[quote="Stu M":34aosr9m]Good news with Delaney signing for 4 years, there was definite NRL interest in him. Seems that Knowles and Lees have signed new deals too which will be great news, hopefully announced soon. Get Stephens on a new deal and that’s the cornerstone of a decent pack.[/quote:34aosr9m] I think that is where the Matautia money is being spent. I am happy that Saints are tying down their younger players, much like Wigan has already done, but I fear there will be break clauses in the contracts. Also, if Saints had lost the players mentioned they would have been in a hell of a hole given the ages of most of the first team pack.

[quote="Stu M":11i77ylt]Good news with Delaney signing for 4 years, there was definite NRL interest in him. Seems that Knowles and Lees have signed new deals too which will be great news, hopefully announced soon. Get Stephens on a new deal and that’s the cornerstone of a decent pack.[/quote:11i77ylt] Delaney seems to get thrown around like a rag doll when he plays Wigan Stu. Great player to watch with his leg speed and bravery but hasn’t caused any problems. Adding size this off-season or a move to the back row maybe?

No doubting Delaney's guts but the style while dominating at junior level seems to have leveled off against often bigger players. Obviously he's got time to put size on and adapt but I do worry for him the way he plays. Maybe he's not got the help around him no doubting his heart.

Delaney is at a point where his career could go either way. He was dominant in the younger grades and made a great start to his first team career but as the opposition players have got to know his game, they've figured out how to deal with him reasonably comfortably and it's got to a point where he looks like he could damage himself if he doesn't change his running style. If he can do that, then nobody can doubt his commitment and he has talent, so he should kick on. I think Stephens looks a better prospect though. It's very early days for him but he's just awkward to deal with and I don't think he'll be figured out anything like as easily as teams did with Delaney. He needs to work on his fitness but if somebody gave me the option of having Delaney or Stephens at Wigan, I would go with Stephens without a doubt.

[quote="NickyKiss":18w2ue26]Delaney is at a point where his career could go either way. He was dominant in the younger grades and made a great start to his first team career but as the opposition players have got to know his game, they've figured out how to deal with him reasonably comfortably and it's got to a point where he looks like he could damage himself if he doesn't change his running style. If he can do that, then nobody can doubt his commitment and he has talent, so he should kick on. I think Stephens looks a better prospect though. It's very early days for him but he's just awkward to deal with and I don't think he'll be figured out anything like as easily as teams did with Delaney. He needs to work on his fitness but if somebody gave me the option of having Delaney or Stephens at Wigan, I would go with Stephens without a doubt.[/quote:18w2ue26] Very fair that. I agree that Delaney's running style needs working on. He struggled last season but then it came out that he had been struggling with a knee injury and that coincided with the time of the season that we had all the injuries in the forwards. He was absolutely flogged by Wellens and if I recall played about 75 mins in that hammering at Leigh, after being 50/50 for that game due to his knee. He did come back strong towards the end of the season and played well in that play off defeat to Warrington, he seemed to run stronger. He needs some size on him but he's still exceptionally young for a prop forward so lots of time on his side still. Re Stephens, I commented on Red Vee that he looked in really good shape from the pre-season videos that the club had released. His Dad posts on there and confirmed that he has lost 6kg. I think he is in for a really good season. Does need to improve his fitness which will undoubtedly be improved by his weight loss.