RagingBull wrote: ↑Sun Apr 07, 2024 2:01 pm
Has our academy been the worse in terms of wing production?
Looking at saints Slightholme, Freeman, Hendy all rapid, We just seem to struggle getting Wingers from academy to first team.
Even Simmons wasn't a winger in age grade.
Hopefully Satala and Kinder both live up to promise.
He was a 15 coming into the academy and we converted him to a 9.
Lewington was bizarrely untrusted by Cockers.
Before that it was what Varndell or can we count Smith as a winger to come through.
Marchant had been speaking to Sarries as he was pretty keen to go back to London, which was the same as Sam Spink who has now signed with Sarries. To be fair, Tom Whiteley commutes up from North London every day so it can be done if he is prepared to do so.
AViewFromLe2 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 09, 2024 9:59 pm
Marchant had been speaking to Sarries as he was pretty keen to go back to London, which was the same as Sam Spink who has now signed with Sarries. To be fair, Tom Whiteley commutes up from North London every day so it can be done if he is prepared to do so.
Complete aside - do many of the current Tigers players commute far for training or do most live locally?
RagingBull wrote: ↑Tue Apr 09, 2024 10:01 pm
Sarries are pretty stacked in the centres now
Yeah I don't see him going there now. I wonder if they had a choice between Spink and Marchant and went with Spink. Marchant makes sense if we are losing Porter. If Porter is staying it becomes harder to justify signing him. Perese, Porter and Marchant would be incredible depth but overkill!
AViewFromLe2 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 09, 2024 9:59 pm
Marchant had been speaking to Sarries as he was pretty keen to go back to London, which was the same as Sam Spink who has now signed with Sarries. To be fair, Tom Whiteley commutes up from North London every day so it can be done if he is prepared to do so.
Complete aside - do many of the current Tigers players commute far for training or do most live locally?
Honestly not sure. I would guess 90% are either Leicestershire and Rutland, with the odd outlier. Sir Kev used to commute down from Leeds every day when he was here, which is a great effort. I was never actually convinced Steve lived in Leicestershire - it was always hinted at but never really confirmed. Not that it matters, but it is always interesting to be nosey.
RagingBull wrote: ↑Tue Apr 09, 2024 10:01 pm
Sarries are pretty stacked in the centres now
Yeah I don't see him going there now. I wonder if they had a choice between Spink and Marchant and went with Spink. Marchant makes sense if we are losing Porter. If Porter is staying it becomes harder to justify signing him. Perese, Porter and Marchant would be incredible depth but overkill!
With Marchant saying previously when he was linked to Sarries that he was staying in Paris next year, I wonder if we are looking at Marchant for next season (ie 2025/26) with a look to one of Kelly/Porter moving on?
Same with Simmonds I wonder with him signing a 2yr deal with Montpellier if we are looking at him coming in for the year after?
As an aside - great to be linked with such good players, bonus them being EQP too.
RagingBull wrote: ↑Tue Apr 09, 2024 10:01 pm
Sarries are pretty stacked in the centres now
Yeah I don't see him going there now. I wonder if they had a choice between Spink and Marchant and went with Spink. Marchant makes sense if we are losing Porter. If Porter is staying it becomes harder to justify signing him. Perese, Porter and Marchant would be incredible depth but overkill!
Tbf when I read Marchant and Tigers I thought maybe Watson is leaving. He’s just as good on the wing as he is at 13. Forget how good under the highball he is.
RagingBull wrote: ↑Tue Apr 09, 2024 10:01 pm
Sarries are pretty stacked in the centres now
Yeah I don't see him going there now. I wonder if they had a choice between Spink and Marchant and went with Spink. Marchant makes sense if we are losing Porter. If Porter is staying it becomes harder to justify signing him. Perese, Porter and Marchant would be incredible depth but overkill!
With Marchant saying previously when he was linked to Sarries that he was staying in Paris next year, I wonder if we are looking at Marchant for next season (ie 2025/26) with a look to one of Kelly/Porter moving on?
Same with Simmonds I wonder with him signing a 2yr deal with Montpellier if we are looking at him coming in for the year after?
As an aside - great to be linked with such good players, bonus them being EQP too.
To be fair, both of those things are completely possible. The reality is that the club will be having loads of conversations with so many players all the time. We only hear an extremely small percentage of the activity they are up to. And conversations can mean numerous things - they could be serious or purely informal.
You've got to imagine the majority of chats are speculative to gauge interest, the percentage that converts into serious chats is a lot lower, with the conversion to actual signings is lower again. It would not surprise me if we spoke to circa 25-50 players per season in some shape or form. And that could be a conservative number.
glenn wrote: ↑Tue Apr 09, 2024 8:29 pm
Rumour of Joe Marchant in talks with us
Marchant refuted the rumours he'd signed with Sarries and said he was very happy in Paris. With Hartley, Spink, Lozowski, Tompkins, Cinti and Daly all on the books they surely don't need player to cover centre.
