a kolpak player under old system which I think he was. to be exempt you have to be playing in SL before new quota rules came in (feb 07 or 08 I think) and a kolpak player. This is why morrison couldnt get it. he was over early enough but was a quota player under old rules.

Pretty certain meli will be exempt.

Well then i'd definitely want him over any of our wingers.


RE Hoods comments about Sykes....


Maybe Potter is going to use Kearney at 6 and Reardon at 1?

I know we'd all like to think we'll be getting a quality 6 in, but who is off contract??

Certainly cant think of any british players OOC, which brings us back to having to let menzies go in order to strengthen a position we really need. Certainly will be a difficult decision for club but its a case of losing a 2nd row / LF ( where we have decent strength both in squad already and coming through academy plus possibility of extras coming in like elima) in order to strengthen an area which we need a quota spot due to unavailability of british players. I'm deliberately ignoring possibility of using menzies as a and just thinking in terms of strenthening the halves ftaod.

As much as I like Menzies, and I would love to have him at the club another year, if there was a top quality (and it would have to be top) 6 available, then it may be worth it. If we get Elima, he is quality & younger than Beaver, plus Donno, Whitehead and Olbison will all be pushing for more gametime.
Otherwise, no thanks.

thing to consider is that any player we replace menzies with is unlikely to in the same class as him. The point is they will be in a position we are weak in, whereas menzies plays in position where we have some depth ( and part of reason we brought him over originally was to develop the likes of whitehead and donno so in that sense job done). Whilst the individual player brought in may not be in the same class as menzies they could improve the balance of the team. As such they shouldnt be considered in isolation against menzies if you understand what im trying to say.

Yes and no. He plays both second row and centre. He has been, around the best of our second rows (I agree we have some terrific you SRs coming through, who must play) and the best centre by a country mile. It obviously depends on the rest of the ins and outs but for me he ought to be retained to play principally in the centre, not in the forwards.

I think a lot of this debate hinges on Southernwood's progression and development. Medders stated they signed him with the intention of using him next season. If that is the case, then why waste a large chunk of cap and a quota spot to sign another 6?

However if he still isn't ready for first team rugby then we will need a solution. I reckon they will move Kearney to 6 and play either Finigan/Reardon/Sykes/Halley at fullback.

Finigan
Meli
Menzies
Platt
Sherriffe
Kearney
Orford

I'd be relatively happy with that back line.

I know that assumptions are all we can manage at this stage, but there are alot there.

Menzies resigning, Sheriffe re-signing, Meli wanting to come, Sykes being used as backup, Finigan being ready for a whole season at fb etc.

My sister, who is currently living over there, says that the rumour of Leon coming back to us with Mick Potter is still getting column inches in the Manc Evening News. Nothing I can link to on the website but the rumour is refusing to go away

Speaking of Pryce...

[url=http://www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=rleague/10/08/07/RUGBYL_St_Helens.htmlCould be out for the season[/url

Well having just revealed that he is injured, he probably be signing with us now. And will spend the season on the treatment table...

I've worked it out, Sykes to centres, Kearney to 6, Menzies to full-back.


Potter must have informed one of the guys at Sky Sports

[urlhttp://www.skysports.com/rugbyleague/player/0,25470,12213_166907,00.html[/url

Kearney
Halley
Platt/Sykes
Menzies
Reardon/Meli
Sykes/New 6
Orford
Lynch
L'Estrange
Scruton
Elima
Whitehead
Langley

Godwin
Paleaasina
Kopzcak
Hall

I'd be very happy with that line-up. I hope Potter lets Whitehead start in the second row next season, he deserves it after the season he's had.

I increasingly suspect the Beaver won't be here next season. The Hoodster's reply to the question at the FF implied that. Had they known he would be here, I'm sure the answer would have included platitudes and all sorts. I just hope we know before the Wakey match so, if necessary, we can send off the Legend in a fitting fashion.

Beaver has been one of the highlights of following the Bulls these last two seasons. I knew when we signed him we'd got a top player (despite his age) but he's exceeded my expectations. He'll leave a big hole in the side next year if he retires and we'll miss his bit hits, clever footwork and passing plays.

I hope we use the quota spot wisely.

All of which is pretty much what we've got this season plus Meli and Elima and although it is a decent starting 13 I still don't see it as being quite what it could be, and if the mark of a top team is its bench then that is definitely not a top team. Personally I reckon that losing Menzies, painful though it is, is the best move for the long term for pretty much the reasons stated by Mat earlier, and although I agree that Menzies may be the best centre at the club that doesn't make him the best we could get. A centre and a 6 are the priorities for mine.

This would be my stab:
Kearney
Finnigan (if we think he's the one for the future then back him)
Platt
New 4
Meli
New 6
Orford
Scruton
L'Estrange
Lynch
Whitehead
Donaldson
Langley

Godwin / Addy (looks like could be a decent hooker to me)
Paleaasina
Elima
Sykes

Squad:
Addy
Kopczak
Crossley
Olbison
Halley
Hall (if we can't get rid)
Burgess G

If we do lose Menzies next year, it will be interesting to see who Potter views as our best Loose Forward. I don't think Langley is the answer and it is a pretty important position IMO. At this moment in time it looks like a choice between Donaldson or Addy.

I would like to see Donaldson tried in a more creative role, I don't think we'll see the best of him whilst he is just charging the ball up. Addy is undoubtedly suited to 13 but he probably isn't as sound defensively as Donaldson yet. But he has only just broke into the 1st team so I am sure he has plenty of improvement in him yet.

Menzies won't be re-signed. Poor decision given that a guy with is reputation wouldn't risk it by playing an additional year if the body is "shot". He will know how he feels.

Any of Langley, Donaldson or Addy would more than adequately fill 13 albeit 2 of those are more creative types and it's a tough ask to continually change the team structure if Langley, as a guy who is a better line runner and hole hitter, misses a game or is moved to SR.

I repeat Glenn Morrison should have been re-signed. At the moment Ken Morrison would do a better job than Worrincy.

With hindsight I suggest virtually everyone would have preferred to keep Morro, given how Hall has failed to impress despite playing out of position.

That was not the universal view 10 months ago (although some said that).

Did you express that view on here, in any guise, at the time?

Hindsight is wonderful, is it not?

I pretty much agree with that. I think the bit about Morro is probably true, though only with the benefit of hindsight. As it looked at the end of last season, with him out for large chunks of it with injury, the decision was, perhaps, more understandable, though typically we then had the, out of the blue, bad luck with Sculthorpe's op being compromised by an infection; sometimes that's just the way it goes, I guess ! . Pity we can't buy hindsight.

Indeed it is. Especially going back as far as the signing of a certain pseudo-Welshman.

In fairness though, for perhaps the wrong reasons those (and I was not one of them) who were critical of Scully's signing have been proved right so they cannot be accused of hindsight. And likewise, although I was pleased with Reardon's signing most were not, and - for whatever reason - they have been proved largely right so far. So again, its not all hindsight. I guess in the end its a leap of faith in signing any player - look at the disaster that was Shaun Edwards for a much older example of that?