Shenton got injured last night so I hear?

Stop fishing, Roguey, a lot of props don't hit their peak until their 28-29. If there's any position you can afford to have a couple of oldies in, its the bookends.

yep, Baloo, Fairleigh, peacock, Morley, Steve Price (sp?) all at their best in their 30's. Of course Jammer and Fielden were great earlier in their careers, but who's to say Jammer wont improve even more?

hes past it! morley is 20x better than him

I wasn't fishing, as I've said I would give Coley and Fielden new short term deals. I just don't like having too many in the team.

How many will there be at Saints next season?

What was interesting though is that Warrington according to one of their posters could have as many as ten over 30's in their team next year.

coley has come on alot in last couple of years. even though i myself a wire fan, he gets looked over to often

Not many, i reckon. Gidley, Cunningham, Meli & Fozzard are leaving. Wellens (who's 30 this year, by my calculations) and Flannery (who's about the same) are considered by most to be coming to the end of their tenure.
Apart from front rows, I think that's about it. Who's the oldest after that? Pryce maybe.
I don't think an ageing squad is something we need to worry about.

Aren't 4 of your props OOC this year. if Faas was leaving as rumoured, I'd be interested see if we could pich Prescott off you, he seems to have really come on in the past couple of seasons.

we'll have, with their ages next season, Wello (31), Tony P (32), Perry (30) and if they are retained Flannery (31), Maurie (31) and Meli (32)
and leon turn 30 next October too!
not bad at all, i'd suggest we'll have one of the youngest squads in the league?

Obviously it is difficult to prove but the fact that Wigan have the highest scoring wingers in Superleague should be a decent indication.

What I will do however is ask on the Cas board whether they think that Shenton is a "wingers" centre.

Playing centre for Cas and playing centre for Saints would be like a whole new ball game for the lad.

Perry is just about the right option for us. He's a big guy who can play the centimetres game and, importantly, will help block off the ruck area in defence. Age isn't a concern. The guy is in his prime (or should be) and I'm sure he won't be embarrassed alongside the pantheon of experienced Aussie props who have performed sterling feats in St. Helens colours (Britt, Fairleigh etc.)

If we get Shenton I'll be more than happy. He has all the attributes to mature into an excellent centre and I'm sure he would combine well with our core group of youngsters.

If the deal falls through it won't be the end of the world. The NRL is overflowing with three-quarter talent and I'm certain we can come to an agreement with a quality player.

How good was Apollo, do you reckon? Before graham came along I rated him as our 3rd best superleague prop behind thise two. However, sometimes I wonder whether back in 96-98 the standard of props wasn't as good... ... ... but then I remeber how hard he could tackle!

I don't think Apollo was in the same category as Fairleigh & Ward. But he was definitely in the outstanding class directly below - perhaps alongside Britt (who misses out by a smidgeon, if at all).

You know, when you said Fairleigh and Ward, i was a bit worried you'd made a typo (or had gone mad).
Kevin Ward was just before my time.