Take a bow Mr McManus, brilliant signing.

Exactly the kind of player we need, as our pack gets steamrolled against the big teams. We have gone from a team with 1 real prop to a pack that looks huge. So much for not paying transfer fees!

Possibly, but if Wilkin plays 6 and LMS plays 13, that leaves us missing a starting prop.

Amor
Roby
Laffranchi
Manu
Soliola
LMS

Masoe
Walmsley
Flanagan
Jones (or whoever)

The lads done well for himself pretty fast when we signed him at haven he was a centre then who played for hensingham and barla we where short of props when he came tried him there and the rest his history

We are pretty big up front now.

You can see Amor starting, I would assume they would not leave two strike players on the bench. So maybe Walmsley to start.

Amor Roby Walmsley
Jones Manu
LMS

bench

Sia, Masoe, Laffranchi, Lance

4 year deal too, so should would require a massive transfer fee if the NRL started trying to poach another one.

Excellent!!!

opps forgot Beaumont.

Means any youngster breaking into the team will have to earn their spot. Should make for lots of competition in the pack.

With Beaumont, Flanagan, Walker, Clough, Thompson etc all pushing for a first team spot.

Puts pressure on Jones to to keep up his high standards as nearly all the above could switch to 2nd row, too.

Terrible lack of ambition from Saints yet again. When will they ever learn?

Top signing and a real signal of intent from the Big Mac. We jsut need to uncover a stand off and we will be singing and dancing.

Has Laffranchi actually signed an expension? I know there was talk of this a while ago, but cant recall anything concrete. I would keep Clough over him, freeing up an extra overseas slot for if a player comes available. Clough and Laffranchi are similar grafters, not a role that shuld be blocking a quota spot.

Highest metre making forward at Wakey by a long way (2809 metres), with a very impressive 7.8 average gain. There's only Walmsley in our front row ranks that can hold a candle to that go forward.

561 tackles made with only 27 missed (4.81%) seems as good as anything we've got, too.

He pretty much licks LMS on all fronts (probably because of Louis's inconsistency this year).

A low number of offloads confirms to me that he's a head down worker, who'll get you the yards rather than play expansive. He seems pretty athletic, so I wonder how quick he is on the floor?

Young, British, hopefully a transfer fee means we weren't in a massive bidding war with his wages, either.

For me, Boof's got to go, now. No point keeping him hanging around to just be back up - we have clough and walker (and Richards and hand) for that.

Am I missing some sarcasm here or is this a genuine post?

You are missing the sarcasm!!!

I get what you mean, but there is no harm in having a massive number to choose from. It should make it a more competitive pack in terms of starting places. It would only take an injury to LMS and Amor and we would need the likes of Clough and Laffranchi to move from a bench spot to a starting spot leaving spots on the bench for Walker and Thompson and Beaumount.

It's likely we are going to be playing with LMS at loose so effectively 5 props a match. They will get bumps and knocks so rather than playing with a bump a week later, you can rotate one out one in.

We did it with Graham, Baloo, Fozzard, Cayless and Tuilangi? (I think that was the line up).
Each week one would miss out to keep them fresh or to cover injury. It made for a competitive pack and I think Fozzard missed out on the GF. If we are playing effectively 5 props each week with LMS at loose then, there will be always 6 or 7 props getting regular games.

Faasavulu.
I know what you mean, the 5 props in the squad thing may have a bearing on it, but with Beaumont signed and forward back up from Flash, Walker, Clough, Greenwood, Richards and alike, I don't think Boof's a keeper.

The more I think about this signing the more I like it. I am not convinced that Amor is the superstar in the making that some people are saying he is but he is a good player that fills a massive hole in our team. That is a true starting prop rather than an interchange prop.

We have had 4 problem positions this year (prop x2, stand off, scrum half) and this signing takes us to 3 our of 4 filled very well. This also means that Masoe is definitely been signed as an interchange prop and Beaumont has been signed as a squad player (5th choice prop).

This leaves us with a very large pack with the likes of LMS and Laffranchi moving into the back row, with plenty of competition for places in the pack especially in the front row. I still believe the key to our success in 2006 was having 5 international class front rowers. I don't see how any club can last 30+ games in a year with the same 4 props.

Regarding our last "problem position" stand off you feel the club has the players to fill this spot Wilkin, Hohaia, Wheeler will all be looking to fill in. Given we have a playmaker at fullback and Brown is clearly going for a big pack Wilkins nature position in the team probably is stand off.

Just like I transformed the heat from a mid table team to greatness, Amor could do the same for St Helens.

Regards

King James