The Rumours Thread

[hewi]

To me it’s plainly obvious he has no interest been there the biggest tell is he won’t take the line on.

 

[maestro1]

Not sold on Faalago yet. Looks vey quick.. yes he is young and we need speed and a good goose step?
But can he defend?.. not yet
Where does he play?.. wing?
If not
Is he any better than Sloan?.. IMO nit yet for fullback

Some believe he is a half. Jarome Hughes was a fullback that was converted into a half. I think Faalogo has the skills that suit a running halfback.

 

[sammymills]

in my opinion that review was a win win for us. Either hunt will want out and try and get his manager to force a swap deal, or he doesnt get out and is forced to pull his finger out next year and play for a contract elsewhere. Either way helps the club. Players when coming off contract always start killing it, i remember Leeson Ah-Mau did nothing for us for a few years then when contract time was up starting rampaging everyone, I distinctly remember him putting Paul Gallen on his arse.

 

[Angela Smith]

So much hate for Hunt. He may not be worth 1 million but if he wasnt in the team we probably would have lost alot more games. He is leading the try assists in the comp so he cant be that bad... I hope he does move on so we can go in another direction as we havent had the results we wanted over the years. However, blaiming him is wrong. We have had crap coaches and average footballers in the team. We need to replace a few players to get success. Removing Hunt alone will do nothing..

 

[Dragonslayer]

Hypothetical:

Let's say the Hunt review was deliberately leaked including the fact an extension to his contract has, for now, been taken off the table.
Add to this, was the leaked portion that identified, not 1, but multiple deficiencies in his game.
Let's say Ben is not too happy with this and begins thinking about his future in another teams colours.
Let's say the Titans are interested and, as of Nov1 offer Ben a 2yr deal.
Let's say that deal is 600k/season (so 1.2m over 2yrs) after his not so glowing review.
Let's say the Titans ask us to chip 300k for '25

Wouldn't this be an ideal scenario for both teams and Ben?
We, would only be up for 300k. Instead of say 500k if the review was rosy.
Ben gets an extra year and extra $$.
The Titans get an "experienced" player to replace Foran, who can play 7 or 9 at a perceived discounted price.

Again all hypothetical, but if this was the wheel in motion, then it's genius.

 

[hewi]

Hypothetical:

Let's say the Hunt review was deliberately leaked including the fact an extension to his contract has, for now, been taken off the table.
Add to this, was the leaked portion that identified, not 1, but multiple deficiencies in his game.
Let's say Ben is not too happy with this and begins thinking about his future in another teams colours.
Let's say the Titans are interested and, as of Nov1 offer Ben a 2yr deal.
Let's say that deal is 600k/season (so 1.2m over 2yrs) after his not so glowing review.
Let's say the Titans ask us to chip 300k for '25

Wouldn't this be an ideal scenario for both teams and Ben?
We, would only be up for 300k. Instead of say 500k if the review was rosy.
Ben gets an extra year and extra $$.
The Titans get an "experienced" player to replace Foran, who can play 7 or 9 at a perceived discounted price.

Again all hypothetical, but if this was the wheel in motion, then it's genius.

‘If the Titans would offer that you would nail their feet to the floor till the contract was signed.

 

[hook hook]

So much hate for Hunt. He may not be worth 1 million but if he wasnt in the team we probably would have lost alot more games. He is leading the try assists in the comp so he cant be that bad... I hope he does move on so we can go in another direction as we havent had the results we wanted over the years. However, blaiming him is wrong. We have had crap coaches and average footballers in the team. We need to replace a few players to get success. Removing Hunt alone will do nothing..

Perhaps a better stat to use would be a touch to try assist ratio. He touches the ball more than anyone in the comp, which in turn does not allow any other playmaker to get a try assist. In addition, he can’t kick out of our end which allows the opposition to start their sets well ahead. He’s also kicked the ball out on the full more than anyone in the comp, and I’m sure if there was a stat for kicks that went backwards there would be no competition. He tackles like he’s grabbing a newborn off someone. There’s no technique. It’s just cradle the ball, which is so ineffective as we saw against the eels.
I'm sorry but he deserves every bit of criticism he gets. Especially when he makes a wrong decision and blows up at the rest of the team. The blokes a cancer

 

[Slippery Morris]

It's good to see Saints finally have a coach who has high standards and is not scared about saying the obvious to his players no matter who it is. Saints won 2 games without Hunt this year so not all doom and gloom. If Hunt is a true professional he will stay next year to prove Flanno wrong and have an outstanding 2025. But I really doubt he will. Last years rant in the press whilst on Origin duty really exposed the type of person he is.

Makes me wonder, if this decision was made earlier in the season, would Saints have found it easier to keep Lomax who played his guts out rather than roll the dice on a guy who always had intentions of going back to Qld? Can we have a miracle and have a clause in Lomax's contract with the Eels that if Hunt leaves before the 2025 season, he can stay put at Saints? Parra love players clauses.

Anyway, I am sure if Hunt does go Flanno will have a plan as surprisingly the Val Holmes rumour to Saints came out ages ago before he signed so maybe Flanno did have the like for like replacement lined up before he pulled the trigger on Lomax and does so for Hunt as well.

 

[st george tragic]

in my opinion that review was a win win for us. Either hunt will want out and try and get his manager to force a swap deal, or he doesnt get out and is forced to pull his finger out next year and play for a contract elsewhere. Either way helps the club. Players when coming off contract always start killing it, i remember Leeson Ah-Mau did nothing for us for a few years then when contract time was up starting rampaging everyone, I distinctly remember him putting Paul Gallen on his arse.

That's not going to happen with Hunt. He has enough money and will retire at end of next year so no real incentive to play better. He will continue to go through the motions and then retire to Byron.

 

[Unsainty79]

So much hate for Hunt. He may not be worth 1 million but if he wasnt in the team we probably would have lost alot more games. He is leading the try assists in the comp so he cant be that bad... I hope he does move on so we can go in another direction as we havent had the results we wanted over the years. However, blaiming him is wrong. We have had crap coaches and average footballers in the team. We need to replace a few players to get success. Removing Hunt alone will do nothing..

I don't think its a reflection of his performances, which have improved significantly since his early days. It is more his approach and comments on a number of things, particularly as captain.

His comments when Young was the caretaker coach were the start of it for me, I didn't think it was in any way appropriate for him to say he didn't think Young was experienced enough for the permanent position, even if that may have been true.

What we've seen over the past years have been dreadful, the public playing out of his desire to leave, which I didn't have a problem with until he resigned on good coin before continuing with those grievances.

Granted this is merely rumours, but how much of a hand did he have in Lomax wanting out?

But this year, his spraying of other team mates was more and more pronounced. As the skipper, I expected him to be more measured. The final two games his defence was awful, and from the outside looking in, it was almost as if he'd given up.

 

[Mojo]

That's not going to happen with Hunt. He has enough money and will retire at end of next year so no real incentive to play better. He will continue to go through the motions and then retire to Byron.

Byron has no tolerance for bludgers .... d'oh.

 

[Dragon David]

That's not going to happen with Hunt. He has enough money and will retire at end of next year so no real incentive to play better. He will continue to go through the motions and then retire to Byron.

I tend to agree with you st george tragic and by the way, welcome to the Forum.
The main thing though is that if he stays with the Dragons in 2025 that he doesn't keep the captaincy. If he goes through the motions, he won't like it if he goes through the motions in the KOE Cup. A rather expensive reserve grader he will become.