Matt Gidley
Michael Shenton
Jordn Turner
Josh Jones
Mark Percival
Kevin Naiqama
From that list it’s clearly Gidley and Percival then daylight
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Got to agree. Even though Gidley was coming to the end, he was still miles better than any other on the list bar Percival.
Looking at team of the decade so far, and thinking about the next couple of positions, the lack of quality other than one or two standouts for wing and centre shows why we have won so little.
Perhaps when we get to the forwards it will be more competitive.
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Agreed - overall I think we have lacked some quality compared to the previous decade - but this is more apparent in the backs / half backs... in the forwards I do think we'll see another story - we've had some cracking players especially in the front row, which is probably our strongest area.
The team of the decade is one of the strongest out of season threads we've had - nice twist on similar off season ideas
This is a point I've made too. I think in this decade, Leeds & Wigan both won 4 grand finals each. Why? They simply had better players, especially in the backs as you say. They had more strike. This is why I went for Barba at Full back- Paul Wellens (of this era) wasn't a match for Sam Tomkins or Zak Hardaker. Barba was a match for anybody. And Makinson & Grace have been as good as if not better, than any other wingers in the competition over the Holbrook era. As have Percival and Naiqama at centre. This is a big part of why Saints fortunes have improved.
A point I will specifically make on the centres, is that whilst Percival is the clear choice for best centre of the decade for Saints, its Michael Shenton for mine who's been the best centre on the list during this time. He was poorly managed at Saints. I also thought Jordan Turner could've been a great centre for Saints, yet he played a lot of games at 6 because of the lack of speed in the halves and even at loose forward, I recall.
Regards,
STEVO
Shenton was a real missed opportunity for us. Sadly, he wasn’t the only player who wasn’t allowed to reach his full potential because of coaching mistakes. Stiddy has given valid examples on the stand off thread of players being played out of position or not used to their full potential.