No, he just likes to take care of his appearance.

Like you said, they good players.



Manu for flannery



Turner for Meli

Should we have kept Sia, as Manu has better stats than Sia, so if we don't want a player like Manu, then we don't want anyone we currently have in our pack.

Hull make 'final offer' to Manu



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Sia is 24 years old. He has his best years ahead of him and he can get better. Manu will be 33 next season and so his career has only one way to go. We have enough elderly players in our team just now. Good or not, I'd rather see what we have in our youth bank before getting another ageing player from down under.

You cannot compare the impact a 33 year old Willie Manu would have compared to a sparrow legged runt from the academy. As Mugwump tells us, the academy players are typically physically not up to it until their third season, so the chances of finding a competent forward for next season amongst them is not very likely.

Say we get two good years out of Manu and he retires. What would be wrong with that?

Nothing, although we do have TP, Laffranchi, Flanders and possibly Perry who'll retire at the end of their Saints stint. We [ido[/i need to guard against getting in a situation where we've got a whole batch of players to replace at once.



As a player, Manu's awesome, and when a player like that comes up, you've got to at least have a look.



In my opinion, he's one of the premier players in the League. I'd be delighted if we got him.

I see your point, but IMO it's a minor one.



Laffranchi has that extra year option on his contract so we could be just replacing Perry and TP at the end of next season if their contracts aren't renewed. That would leave us with two extra quota spots so we should be able to replace them with imports or English based players if the youngsters aren't ready in terms of the front row.



Back row isn't an issue; Flannery being replaced by Manu by the sounds of it and surely when Manu leaves the likes of Dixon, Hale, Forster (depending if he plays front or back row) should be able to step up then.

I'd still go for him, I was just playing devil's advocate.

Our pack is far from being aged, I posted elsewhere that Manu would be our only back rower over 30.



The board seam to have done a number on us in recent year trying to convince us that anything over 30 is a waste of our time. We are talking a 1 or 2 year deal. If Saints sign Manu on a 4 year deal then sure, I'll be saying Whoa, big mistake. But a 1 or 2 year deal is a good business deal.

At the the end of the day, willie Manu is 33 but he's still a good player. The age is the important factor, it's how his body is, his form, his injury record and to me he don't look a 33 year old, in fact I was shocked when I saw his age.



If he's still good enough then get him signed. He's a very good player and would offer us something we don't have in our pack.



Anyone remember signing a old over the hill Kevin ward

We signed Baloo at 32 and at 34 he had his best season of his career. Big forward are at they're best at 32-35 imo

It's silly to judge a player on being to old, look at ward, Anderson who both turned into great signings.



Its how they are playing that counts not age.

I'm never worried about props/big second rowers age, we made a huge mistake getting rid of Gilmour, he'd have been our best backrower over the last 3 yrs.

Menzies,Morley, Peacock, etc, etc these arnt exceptions, a great forward player casn easily go on to they're mid 30's and in some cases beyond.

The big exception is past injury records.

Morley had a bad few years, but has come through them well

It's the types of injuries tho.



If they have serious knee injuries etc then I'd have to think twice.

But even they can heal well. Sia's had 2 knee recronstructions and he runs like a freight train

Will he when he's 33 ?

good question, IMO he'll be a prop long before then

Manu 2 years.

Turner 3 years.



Or so I've been told.

I was talking with few saints lads today and they ain't got clue. They hear the rumour but not heard anything concrete.