I agree about Richards. But what i'm saying is that we'd still have probably finished in the top 3.

Roberts was a massive loss for us when he got injured after his early season form, but we brought in a fairly average player (imo) in Goulding and he scored a hat full of tries on the back of the rest of the side. Roberts was replaceable even though he was the best player in the league at that point.

We were perfectly fine without Briers earlier in the year. Yes, he's a great player, but that "No Briers, No ideas" boat sailed long ago imo.

This is true but we aren't alone in being in this situation. Saints have been going through it over the past few seasons, Scully, Cayless, Talau, Gilmour and Long have already gone, Cunningham, Gidley and Fozzard are going, then in the next few years they face Meli, Wellens and Pryce getting to the ends of their careers as well. Leeds face losing Donald, Webb, Buderus, Peacock, Lauitiiti and a few years after that they will find that Sinfield, McGuire, Burrow and Diskin all reach the ends of their careers at similar times.

With most of these top players it is hard to replace them until they have actually gone, if you go for like for like quality. Would a top halfback be willing to join next year, and be understudy to Lee Briers, when he could be first choice somewhere else? Also you need the players to retire to free up space on the salary cap. At least the fact we know we will be needing to replace certain positions in 2012, 2013 or 2014 will mean Tony Smith is drawing up his targets and the club can be working on them.

I know everyone will say "well we should just promote a youngster" but you can only do that if the youngster is good enough. When Leeds brought Rob Burrow through people were saying we should give Gary Hulse a chance like Leeds did with Burrow, and we did, but it didn't make him as good as Burrow! In certain positions the coaching staff will know when they have someone who is the real deal coming through, which is why I reckon with Rhys Evans coming through the ranks, we went for a short-term option in Brett Hodgson, he will be class for a couple of years then probably retire which will be just the right age for Evans to become a first choice player if he's had steady introductions in the next two years as Hodgson's shadow.

Would like to see Kevin Brown replace Briers.

Not for me. I thought Brough was better than him tonight, but I wouldn't have Brough at Wire either.

brown's maturing into a very very good stand off, not someone i would line up to replace briers with, he's more stand off/centre than stand off/scrum half.

I'm sure ts and certainly Simon moran will have somebody in mind already. I can see at least one more signing coming in as a replacement for vinnie as posted in a previous thread we could do with a L/F

Precisely, and what have they won during this period ?

Is a couple of seasons of realistically not winning any silverware just around the corner for us ? What i mean by that is this, at some point the senior players in our team are going to have to be replaced, also Chris Hicks will be leaving after next season and Matt King may feel that its time to return home.

The Saints youth system is far more advanced than ours, we have basically just put the foundations in. If such a force like St Helens have gone a couple seasons without silverware Sally, how long would you say we could possibly go without tasting success given that our youth setup is behind their's at the min ?

Am i right in thinking that you will need more home grown players in your team in the future, i think i read that somewhere but i'm not sure on the exact amount along with being unsure on how many foriegners you can have in your squad in the future.

For the people that know our youth system, how many players would you say are close to making the step up to the first team ? Ive read about the obvious one Rhys Evans, ive also heard that Craig Harvey looks a good prospect. Ive not seen much of Rhys Williams to comment on him or Ben Evans, what about Alex Thomson and Booby Goulding Jnr etc ?

People always tend to over-estimate how many players will make it through from each Academy team.

Looking at our current u20 team I'd say the Evans brothers and James Laithwaite will definately make the grade.

O'Brien and Duffy have a better than evens shout whilst you may get a bolter from Caslick, Fleming, Mendeika or Shaw. Although to be fair as they are primarily still teenagers any of them could bolt through as they mature, none of the Academy players lack ability. Realistically none of these are likely to break through to be pushing for regular games for at least a year or two yet though.

The older players such as Harvey, Peasnall and Rhys Williams will probably be best suited to playing on dual-contracts next year to see exactly how far they are able to progress.

I think you generally look for 1 to come to the fore each year and eastablish themselves in the side.

For us this years its been Farrell, last year it was Tomkins, the year before it was Joel etc etc.

heard he's a bit of a t1t....

While at the Roosters he was made to look good by Fittler, and was exposed when Fittler retired. At Melbourne he played five-eighth outside Cronk, and had the role of getting Inglis early ball. He only plays well with a top-class organiser in the halves with him.

If he was riding off the quality of others then there's no way Brian Smith, Craig Bellamy and Mick McGuire would have signed him.

But maybe McGuire knows that he's got Tomkins to make Finch look good. After all, he makes guys like Deacon, Fielden and Gleeson look good!

Exactly, its not as if we've got a coach who's signing someone who he's never worked with and is signing him off his reputation. Our coach has worked day in day out with him and knows exactly what he can bring to a side.

He must be doing something right, whichever team he's been with seems to be very successful.

Brian Smith never signed him. Ricky Stuart was the Roosters coach when he signed. Bellamy signed him to play off Cronk and give Inglis early ball. McGuire signed him because he coached him at Melbourne, and he can tear up Super League. Look at Michael Dobson, he's the best halfback in Super League and never did anything in the NRL.