I can’t lie, I have never liked Shane long as a player. I have always thought that we need strikers who score goals and he doesn’t do it enough. His touch is poor, his shooting is awful, he goes to ground too often.
But he has a great partnership with zings and the two of them are unquestionably the best strike partnership we have had for years. He’s worked his socks off for the team and I agree he is a model professional. He is integral to the turnaround this season. Good on him.
At his age, he has been playing his heart out for another deal and he got one. He deserves it. Now we will see what two and a half years of guaranteed security does to his effort and motivation.[/QUOTE
Don't think that you can ever question, Shane's commitment and motivation in all of his time at Saints. I think the problem started with his popularity with some Saints fans who only look at his stats (mainly goals) when he was played up front as a lone Striker under Pellegrino. That was and will never be suitable to his game unless you are defending deep and looking for an out ball to relieve pressure. He thrives in a pair where he can use his pace and generally being a pest to the oppo's defence forcing mistakes and feeding a more prolific partner and others and as you say he and Danny are currently a great pairing and getting better.
My only concern with Shane and too long a contract would be if he starts to lose a yard of pace as speed is his main asset. He deserves every bit of praise he gets for how he has served the Saints so far IMO.

