Quote jaybs="jaybs"I would not take too serious, many of the responses on the Saints board, they have been converted to the new faith, McManus! Why did they let Jamie Foster go? and he did well at Hull and now with The Bulls, also the same with Gaskell, now at Salford, soon to be at Bulls. But at the same time they persist with Wheeler, who is not that good and drives around the town in a Mercedes, thinking he is the bees knees! The problem at St Helens, like here, is coaching, their former coach now CEO Rush.'"
Foster was let go because his confidence level hit rock bottom midway through the year, loaned him to hull to see how he would react and the coaching staff thought Makinson offered more potential - I liked Foster at saints, but he would be behind both Makinson and Swift who are coming through and just wasnt right for us - Im sure hell be a very good super league player.
Gaskell leaving was slightly different. He managed to alienate himself to 3 different coaches to end up not being picked. Brown spoke very highly of Gaskell when he first arrived, but within a few weeks he was once again sidelined. What he does to be sidelined has never fully been explained - Im less convinced hell make it as a superleague player but I hope for the lads sake to be proved wrong.
Wheeler is a truly special player, better than eastmond or lomax in my opinion ... if you can get him on the field, next year will be make or break for him (literally) and i cant say which way its gonna go!
As for Ashe, hes not as bad as the saints thread suggests, his problem is he was announced to the fans as the next best was gonna be a replacement for wello (he is a full back, but plays 6 occasionally) etc when he was 15, but hes not been able to develop to live up to the hype as he hasnt really progressed physically in his time at saints. Hes good technically though just doesnt really have the strength/ speed to make it happen. I would watch with interest to see how he develops with you guys as he could be a good signing - but is a gamble
