I have never seen a player be 'dire' at one club and then 'great' at another. It's true that players will respond differently to different clubs and coaches, but not to the extent that a 'dire' player becomes 'great' or vice versa. It is perfectly possible to form a judgement based on having seen a player play for a club other than your own.



No. He was better than many thought he would be, but was still only a run of the mill utility player. It says much about our half back predicament over the last few years that he was so well thought of.



It may or it may not, but it won't alter his inherent ability.



He's a year older. I reckon Adrian Morley might be a bit less impressive next year, too.

Who would you have signed instead of those players?

Perfect example - Adam Blair. & Sean Long.

And do you not think the blind idiots (your words, not mine) turn up week after week and make their own judgements. I never miss a match if I can and resent anyone calling me names because my opinion doesn't agree with theirs.

What a crock of shiit. Players sign for the clubs who offer them most and a few people criticising them on an online message board means nothing

What about the magical powers that transform these average players once the don our shirts?

I have it on good authority that Sam Tomkins was just about to sign a 5 year deal with us until someone showed him one of your 'Agar Out' threads. So terrified was he of becoming the subject of a dustbin avatar that he legged it back to Wigan without further consideration.

I still don't see how it is when none of us know how the coach plans to use him for a start. I have not seen enough of Thompson to say he is a good or bad player and a handful of sky games is not enough for me personally to write somebody off. There is plenty of players who may not have being dire to great but plenty the other way around.

Whatever your opinion is of him, he played well for us and did better then what everyone thought. Which is what I am saying you don't know how things will work till its put before your eyes.



At 22 I would say he has plenty of time ahead of him to reach his true ability. Not many forwards nor backs are the complete package at 22.


You cant say for certain though, by that logic Peacock should be a worse player then he was at 22, yet he is still one of the top front rowers in the comp. You could also argue Ogre had his best term for us this season, despite being a year older. Manu is being less effective as he is under different gameplans IMO.

wise man, these threads can turn even the toughest man to jelly

Try and smart it all you want, its not really support when we abuse players. There is critism but that has turned to abuse alot these days.

What abuse? Like it or not, gentle has signed too many average players who wouldn't get a look in at the top clubs. His recruitment makes peter sharp's look good. Fans are entitled to their opinion on players we're signing.

That hardly supports your argument. And I'd dispute that plenty go from 'great' to 'dire' just by moving clubs. A player at the end of his career has been known to move for one last pay day and end up being unsuccessful, but that isn't what we're talking about here.



He played quite well for us, but not significantly better than when he played for Cas.



Neither Crooks or Lineham are the complete package, but I reckon any and every fan in SL would be overjoyed if their club signed either one of them. And I've already said he has plenty of time to improve.



You seem to be struggling with the meaning of the word 'logic'.



You could argue that. Equally, you could argue that he hasn't, but he's stood out more this season because our props have been so crap.



Yes, the 'give it to Manu and hope he drags us out of the shlt again' game plan is clearly far superior to anything Saints have to offer.

I don't think that word you keep using means what you think it means.

Quite. I said at the top of the thread that I've only seen him play a few games (albeit rather unimpressively), so I'm not really best placed to judge the signing. This ridiculous notion, however, that those who do feel able to make a judgement should refrain from doing so, or that you're not a 'true fan' unless you do a happy little dance with every signing that's announced, is lng risible.

I'm not gentle or bomber or Pearson. So that is irrelevant. I also don't know the machinations at the time as to whom was available. I tell you this though, I would not have signed Johnson, galea, crookes and probably not arundel. Would have played Kent, Hadley, green Bowden and used shaul on wing instead of letting him twiddle thumbs.