Willing to give him a 2nd season; Darren Britt didn't rip up trees in his first season.
A new coach will have different ideas, the last change in coaches certainly helped Peyroux who was very poor in his first season.
Imo he needs to either play as a first reciever or not at all, he's neither doing one job or the other at the moment and it's not working
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I think he’s performing the role that he’s being asked to play play by his coach. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t have played as many games as he has so in terms of his role in the team and his lack of carrying etc, I’d say the issue lies with the coach. If he wanted another direct running forward, he’d have kept Luke Douglas instead of Paulo and just used one of the props as a 13.
Whether or not he’s been successful in that role is another question. I don’t think he’s done a better job than Jon Wilkin last year in that same role.
Steve Prescott MBE (1973-2013)
V
I,ve defended Paulo for those first 25 games but in all those games he probably in reality performed in around 5 of them. Holbrook signed him for his link up with the half backs adding composure in those big games. We saw nothing in that in the challenge Cup Final so questions do arise in what he really offers to the team.
We,ve seen Bentley step to challenge for a back row spot but Paulo hasn’t responded, if he doesn’t prove his worth in the play offs then he should be demoted outside the first 17 and perhaps be a leader in the reserves side next season.
I agree with you both. I’ve said before that it’s a strange role he plays - a cameo playmaker - thats not his fault so I have some sympathy but the bottom line is he hasn’t contributed a great deal. I wonder if there’s a bit if face saving on behalf of Holbrook in terms of keeping him in and I can see Woolf either starting him or not playing him at all as he will perhaps have no loyalty in respect of not having signed him
Great to have Paulo back.
Bentley in for Paulo tonight again. Hopefully the beginning of the end for this more than bang average player and we pay him off at the end of the season or if we are lucky somebody takes him off our hands.
Don't think this has been mentioned anywhere, but I thought Holbrook's comments in his weekly Star Q&A were interesting regarding Paulo. This is from earlier this week, so after the Hudds game but before Hull:
MC: Was Joseph Paulo injured or left out?
JH: We are just trying to get him up to speed. He had a slight hamstring strain a couple of weeks ago at Warrington – and so it is a case of some conditioning.
We all saw him tweak his hamstring scoring against Warrington 2 weeks before the cup final, missing Leeds the following week, yet turning out at Wembley. Now I know Holbrook might be trying to give a quick evasive answer to a journalist, but if he's still in need of "some conditioning" almost 3 weeks after the cup final I think it highlights that in no way should he have been playing that day. I would understand rushing back a Coote or Lomax, or someone key to our structure, but not this guy who may well be following orders but is just an honest plodder. Bentley should've played at Wembley and I'll be very disappointed if he's ousted for Paulo in the playoffs given we're seemingly still "just trying to get him back up to speed".
I don't think we'll see Paulo play now unless we pick up an injury. The team that played at Hull last night seems to be our strongest and most in form team at the moment so can't see any reason why we'd change it.
Originally Posted by Despondent Dave
I wouldn't be surprised to see him heading to the titans.
They need to do some surgery on their cap. Their stated strategy
is to offload and go for local youth.
They are looking to turnover their squad , they will likely need
a relatively cheap utility to come in as part of the horsetrading.
Decided to resurrect this discussion as 14 months on from when it was started, Paulo has become the invisible man and can’t even make a mixed string squad for the game against Salford. I think Saints generally get things right with their overseas signings but there are some howlers along the way and he is one of them. Makes you think that as well as playing ability, the club needs to get better at understanding a players mental attitude before they sign them. Are they here to play, are they here to coast or are they here just to see the sights of Europe and add photos to their social media sites as Paulo has done? I’m unsure how the salary cap system works, but we really need to rip up his contract and pay him off as nobody in their right minds will take him off our hands even if we paid them to!