With the majority of the Saints now in their pre-season preparations, Justin Holbrook has been talking about the club’s new signings and how they can help his side go one step further in 2019.
Lachlan Coote and Joe Batchelor are in training whilst Kevin Naiqama and Joseph Paulo will link up with their teammates shortly.
“I am confident with our squad,” he said. “Although I am disappointed to lose guys like Jon Wilkin and Ben Barba, I think you need some new faces if you keep hitting the same stumbling block.
“Lachlan is a great addition for us. He may not be as exciting as Ben Barba but he will be more solid overall and has a good left-foot kicking game that can be useful.
“He is a Grand Final winner in the NRL, winning with the Cowboys in 2015 and he helped get them there again from eighth spot in 2017. We want players that can get us past semi-finals and he can do that.
“Kevin (Naiqama) brings that to the club as well. He is exciting, agile and a leader. He is the captain of Fiji and we want to bring in those players to win those trophies.”
He continues: “Joseph has all the skills of a stand-off, but he’s tough. When we play certain oppositions that won’t let us play, he can cart it up as good as anyone. I like his skill and he is going to be that link between forwards and backs like Jon Wilkin.
“Joe is like Alex Walmsley in some respects as he is a late bloomer in his career. When he signed for us he asked if he could come over training for one session a week and drove to training off his own bat.
“It is exciting to have someone like him prepared to work hard before he has even started.”
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