Back in the UK for personal reasons.
Hope he is OK..
Back in the UK for personal reasons.
Hope he is OK..
NEVER WRITE OFF THE SAINTS
Insta @christianjamescreative
No, let’s not do this - there are plenty of reasons why it couldn’t be that, but it’s not what this is about. To borrow Gus Goulds comments on it, some things are more important than Rugby.
Wish him the best with everything that’s going on.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/nr...al-matter.html
That article is a bit all over the place. It initially insinuates that there's a family issue back home, but then quotes Gould directly at the end, who says "Luke has been missing from our team over the past month due to a concussion event. Luke has had ongoing symptoms and we have been monitoring his return-to-play protocols. We are hoping this short break to visit his family will assist in his recovery. He should be good to go once he returns.", which suggests he's having problems with concussion sysmptoms.
Didn't he miss a chunk of one season under Cunningham with similar?
The way he plays the game must put him in the firing line for this kind of head impact, and the NRL has more brutal defence than SL.
Interesting. Hope the concussion stuff isn't as serious as it sounds. Wire do seem to be cutting players left right and centre, so presumably they are going to bring a few more players in for next season. Their pack would be insanely impressive if they got Thompson too.
If he comes back to England he would be going to Wigan.
Hope his concussion issue and his personal issues are solved as quickly as possible. I’d love him back here but now isn’t the time for speculating.
St Helens Rugby League Football Club
They've already got 6 props signed up for next season - Kasiano, Dudson, Vaughan, Mikaele, Philbin and Bullock (plus 'project signing' James Harrison, and McGuire has played a lot at prop previously)
Surely they wouldn't sign a 7th...
But, like MSB says, this isn't the time for this discussion.
If it is concussion related he may need a long lay off..
It's probably a combination of things and he's doing what he needs to do. Not sure it sure sounds like he has ever settled in Oz but time away will certainly help if he goes back
I don’t think it’s that he wouldn’t come back, it’s where we would we get the money from? I can’t see us or Warrington being able to afford him until at least 2024. That leaves Wigan, Leeds or Catalan as the only realistic options. For what it’s worth I don’t see him going anywhere anyway.
Forwards win games. The backs decide by how much.
I’m not saying we couldn’t make him a marquee and match any salary. I’m saying that with the contract extensions and presumably pay rises we’ve given out plus potentially still Roby and Grace on top of that, never mind some of the others still undeclared, do we have a spare £75k?
Maybe someone can help me out here, these are the marquee and club dispensation laws:
Marquee Player – Each Super League and Championship Club is permitted to have two Marquee Players whose Salary Cap value is limited to £150,000 (or £75,000 if Club Trained);
Club Trained Dispensation – Each Super League club is given up to £100,000 of dispensation for producing Super League standard players
My question is, are the two mutually exclusive? Would a club trained marquee signing not eat up £75k of the £100k club trained dispensation? Because I’m sure with the amount of club trained players we have we are already maxed out on that. If the marquee counts on that then we’re buggered. If it doesn’t then we’re in play.
Forwards win games. The backs decide by how much.
Creating a spare 75k is presumably easier than creating 150k! I said I wasn’t going down this road, but it wouldn’t surprise me if LMS retires, or if we really wanted to find it, we could see someone like Bell go out on loan. In a straight choice I even suspect the club would choose a prop over a winger as well.
So in short, yes the marquee and club trained dispensation work separately. Marquees are named individuals and run for the length of the contract they sign (so no waking up and declaring a marquee as some call for). The club trained dispensation effectively acts as a top up for the club, letting them spend “above” the cap. The dispensation is generated by up to 20 players playing in SL or the NRL for a minimum of 5 games a year, each granting the club an additional 5k to spend. So players like Lee Gaskell and Adam Swift will add to the dispensation.
I said I wasn’t going to do this …
The £100k dispensation can effectively be looked at as a 'top up' in practice. Easiest way to look at it for me is it raises your salary cap from £2.1m to £2.2m.
If we signed Luke Thompson as a marquee player on £400k, only £75k of that salary counts towards the (now raised) cap of £2.2m. The £75k doesn't act as an additional top up as the dispensation does.
He has missed the last few games for the Bulldogs and it is a worry the longer it goes on. There's been examples in recent years of players who have had months out of the sport because of concussion issues (Ryan Papenhuyzen) and some have sadly had to call time on their careers early. Boyd Cordner is the biggest example of this. Retired before he had even turned 30. Was the captain of the Roosters, NSW and Australia when he called it quits.
Hopefully Thompson makes a full recovery and as I always say when his name comes up, Saints should ask him the question at least if he would be willing to come back. He was a standout player in SL and has been performing well in the NRL.
*Not to be confused with Mike Stephenson, MBE
Stevie ward is another example
I hope there's no serious issues but hope he makes the right decision if he is having problems..
I would hate to see him play for anyone other than Saints.
Don't think there's one supporter that wouldn't have him back in a heartbeat..
NEVER WRITE OFF THE SAINTS
Insta @christianjamescreative
Any word on Thompsons situation? He was originally scheduled to return to Aus on July 8th but isn’t named in the Bulldogs squad for this weekend. Is he still in the UK?
screaming in the family corner, scaring the kiddies
Linked with big move in the Aussie press today. Didn’t seem to state where. I see him at Wigan if he comes back over here.