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Thread: Ben Barba

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    In The North Stand With All The Old Folk Buddy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Samphire15 View Post
    Nope

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    Difficult one, another "trouble" player who will most probably end up at Catalan but we're in a battle with them to stay in the top 8 so should we go for him???
    I was surprised to read that the NRL ban doesn't count over here, seems a bit daft

    Purely ftom a fan point of view it's good to watch a class player and he could certainly give Saints season a lift.

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    Troubled yes, but an absolute world class player, up there with your Slater, Boyd and RTS. Would be the best FB in SL by miles if he came.
    Given our problem with keeping Lomax fit I'd take a chance on Barba. Him, Makinson, Grace and Percy would give us the most potent attacking back line in SL.

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    I'm sure he'd love to take a pay cut to come and play at St Helens.

    Got Catalan all over it.
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    In The West Stand Dux's Avatar
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    Default Ben Barba

    There's no doubt that if he had his mind on the job he'd be a sensation in SL. But for the following reasons I don't see it happening:

    1. He's apparently on $1.25m a year. I can't imagine any SL club getting anywhere near that, marquee rule or not.

    2. Is it true that his drugs ban wouldn't count over here? I'm not sure. But in any case the ban is only 12 matches. If he signed for an NRL club at the end of the RU season he'd be ready to start the NRL next year.

    3. If he did sign for a SL club it would be because nobody in the NRL wants to go near him. Pretty much every marquee SL signing of that nature over the last few years has proven to be disastrous. I'm not sure anyone would want to take the risk.

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    Superb player with major issues, it seems.
    Perhaps we could insist on a " substance abuse" penalty clause but he would be a huge signing.
    Let's dream!!

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    Would have been a good signing for the remainder of the season, but the club won,t have enough coin in the coffers. Barba obviously the type of player that would put bums on seats but the Superleague Salary Cap is just not fit for purpose to get a world class player into our comp.

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    Quote Originally Posted by STIDDY View Post
    Would have been a good signing for the remainder of the season, but the club won,t have enough coin in the coffers. Barba obviously the type of player that would put bums on seats but the Superleague Salary Cap is just not fit for purpose to get a world class player into our comp.
    Unless like Wellens some players are retired, Lee Owens LMS Peyroux could become Cladding Inspectors and Beer Thrower Ejectors.
    On the Back foot looking for the front one.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Samphire15 View Post
    Yes, yes , yes and yes. A player who would sell tickets and get people off their seats.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dux View Post
    There's no doubt that if he had his mind on the job he'd be a sensation in SL. But for the following reasons I don't see it happening:

    1. He's apparently on $1.25m a year. I can't imagine any SL club getting anywhere near that, marquee rule or not.

    2. Is it true that his drugs ban wouldn't count over here? I'm not sure. But in any case the ban is only 12 matches. If he signed for an NRL club at the end of the RU season he'd be ready to start the NRL next year.

    3. If he did sign for a SL club it would be because nobody in the NRL wants to go near him. Pretty much every marquee SL signing of that nature over the last few years has proven to be disastrous. I'm not sure anyone would want to take the risk.
    According to the link above

    ""With Barba requiring to jump through so many hoops with the NRL integrity unit and is is believed that Barba may opt to join the English Super League, as they do not officially recognise NRL suspensions.""

    It could put out new coach in a compromising position though.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Infamous Grouse View Post
    According to the link above

    ""With Barba requiring to jump through so many hoops with the NRL integrity unit and is is believed that Barba may opt to join the English Super League, as they do not officially recognise NRL suspensions.""

    It could put out new coach in a compromising position though.
    By giving him a world class player to coach ?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Greengrass View Post
    Unless like Wellens some players are retired, Lee Owens LMS Peyroux could become Cladding Inspectors and Beer Thrower Ejectors.
    We should do that anyways. It's a shame we can't just do a wigan and sign him on yts wages and defer his real salary to sometime in the distant future ..

    If the French RU side want rid of him surely they will have to pay him off ?

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    Got Kevin Locke wrote all over this one, great player but steer clear I'd say.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Nickles Forearm View Post
    Got Kevin Locke wrote all over this one, great player but steer clear I'd say.
    You beat me to it. This discussion is identical to the one we had at the time.

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    Get him signed, some people seem happy watching plodder, he could do what Jamie Lyonshall did for us in 2005

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    Barba is sheer class. There are many many players who have gone before him that have had difficulties, but it just takes the right coach to get hold of them and they can prove to be gold. I can see him signing elsewhere and we will be looking on in envy wishing Saints had pulled out all the stops.

    This is the ONLY way superleague can get genuine marquee players over here, by taking their chances on 50/50 bets. As long as there are sufficient protection clauses in the contract to ensure the club doesnt end up with a financial burden it cant sustain, then I think someone like Barba is well worth the risk.

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    Barba was on £400k a year in the NRL. With a distinct lack of options to return to the NRL I think there's a decent chance he could be persuaded to take a pay cut and join super league. Yes Barba has had a lot of problems but we need a full back and he's a world class option. Certainly something for the new coach to have a think about.


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    Regardless of how good he is, we shouldn't be the kind of club that tacitly approves of substance abuse. That would send completely the wrong signal to any potential players. I hope Holbrook would want to set a higher standard of off-field behaviour than that.

