Quote: jonh "I think if you look back there were many of us that were concerned by our recruitment at the start of this season and our lack of size/balance. Personally the only positive at the time for me was Tautai because I though he would give us that explosive runner we have lacked for a while and to be fair he hasn't hit the heights I would have expected.
If we are waiting to see what happens with SOL then we have missed out again on players as most are already signed for next year both here and overseas or at least at very late stages of sorting a deal.
In Bateman we have a SOL replacement already at the club whenever he decides to step aside. You sign a big Secondrow you tick one box and you still have room to accommodate Tomkins, Sol, Farrell and Bateman rotating the squad and for the inevitable periods SOL is out or the others pick up a knock.'"
I was personally happy with the way things looked this time last year.
Green was leaving but i was confident in Rocky being a perfect for HB partner for Smith - he hasn't been given the chance.
Joel was back and i was more than confident that once up to speed he would be an excellent addition at 2nd row - he's played far too much time at centre.
We had Taylor and like you i thought TT would have been excellent foil with Taylor, Flower and Clubb - Taylor left and also left a HUGE hole.
The above is annoying but it also reminds me of the Noble era or Saints of 24 months ago- i.e. a good team that with a few tweaks or additions is changed into something completely different.