I don't recall anyone outside of their respective clubs getting that excited about either of those two.

Id have him at K.R in the blink of an eye.

The only winger since Offiah that would have scored that try down the wing in the cup against us.

If he can develop the rest if his game,he will be a star.

Kevin Penny's my new favourite player.

Seriously, do some people just look at the scorers?



From what I have seen, whilst Penny has raw speed and good finishing ability, his overall game is currently well below average.



Admittedly, he could improve, but I do not think the guy will ever become an international winger, and the hype the guy is getting is simply ridiculous.



But maybe I'm wrong... and he will keep Matt King on the bench next year as Penny is able to play all four three quarter spots.

oh, you'll be basing that on that ball steal that danny mcguire did 5 week ago, and he's not put a foot wrong since.

Nope. I'll be basing it on his awful performance against Saints, where he looked so far out of his depth that he would drown in a toddler's pool.



Like I say, the kid has potential. There is no denying that, but I am not convinced he is as good as is being made out.

He didn't have an awful game against saints, don't seem to recall him letting us down despite being targeted.

I hope we're not going to return to the bad days of racial stereotypes when post arrival of Offiah every SL chairman rushed to buy black wingers because they all 'obviously' must be fast.

Clearly you hold your players to lower standards than us

I think you do a grave dis-service to every RL scout in the land and should seriously consider editing your post.

RL scouts.



Yes, I remember meeting a ton of those. I particularly remember one of the 80s Saints scouts who when I asked whether the rumours of Saints proposed move for England RU winger Chris Oti were true he replied:



"Who's he?"

no, long's kicking in that game is of a lower standard,

is Penny really that much faster than Nicky Royle....when he came through he was supposed to be the new Offiah as well, scored a few tries in 2004 for Widnes

So what's changed?



Penny is a well documented youngster. If Huddersfield had been on the telly as much a few years ago, there would have been similar hype about Paul White and look at him now. In fact I'd say White was showing more 'potential' than Penny at this stage in his career.



Penny might develop into a good player, but no world beater.

The thing is Penny has scored 6 times in his first 5 games.

He has managed this whilst playing outside Paul Johnson he very rarely gives him good ball.

Plus he may play outside King next year, King will bust tackles for fun and if he passes to Penny in open space I'll be very confident that he won't be caught.

Neither Royle nor White have the natural attacking attributes of Penny. I don't mean pace. I mean balance, timing and a good body swerve.



That said, the above isn't worth much if he's a colander in defence. The days of teams being able to "carry" a defensive liability (or - the 80s) are long gone. Over the last five years we've seen clubs increasingly pressurise defensively weak players with an array of kicks, plays and running angles.



Let's see what Penny's like when he's got Willie Talau and Francis Meli steaming into him whilst he's looking to take a Sean Long bomb.



If he passes that test (and various others) we may well have a very good prospect on our hands.

Gardner was no great shakes in defence, it has taken him a while to develop that side of his game. As you mentioned earlier, it is how the team defends as a unit, if a centre provides cover as per his job he should be able to develop his one-on-one defence.



Threads like this do tickle me. One of the most exciting prospects I have witnessed for a good while, yet people want to seize the opportunity to knock before he has been given the opportunity to prove himself at all.

He still isn't. It's the reason I wouldn't be too bothered if we got rid.

You got a good view from that sofa, mate?





Ade Gardner over the past two years has been one of Super League's Most Improved players.



He does have a long way to go admittedly, but he has the potential to become an excellent winger.

BTW, I'm still trying to work out how calling for caution can be interpreted as putting a downer on a player.



Surely a bigger downer would be to build a player's confidence up to unfeasible heights and then watch him self-destruct when he can't live up to insane expectations.

Yes, I had a good view of him making an of himself against Huddersfield.

One mistake...? (Although admittedly, I am still yet to see the second half.)

Come back to me when you have.

That will be a long, long time!





Seriously though, from what I have seen (Probably about as much as you!) Gardner is having a very good season and is one of the form wingers in SL.