    And let's be honest - inviting someone with drugs problems to live in St Helens would be like locking a kid in a sweet shop.
    The Grind always leads to trouble

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    Difficult one.

    He is a true world class player (think his nickname actually is X Factor) and his form was one of the reasons why Cronulla won the Grand Final last year.
    The downside is, of course, his rather stupid decision to take Cocaine at the end of the NRL season. Other coaches in the NRL didnt want him in the past either. He was shown the door by Bennett at the Broncos before signing for Cronulla.

    He is in a position where unless another RU club come knocking he would have to return to the NRL and take his ban and go through the difficult process of getting re registered as a player through the NRL integrity unit. A lot of clubs wont sign a player who then has to take a 12 week ban and the NRL might not let him play anyway. He may well have to take an offer from a SL club to rebuild his career. Therein lies the problem. Do Saints or any other club decide not to sign him because of his past knowing full well that another club may decide to sign him and it could come back to bite. Equally what example does it set singing such a player caught taking drugs?

    If he did sign for Catalans or any other SL club and performed at 80 percent of the player he was doing so in late 2016 he would still be the best fullback in the competition by miles and he would get fans attending games. All depends upon as well who might have any salary cap space to sign him too.

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    Quote Originally Posted by parrsaint View Post
    Difficult one.

    He is a true world class player (think his nickname actually is X Factor) and his form was one of the reasons why Cronulla won the Grand Final last year.
    The downside is, of course, his rather stupid decision to take Cocaine at the end of the NRL season. Other coaches in the NRL didnt want him in the past either. He was shown the door by Bennett at the Broncos before signing for Cronulla.

    He is in a position where unless another RU club come knocking he would have to return to the NRL and take his ban and go through the difficult process of getting re registered as a player through the NRL integrity unit. A lot of clubs wont sign a player who then has to take a 12 week ban and the NRL might not let him play anyway. He may well have to take an offer from a SL club to rebuild his career. Therein lies the problem. Do Saints or any other club decide not to sign him because of his past knowing full well that another club may decide to sign him and it could come back to bite. Equally what example does it set singing such a player caught taking drugs?

    If he did sign for Catalans or any other SL club and performed at 80 percent of the player he was doing so in late 2016 he would still be the best fullback in the competition by miles and he would get fans attending games. All depends upon as well who might have any salary cap space to sign him too.

    I think a deal to the end of 2018 would potentially be do-able, allow him to rebuild his reputation whilst playing at a good level & getting good pay. One-season deals for marquee players used to be common & accepted amongst British RL teams (and indeed for Aus teams, too) so I have no issue with that.

    Not really arsed about him taking a bit of beak. The majority of adults in the UK have taken drugs deemed by the state to be illegal. And there's a cultural acceptance - even an encouragement - to take the world's most prevalent drug: alcohol. If his 'crime' had been to, say, beat someone up in Sydney, I doubt many of the sanctimonious crew here would be against us signing him (yet in the latter case, there'd be a victim; him doing some charlie there isn't)


    Not going to happen, though, so we may as well close the thread.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Stephen07 View Post
    Call me a cynic but I have to agree with you. This whole discussion feels a bit like me trying to decide whether I should ask Jennifer Lawrence out on a date or not. It's all a bit like that lottery conversation I have with my colleagues in the office every Friday afternoon. What would you do if.......?
    If his only choice is a few years in Super League, then we should have as good a chance as anybody.

    I can guarantee ambitious clubs in SL will be going for him. There's a marquee rule in place, why can't we use it?
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wise Old Elf View Post
    Regardless of how good he is, we shouldn't be the kind of club that tacitly approves of substance abuse. That would send completely the wrong signal to any potential players. I hope Holbrook would want to set a higher standard of off-field behaviour than that.

    And let's be honest - inviting someone with drugs problems to live in St Helens would be like locking a kid in a sweet shop.
    Is it that bad!!! At 67 years old I must be out of touch :-)
    I know you can Lemsip cheap in Poundland but that's the limit of my knowledge of drugs

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    Pointless discussion I reckon.....so I thought I'd contribute 😀

    NO CHANCE!

    Why bother anyway? We can always keep an out of position Tommy at fullback and if he goes down we have Jack Owens waiting in the wings.

    An unnecessary luxury when you look at the sheer quality in our squad.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Stephen07 View Post
    The fact that the cap rules would allow it doesn't make it likely that our previously frugal decision makers would consider him affordable. You still have to find the money. I just don't see it but I'm not against it on any moral grounds. Though there is probably a debate to be had about whether a player should be able to swerve a ban by playing in another country.
    This is my current frustration with the club.
    We clearly don't have the personnel at the moment to generate excitement and have us challenging. When the likes of Barba come up we should be showing some interest. Yes, players like him a gamble and it might pay off. Warrington took a gamble on Sandow and, OK, it didn't work out in the end but he did provide some entertainment. Lyon was a gamble at the time and look how that turned out.

    We need someone to kick-start us at the moment and I'd like to think that, if I was on the board with quite a bit of cash I'd look at signing a big-name Marquee player as the option is available.

    OK, it's easy to say what I've and I don't know the ins and outs of the club, but what is the point of investing in a sports club if you're not going to make the team better? You don't invest in Saints to make money, you do it through a love of the club.
    Last edited by Kakariki; 11th May 2017 at 12:04.

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