I'm struggling to think of anyone in SL.

But that doesn't make him our best attacking weapon surely, we've scored 90 odd points in two games, one bloke has 6 tries and your saying our best attacking weapon is in the reserves, Riley isn't that far behind Penny on speed.

Maybe Scott Donald, I love the "all he has is pace" line, the change of direction at such speed and his finishing ability is outstanding and his confidence is great.

Shaun Ainscough, Peter Fox and Scott Donald.

as a father myself, i can pretty much guarantee that Penny wont be 100% focused on RL at the moment.



having a baby is a massive lifestyle change and he will need some time to adapt.



i think it could be a good move to leave him out of the first team frame for a while. And no, i dont think he should go out on loan either.



dont forget Penny is only a young man and there is alot going on in his young life at the moment.

1 out of 3 ain't bad. Although I think Ainscough is a great talent quite a few of his tries have been Ade Gardner types.

Was it Matt Gidley he made to look like a chump once? Gidley is one of my favourite players - to make him look anything other than great is hard to do.

I'm a fan of his too. Him and Cunningham I have a great deal of respect for, even though they play for saints.



On the penny front, a loan could work out for him (as it worked out for Halley at Bradford). At the moment though i'd rather have him on the wing ahead of Johnson.

You can't help but admire Gidley can you. He is consistently excellent, tough as well as skilful and never does anything to make you dislike him. What a signing he was - and to replace Lyon too! Who replaced Gleeson! Makes you sick doesn't it...

It does. However as an organisation, on the playing side, Saints really are a cut above. For me, replicating that is TS's biggest challenge and that's why people are really positive about what he is doing rather than 'getting carried away after 1 or 2 results'. We are hopeful that he is putting in that sort of culture at Warrington.



On a slightly wider point, I have respect for (almost) all Rugby League players. To quote Rob Smyth, RL is a 'daft game' and (almost) anyone who can play it to any standard demands respect. What seperates the likes of Gidley from the others is his utter class as a player and a person - the way he conducts himself is an absolute credit to the people who have worked with him as well as Gidley.



Gidley is also a wonderful example that-



- being late 20s/early 30s; and

- being Australian



Does NOT mean that the player is 'an Aussie here for a holiday' or 'past it'. When we announce whatever signing we are waiting to announce, people should remember that, although rare, the likes of Matt Gidley are still about.

Penny is a rare talent, I just hope he doesn't have to prove this at another club.

Indeed it does make me sick. Even Puletua a player who wasn't exactly a big name, but they have managed to get some real impressive performances out him, their recruiment policy is great as they keep the nucleus of the team (wellens ,cunninghams, longs) together with odd addition each season, therefore making it easier to be successful as they have already a settled squad and are used to playing with eachother.



It's like a building block, they keep adding and taking away from it, but the solid infustracture was built many moons ago. It's something I'm hopeful Smith can bring to us.