Joined: Dec 22 2001 Posts: 32029 Location: The Corridor of Uncertainty
One poor season at a struggling St Helens side doesn't mean much. He was good at Parramatta before then. In the championship I predict he'll be very good.
I remember people making similar comments about Okunbor and Pele when we signed them. I'm not sure what critics want? We're not exactly going to sign Nathan Cleary are we? Blake and Armitage are both upgrades on Gill and Myers and we need competition for places.
Sounds like me coming off X was a good move!
"If you start listening to the fans it won't be long before you're sitting with them," - Wayne Bennett.
Unfortunately some RL journalists are completely triggered by Gledhill and lose all sense of neutrality. I know most what he spouts is guff, but you shouldn't let that affect your professionalism.
While Blake was poor for saints (I remember him palming a simple kick for a drop out when an easy catch would have given them a 20m 7 tackle set being a particular low point) did anyone actually look good for saints last year? Welsby was one of the most wanted players but looked bang average and Dodds was so poor he got dropped. Wonder if South sydney are comedy value too.
I expect Blake will go well next year in the championship. You don't score 60 tries on 150 NRL appearances by being a bad player. Maybe comedy value coach Noble might get the best out of him...
Joined: Mar 07 2005 Posts: 4052 Location: Brisbane
1 poor season can be for a whole host of reasons: - Poor environment and lack of want and believe, this rips through a squad quickly - Not buying into coaching methods and tactics, inevitably leads to the point above - Personality clashes (see Edwards and Bradley in '98) - Settling (or lack of) in to a new country and lifestyle - Family not settling in a new country or not coming at the same time
Not sure on the lads circumstances, but there's a lot to get nailed other than just rocking up with your A game. Let's keep our powder dry until he dons the RAB shall we?
Shame to see ANOTHER young player leave but that's the position we are in at the moment. We will always be unable to keep our better players in the Championship on a part time deal. I suppose we had to cash in now before he walked for nothing at the end of the year.
Joined: Mar 03 2005 Posts: 9175 Location: Odsal Stadium
This highlights further flaws in the RFL/MG system for aspiring clubs. We have no idea what level of rugby we can likely offer in 2026 yet clubs can already approach our players for that season. Myers has to look after himself and after a bit of a breakthrough year I can understand why he might look to capitalise on that early.
Looking at the squad he probably wasn't going to be 1st choice but I have no doubt he would still have got plenty of games in for us.
Perhaps if we are in Wakefields position we will view it slightly differently but it is a frustrating process seeing a sleeping giant like Bradford developing such talent but unable to retain them. Salford look to be in a real mess at the moment so all eyes will be on them for the next round of gradings.
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