Please name me a poor player from Melbourne?
We have around 3-4 players who just do not perform.

You are right they have built a team! They have some of the best players in the world in key positions and all the rest of the team are either very good players who would get into the England team or they are quality players who fit into the mould of what the team is trying to do.

I hope we look for a Brett Finch, someone at another super league club who has been a good player with loads of potential but just is not quite performing and won't cost a bomb. I hope we can find someone.

I also think we could go for a young player from another club who has potential. They could be our two signings for next season and we could add more deapth with just two signings.

I'm with Bilko, we need a halfback first, I'd leave prop till next season because Fielden, O'Carroll and Mossop should all be challenging for one spot so the odds are one will do us a good job this season. However, at present we don't have any good kickers close to the 17, bring in a halfback with a good kicking game, pair him with Sam and play Leuluai at hooker, sorted.

Oh I didn't mean for a second that they had poor players, just rather that their entire team are not all Inglis & Slater & Cronk & Cam Smith - hell even Cam Smith is not an athletically gifted genetic freak.

I was merely trying to get across exactly that point, that it's not about big signings across the park, it's about building and moulding a team into a superb well disciplined unit (the organisational play of the Storm has been superb, compare that with the off the cuff broken play brilliance of the Eels for example) and then developing those handful of game breakers like Inglis & Slater to take you that step further.

It's why i'm confident that we will, and should expect to see a reasonable amount more performance out of the personel we already have in place - we may need that small addition to make us great, but I think we can be a really good team even with the current player roster if we can get 100% out of all the players.

The Storms key players

Slater, Inglis, Cronk, Cam Smith, Dallas Johnson interestingly have all played all of their first grade football for the Storm.

That's what I was trying to get at, that it's about how that all comes together and building a team, not just going out with the cheque book like a certain players agent feels is the main answer.

Tomkins x 3, O'Loughlin, Hansen, Prescott, O'Carroll, Ainscough, Farrell, Mello etc. not quite in the same class.

We need at least 3 world class players to come into that team to turn into a genuine SL force.

At the moment with the squad we have were're nothing more than a good hard working team.

We've little to no flair, and not one player with genuine class.

Tomkins is the one shining light we have, but he's a year or two away from where he can get to. A few class players in the right positions would really help him bring on his game, and the team in general.

Offiah might be trying to plug some clients, but the general idea that we need some class is spot on.

O'Loughlin, Phelps, Richards and Carmont are also shining lights.

We don't need 3 world class players really, we need a team.

How many world class players do Leeds and Saints have? Peacock, Graham, Webb, Gidley, Cunningham... by world class they are players who could get in any team really. Leeds have 2 IMO and yet have won the super league and have dominated for a few years. Notice how 2 of the players mentioned have been at saints for their full career to date and the other from saints is a top class import, we need our imports to perform to the highest level or I would rather play young players.

Thats the point though, no team can afford 3 world class players. We in my opinion need 1 Origin level or there abouts Prop with the right style ie aggressive to turn us into a side capable of consistently challenging for honours.

DJ isn't super human, he's a tackling machine but there would be people giving him stick over here for not creating enough - at the Storm he's the heart and soul of the team, and has been a key part of their success.

Cam Smiths quality and strength comes from his ability to read a game and organise, not from being build like a tank or being lightning quick from scoots - debuted for them in 2002

Cooper Cronk is not as great a player as JT - but he's a great player and works at the Storm, JT wouldn't either fit in their cap or fit into the way they operate, debuted in 2004.

Inglis is a freak i'll give you that one but even he wasn't the player he is now in 2005 when he made his debut

Slater debuted in 2003

It still shows that it's not all about splashing the cash though, especially when you have players who are already on contract and you feel you are not getting the most performance out of.

Sort out the performances, then you will be in a clear position to see where you need to prune/add to the squad. It makes no sense to sign a prop for example to find out after pre-season that feka's peforming miles better than he was when you made the signing choice.

That's all i'm trying to say, signings are good, but the right platform is more important.

You've got to take stock first imo before you can move on. I honestly think pretty much all of our players have more potential in them than they currently have delivered - squeeze that out of them, and be planning to add to the squad

I wouldn't rate Gidley, or Cunningham as world class either - great players yes, better than what we have in some cases, yes, but really world class is such an overused term. Webb? i've edited my initial judgement as I think i was slightly unfair to him, but correct me if i'm wrong he still hasn't made the NZ squad for the 4 nations?

Gidley has turned Gardner into a top try scorer from a rubbish winger! Gidley is the best centre in super league by miles!

Cunningham isn't world class , just don't say that on the saints board.

Tomkins hasn't got geniune class? Give over.

Your problem is that you can't afford 3 world class players under the salary cap. One possibly, but what you need is for some of these youngsters in and around your first team to develop into world class players. In Tomkins I think you'll definitely have at least one. In Mossop I think you may have another if all goes right for him.

In regards to other comments on the thread, I agree with Bilko, a good half back to partner Tomkins would improve you far more than a new prop would, though you, as with almost every other team in SL, would probably like a new all action prop.



He isn't these days