Re: Briers : Sun Sep 30, 2012 10:44 pm  

Sadly I think the quality of SL is going to decline a bit, as there won't be the same quality Aussies coming over given the increase in their salary cap and the strength of the Aussie dollar due to Australia's position as a main exporter of raw materials to the developing countries in asia which will carry on for the next few years.

So there will be fewer quality players and there will be more of a premium on who has got better young players coming through their youth system.

I know this is the point where fans of clubs like Saints, Wigan and Leeds usually start lecturing Warrington on how we only ever sign old past its and we have neglected junior development yadayada but we just won the U20s Grand Final yesterday so the signs are we can at least hold our own now.

I think there will be a vacuum in power at the top in 2013-15 where Saints can make their move if they have good recruitment under Nathan Brown. Warrington will lose 4 of our key players, Briers, Hodgson, Michael Monaghan and Morley around the same time and they will be hard to replace. Wigan have got lots of young talent but are also a bit fragile for me, outside of Sam Tomkins I think they are limited and they are signing some worryingly average players, so they may be having a dip. And Leeds are going to be in a similar position to us losing a lot of big guns at the same time. I don't expect these three clubs to fall off like Bradford but they will go through a stage like Saints have since about 2009, losing a lot of players and not being quite what they were.

Saints could be a good bet to move into pole position then, even Hull if they have some good recruitment could be back in the mix.

It's hard to look beyond that in terms of time horizons as you don't know what will happen and what young players will come through the ranks. But I don't reckon there will be long dynasties of success, it will be the bigger richer clubs that have the best infrastructure, finances and youth development (ie Saints, Leeds, Wire, Wigan and Hull) that will be probably sharing out the trophies over the next decade.

Re: Briers : Sat Oct 06, 2012 8:23 pm  

TF and the wire wrote:

Reading this thread has made me even happier to have won tonight.

altogether now...it's never your year, it's never your year...just like the last five......

re reading this thread has made me even happier you lost today

Unlucky Mr Briers

Re: Briers : Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:14 pm  

Had to feel for him tonight. He clearly wanted it desperately and it was a little sad watching his candle flickering out. You have to wonder how many chances he'll get to be there again, his defending let his side down badly tonight and he's clearly at the limit physically where it will soon be too much for him.

Re: Briers : Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:28 pm  

I wonder how many beers he had today in the run up to the match...

Re: Briers : Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:37 pm  

Northampton_Saint wrote:

I wonder how many beers he had today in the run up to the match...

Your a total idiot.

Re: Briers : Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:39 pm  

Ninja saint wrote:

Your a total idiot.

You are worthy of no reply but my derision:

Re: Briers : Sun Oct 07, 2012 1:38 am  

Briers is a proper saints lad and one of the best wire players we've ever had.

Re: Briers : Sun Oct 07, 2012 7:57 am  

I saw Briers at the driving range the other day, he's still a St Helens lad at heart and doesn't deserve the stick he get's from Saints fans

Hopefully he'll get another chance to win a GF

Re: Briers : Sun Oct 07, 2012 8:09 am  

TheOtherOne wrote:

I saw Briers at the driving range the other day, he's still a St Helens lad at heart and doesn't deserve the stick he get's from Saints fans

Hopefully he'll get another chance to win a GF

Certainly is a St Helens he,s never detached himself from his grass roots. Coaching the young lads of Thatto Heath Crusaders as we speak.

Seem to remember a few years back, Cunningham coaching a young Haydock team and Briers getting the upper hand with his young Thatto Heath team.

Re: Briers : Sun Oct 07, 2012 12:46 pm  

Good player that he is, it was no surprise to see him exposed defensively on the biggest stage, he is little more than a speed bump close to the line. Look at them skinny arms of his, I've seen more meat on a butcher's pencil.