Probably means you can have Aaron Smith (for a fee

)

What type of hooker is Smith please?

As the great Eric Morecambe said to Andre Previn, “I’m playing all the right notes, not necessarily in the right order”.



We can’t fault our owners willingness to bankroll our side, AP has been excellent, it’s the selection of available players which seems to be the problem.

Peachey would be a fantastic replacement for Fonua, could play centre, stand off, backrow or LF.



so still think the priority should be a hooker with our one quota spot, unless we can get an English hooker.

If you can sign someone like Aaron Smith, it definitely leaves that quota spot up for good use.



Anyone have a good review of Aaron Smith? Is he good enough, good attacking game and organising skills?

Saints recruitment and retention is spot on. One to aspire to.

If players like Coote we’re at Hull, they’d be getting new two year deals.

Agreed, it's the refreshing of the squad to stop complacency creeping in and knowing each players value like Saints and Wigan do with Coote, Long etc and not being held ransom by certain players. We tend to keep players because of sentiment or because we're scared of other teams having them. For example if we knew Jake Connor was going to be fullback this year, did we need to re-sign Jamie Shaul last year? Or did we re-sign him due to his long term injury and his heroics in the past? If we were ruthless, we'd have released Shaul and had Wynne as a backup fullback, allowing the cap to be used for a prop. It doesn't make sense having 3 good quality fullbacks and trying to keep them all happy. Similarly with Bowden, Taylor, Houghton...we just keep them because they're from Hull and Pearson's big vision a few years ago was club Hull. In Rob Burrow's biography, he says Sinfield, Burrow, McGuire etc all knew they could earn more elsewhere, however they all decided to stay at Leeds as it is worth winning trophies with your best mates rather than following the money. That's the sort of culture we need to build at Hull.

Quote Irregular Hoops="Irregular Hoops"Ash Taylor and Peachey been released by Gold Coast. Would be very good pick ups for a SL team.'" Canberra bound maybe?? https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaki ... 0aa517cb3c List of NRL players off contract.. https://www.sportingnews.com/au/league/ ... qxmdr5zv1b

Quote Irregular Hoops="Irregular Hoops"Ash Taylor and Peachey been released by Gold Coast. Would be very good pick ups for a SL team.'" Canberra bound maybe?? https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaki ... 0aa517cb3c List of NRL players off contract.. https://www.sportingnews.com/au/league/ ... qxmdr5zv1b

I'd have Ash Taylor - only 26. Good half back, think he would go well over here.

Hes a player whose too good to play in the reserves more than Super League next year. In a lot of ways he has been collateral to Saints production line, losing his spot to Welsby first and then Dodd for no other reason than they needed game time (and the rewards of that are for all to see). Couple that with Pemberton in our academy seen by the club as the next successor (likely to get the 14 shirt in 2023) you can see how Smith may be squeezed out.



There have been plenty of times where Smith has really looked the part as Roby's successor. His biggest problem is he isnt the strongest in defence, but is brave, which leads to him getting his head in the wrong place repeatedly (I believe the club have spent alot of time with him on this this year though). Always seems to get himself in good positions in attack, and very effective running at the line. Passing can occasionally be a bit iffy, but 9 games out of 10 you wouldn't notice an issue. Hes not the most vocal so not sure on organising but at Saints its our halfbacks who dictate the play, so I am sure he could be effective, given the chance.



I did say my original comment somewhat tongue in cheek, but Smith has another year on his contract and needs to be playing at the top level. It could make a lot of sense for someone to pick him up

Absolutely, nail on head.

Everyone who watched NRL games, and that must include Hull management, could see Fonua was shot, certainly not the player who left us and his considerable wage (guessing but not unimaginable) could have been on positions which were crying out for reinforcement. The same with Reynolds, Hodgson must have been aware that he had played very little first grade in his spell with Wests, another who, although quality, is shot physically, so it is as much his and Pearson's fault that they gambled on players who had done very little to justify their signing, and on wages that won't be small. I don't know where we go from here, the first 17, on paper look like a top 4 side, but there is little in the way of back up and the attacking play this season, has shown very little improvement on what had gone previously. Maybe it is time to admit we are a big club, only in fan base, because the whole culture of the club is shambolic and inherently wrong, that cannot be fixed quickly , with no money to spend and a rookie coach cutting his teeth.

Cheers for the insight appreciated, would be somewhat of a gamble for us, and we desperately need strong leadership, so I'm a bit unsure of the signing, alot of our problems in attack have been Houghtons decision making in choice of pass, see golden point against Leeds as a prime example. Could this lad step in and help organise and stick to any attacking structures, big question. I suppose of we had a commanding 7 alongside it'd help, but I don't think Sneyds anyway assertive enough too or so many of our attacks wouldn't look shambolic.



But I suppose taking our situation with cap and room for manoeuvre into account, beggars can't be choosers as they say.