I actually said when Foster arrived on the scene, excellent goal kicker very very average winger... I remember the Saints fans took great delight in hammering Kev Penny... Looks like they have a similar problem..

Penny could catch ? Which one ? Very poor example if you ask me !

Of course he could catch. The lad could dunk a basketball at 16 when he was just shy of 6ft, his leaping and catching was one of his best attributes IMO. If Penny had 'power', i.e. a bit of force in his legs to resist both offensively and defensively, he'd still be here. Unfortunately, his game was too 'fragile' and easily exposed. Pity.

True. He couldn't catch a cold. Riley on the other hand.

I was thinking about this the other day. He must have the safest pair of hands in our team. Some of the passes he picks up around his toes beggar belief. I do have a selective memory at times, but he does appear to have hands like geckos feet.

Ah, but that not the same as catching a ball when you are low on confidence, and you've got a sixteen stone bloke running at you is it. I don't doubt he could catch, as can I, he just didn't do it too well during games.

There are plenty of players in SL that can't catch a ball when low on confidence. If you are asking the question; could Kevin Penny catch a rugby ball, be it offensively or defensively, then the answer is, quite simply, yes. If you are asking the question; could Kevin Penny catch a rugby ball low on confidence, with a 16 stone man competing with him for it, then the answer is probably not, but then again, I doubt there are too many players in SL that, in their second season (practically his first because he came in late on in '07), would be able to cope with that, especially when he was under immense pressure from fans, both home and away.

Penny clearly wasn't destined for greatness, Smith wouldn't have let him go if he was, but some people really do kid themselves with the stuff they talk about Penny. He had lightning pace, great passion and outstanding leaping ability; he was a phenomenal athlete, but he didn't have the brain/experience, power or physique to get by in a position where physical weakness is easily exploited. He provided us with some of the finest tries we'll ever see, unfortunately things never worked out for him, but that doesn't mean he instantly becomes a player who was poor at everything.

Rightly or wrongly careers are made or broken on the above. The ability to perform under pressure and in the spotlight is an essential quality SL players must have. Look at what Foster is going through at the moment. I've been guilty in the past of writing off players to early, but Penny had his chance, and he couldn't cut it. Or catch a ball fired at him from a centre close to the line.

Maybe I'm misremembering but I don't think he was that bad. He did well with his hat trick against Sts. In fact, there were a few times he was able to catch a ball.

Jamie Foster had the opportunity, several times, to kill us down that side last season at the HJ and every single time he fluffed his lines.

That is actually a more than fair example for foster. We were poor-ish the season Penny scored and Saints really weren't. Foster was in a good (grand final reaching) saints side.

I'm not saying he couldn't catch at all, I'm not saying he didn't score some of the best tries I've ever seen. I'm just saying that when the chips were down he couldn't cut the mustard. I'm starting to sound like Stevo, off to bed.

Using your logic, Matt King couldn't cut the mustard either. During 2008, King was looking like a bit of a bust, our left side was a bit of a turnstile for opposing sides, he and Penny were an almost calamitous pairing down that side, but we all know how things turned out. I said it in the other post, Penny clearly wasn't destined for greatness, if he was he'd be there and Smith would have kept him; however, stuff like what you're saying seems to become the 'consensus' view when there isn't much basis for it. It was Kev's first season, he shown massive weaknesses but he also had massive strengths, catching and finishing tries certainly wasn't a problem for him.

I don't agree that Kevin Penny had a aproblem with catching a ball, I bet not one poster on here can recall three or more occasions when he's spilled a high kick or short ball. Penny's problem was lack of a rugby league brain, this was exposed in terms of his defensive positioning and ball retention during carries. Also physical strength was an issue as Roddy B alluded to. Jamie Foster is terrible though.

They have all played RL for England and scored tries against Warrington.

If ever a player has got union written all over him, it's Foster.