Tom will do what's best for Tom, the desisions his.

[PopTart]

He's not the only attacking threat.
But I'd like to keep him.

If he leaves us then no prob. Great servant. Given his value would be a bit let down and disappointed if he went on a free ..

SpainesRoadFartown wrote:

serious question here with johnstone been out of contract at the end of this year and him been your only attacking threat and rumours of him being on big money would you as fans want to go all out and keep him at any cost or would you be happy to let him go and use his wage to try and strengthen the team?

Is he so important that he has to be kept on at the detriment of the squad as a whole?

Louis Murphy is a massive talent, and has the additional versatility to play on either wing, so he's an attacking threat as you would have seen last night.
Ideally it would be great to have TJ on the left wing and LM on the right wing.
If TJ goes, he goes with my blessing but I would like to keep him. Speculate to accumulate - we should keep TJ and find the money from elsewhere to fund strengthening or forwards, because our backs, behind an aggressive pack are as good as any in SL.

Let him go put his wage to a more pivatol position

We should try to keep him but not at any cost. I do hope he stays but if he goes he’s given the trinity fans alot of exciting moments over the years.

As has been said we have Murphy emerging who is the best winger to come through since TJ himself. He is similar in a lot of ways to TJ and wouldn’t surprise me if he got TJ’s shirt if he went. I’d like to keep both though. We have one eye on the future with 2 cracking prospects in Hall/Murphy.

As for team strengthening… we have plenty out of contract to give us some options including some big earners.

Johnstone, Tupou, Minns, Croft, Tanivalu, Miller, Fifita, Arona, Whitbread, Aydin, Adebiyi, Batchelor atleast are OOC and there are some big earners in Tupou/Fifita/Miller maybe Arona in there. Id only re sign Batchelor/Johnstone/Whitbread and if he’ll accept a reduced deal for a year in 2023 Fifita (he’s missed a fair few games last few years but still has another year imo). I’d look for 2 strong prop imports and move Tanginoa back to second row for a start.

Plenty of options.

As I said on another threat I am of the opinion TJ is a diminishing asset and should be offered a contract to reflect that. If he signs on reduced terms fantastic, would be a great bit of business by Trinity if not we move on without him and remember the fantastic tries he has scored for Trinity.

I can’t help but think a move for him would be good for both parties. His injury record may improve under a different coach and medical team and ultimately I think we all want to see him on the field more consistently.

We are at the point with Tom where nearly every time he takes contact he picks up a knock or has to have the trainer on.

Trinity given the financial limitations are in a position where we need to get more value in performance out of players than their worth on the salary cap. As good as he is there is no point in a club with such financial challenges having salary cap say in the stands.

Given we have Lineham and Murphy as well as the forgotten man Kershaw we are fine for wingers. Something has to give on that department so we can invest elsewhere. Lineham
Is on a 3 year deal (madness) Murphy will be on a wage to reflect his novice status and it’s been widely reported Kershaw is on next to nothing.

Sadly it all points to TJ probably bring the man to move on.

From a playing point of view I also think TJ needs a move if he is to kick on. He must be 25/26 now and coming into his prime years. Whilst he is capable of doing things others cannot I think he has stagnated a bit these last couple of years. The same weaknesses in his game persist and a new environment may be what he needs to get him to the next level as there should be no reason on his potential that he shouldn’t be the first choice winger for England.

Tom Johnstone has only 'stagnated' because of his wicked run with injuries. It doesn't mean he's easily injured it's a reflection of the way he plays. He's fearless and some of those tries he's scored would not have been scored by most SL wingers.
He's coming into his best years. He's learned his trade and he's stronger and more aggressive now and that's why I'd like to keep him.
But, I accept he must have a desire to win silverware and let's face it, he isn't going to get any with us!
For that reason he'd go with my blessing.
Young Murphy is similar to Tom (at his age) and when he beefs up I'm sure he'll be as exciting as Tom is.
I still say try and get Tom to stay and find other ways to strengthen the pack, with other players off contract, buy more shrewdly!

SpainesRoadFartown wrote:

serious question here with johnstone been out of contract at the end of this year and him been your only attacking threat and rumours of him being on big money would you as fans want to go all out and keep him at any cost or would you be happy to let him go and use his wage to try and strengthen the team?

Is he so important that he has to be kept on at the detriment of the squad as a whole?

Very poor post here.
Being kept "to the detriment of the squad" ???

The lad is box office and is an asset to the squad.