Agree re priority must be on the secondrow and it must be someone with some good experience in terms of years and playing at a very good standard.

For me I think Faz has got 2 years left in him as a starter.

Obviously not the player he was but still a work horse, fit as a fiddle and has the immeasurable asset of being our leader.

Hoping for a massive year from Walters.

Fair enough, I apologise. Another person in the know is stating that Lees is going to Wire. I take it, by your comment, that you are confident Lees is extending his stay at Saints?

Yeah new deals for him and Knowles to be announced before the season starts.

Ok thanks. I assume that is where Matautia’s money has gone, together with resigning Delaney.

Yeah it looks that way.

Matautia was a strange one because as good as he was, the fact he was a bit of a jack of all trades means him leaving doesn’t leave a gap in a specific position if you get me.
For example if Clark left we’d need a hooker, if Percival left we’d need a centre, etc. Whereas with Matautia I feel we have the numbers to cover him as he was playing pretty much a utility/cover role last year.

Obviously I wanted another signing in but I don’t feel like there’s a glaringly obvious hole in our squad. Centre is probably most precarious and I would have personally much preferred us to release Hurrell and sign someone a bit more dependable there.

As long as it’s one of the young lads and Ben Davies who is used to cover the inevitable Hurrell injury then I can cope with it.

You're right of course, but the flip side of that is that you lose quality depth in lots of positions at once. Gives you more flexibility in the same way a good all rounder does in cricketing terms.

Not the end of the world in terms of its impact on the quality of your starting XVII, but if you have a worse than average run of injuries then a player like Matautia can be a godsend.

I think Matautia is a big loss for Saints tbh. The versatility he brought was a positive but above anything else, he's just a very good player. There is a real need for Batchelor and Whitley to make major improvements on their form of last year to cover his exit as a second rower and I felt like he could develop in to one of the better props in the league. He brought an aggressive edge in defence as well and was the sort of player you'd trust in big games, so I am surprised no replacement has been brought in, be that a second rower or a prop.

He was never a centre though.

No, definitely not his position nowadays. I could've understood them not signing a replacement forward for Matuatia had they gone out and got a centre instead but to run with Hurrell again as first choice seems odd.