Yeah, but not many actually consider Campo a marqee, big name player. I think he's fantastic, of course.



Herby goes ok.

Michael Dobson was hardly a marquee player when he came over, and look how that turned out. Give the guy a chance over here first at least.

Why,Tommy was one of the most underrated stand offs in the game.

For me it was a travesty when he was continually overlooked for the stand off role when he was probably the most natural stand off we had when he was at his peak.

Am I imagining things, but didn't he make his name originally at stand-off, playing there internationally for young GB among others? ie maybe his natural position is SO, and comparisons with LFs turned SO are wide of the mark. Rather is he a SO turned LF who is now reverting to his natural position?

Lots of talent, not much bottle. Think that was the general thoughts on Martyn wasnt it

But isnt the whole point that we shouldnt be signing potential marque players and trying to produce our own so we dont have to play either kevin brown or lockers at 6

Where do you get this not much bottle,how often did you see him play.

Quite a lot, not as much as some saints fans i worked with at the time.



Just an opinion mate

Nope. He was the brains that guided us to our most successfull period.

In fact, in 1999 he won the SL players' player of the year, which, these days, would have meant Man Of Steel.

Fair enough mate,but for me he should have been given a chance to play for GB,he was all class.

Some one said he and Robinson were the half backs in a wigan reserve team at one period.

Martyn was a truly natural stand-off. I don't think there was a problem with his bottle, but he did have a slightly iffy defensive technique which meant that he could miss the odd tackle. Ultimately I think that was what kept him out of the GB side, but the fact that he was so utterly superior to the players getting picked ahead of him in the position in every other respect (and particularly in areas in which we were woefully inept - kicking game and creativity, for example) just goes to illustrate the negative mindset that England/GB have always tended to take when it comes to selecting players in pivotal positions.



They've always picked a player like Darryl Powell, who'll give you a solid performance but won't present any danger to the opposition, over someone like Martyn, who might miss a tackle but will just as likely come up with something inspirational. The selection of O'Loughlin at 6 just smacks of the same attitude.



Australia don't think in this way. They could pick a safer full back than Billy Slater, for example (before anyone says it, BTW, I'm not comparing Billy Slater to Tommy Martyn). He's prone to the odd mistake, as we've seen in international RL (he certainly seems to make more mistakes than Minichiello used to), but they pick him because they know that in the trade-off between that and his awesome ability with ball in hand they'll come out well in the black.

But they'll leave out a ball playing loose and pick a player who is effectively a prop in that position.

They have ball playing half backs, though.