The reasons are not relevant. The substantial evidence of Graham bawling players out is an indisputable fact.







Wheeler DID say it. This is an indisputable fact.







In whose opinion? Graham's? Based on what evidence? His own eyes? Senses are notoriously unreliable. But let's say the player in question did make a mistake this DOES NOT mean it is a good idea to bawl him out. You don't need a Ph.D in human psychology to know it is a risky leadership device which can often be counter-productive. Do YOU respond well to your manager when he's two inches from your face screaming over a cock-up you've made which you already feel bad about?







What on earth are you talking about? James Graham extra-RL activities are completely irrelevant. Wheeler didn't say Graham is a bad bloke who plucks the eyeballs out of kittens. Quite the opposite, in fact. His comments were aimed solely at his style of [icaptaincy[/i and the criticisms he has of it. Nothing more.







Why do you keep trying to obfuscate the issue with lame appeals to emotion? NO ONE questions James Graham's standards. NO ONE questions his "tender heart" (is that a violin I'm hearing right now?). NO ONE questions his comforting of younger players. We ALL think James Graham is an outstanding player. But this DOES NOT mean criticisms cannot be levelled at his style of captaincy.

Jamie foster has not tweeted in 3 days, something is seriously wrong, i assume this time when he said "Head down and time to graft." he actually meant it, literally can't find the last time he hasn't been on for this period of time, must of really got to him, that or he saw the amount of abuse off people comparing him to Kevin Penny.

Kevin Penny,

thats possibly a little harsh.



Be interseting to see how he performs in the next few weeks

I can't believe how quickly people are to jump up and down about how bad Foster seemingly is all of a sudden. Seems to me 90% of the comments about him are about the way he looks or 'seems' as a person with virtually no evidence except for his twittering ('young man in use of twitter shock').



I've questioned whether wing is Foster's best position, but I think if he fills out a bit he may well make a good centre. From what I've seen he looks to have a good rugby brain - and when he's confident he's a damn good kicker.



Ideally Foster will go on to be a great player for Sts. I really hope that. On top of that, I have no problem with him being the face of the game with kids who otherwise may not take any interest in RL. As with Beckham does it really matter if he's not the best player in the world if kids think he is?

I'm not trolling!



Penny has(d) an infinately better attack than foster does now and similiar defensive abilities (at least he coulc catch a sitter)



But it isn't the end for foster. His kicking ability will mean he won't be forced out



But it seems a fair comparison, even the response from the fans.

Jamie did not have his best game for Saints but there is no reason to blame him to such an extent. LMS for example could and should have given away several penalties for high shots in the second half. Child completely missed them as he did with a lot of things.



I have always put dropping off late in a game down to poor conditioning but your conditioning can be tested if you lack physicality. So are we poorly conditioned and that is making us look weak or are we not physical enough and that is tiring us? Either way it is an issue with the team in general rather than one player.



Looking at our front row would be a better place to start. Against Catalan we lost Clough after Lomax game him a hospital pass and hurt his bad neck and shoulder. Clough does turn his back a lot going into the tackle which is a very poor technique and will only get him injured. Puletua disappeared to the bench in the second half so he better have been injured. He is a player that does not play to his limits. Laffranchi is playing OK but looks more like a loose forward than a prop. Which left Louie out on his feet making poor tackles around the head.



All that being said and done I do think that Makinson and Gardner are our best wingers at present but I have had that opinion since before the season started. Jamie just needs to work on the holes in his game.

Most young players have dips in their form in their 2nd or 3rd seasons. They have to adapt their game as things that they do well get picked up on by opposition defences. Some can, and then continue to improve, some can't and disappear.



It's too early to be writing off Foster for me, which some seem to be doing. I'd also be wary of opposition fans coming in and doing him down when they know his replacement will be Gardner...

Racked up 40 points today scoring 5 tries and kicking 10 goals in a 68-0 win over Huddersfield.

That's just what he needed and why I was calling for him to play in u20s for a month or two.

Total balderdash.



Penny had infinatley better attack.



Pennys best year 2008 - 11 tries from 20 appearances

Jamies first year - 7 tries from 11 appearances - then 20 tries last year.



If you compare them in there best years 2008 for penny, 2011 for Foster they play a similar number of games and Foster is better in every facet of the game.





Penny was fast, that's it....





Foster has ability and the record to prove it, was our top try scorer last year. His head seams to have gone defensively but this is something he can fix as he has the ability, where as penny never did, being fast does not mean you get tries and does not make you a good player.



Give Foster a few weeks and then bring him back for a low key game and hopefully all will be right again.

Foster is gash but hes twice the player of Penny or should i say the new Offiah as the deluded Wire lot tried to label him.

Fantastic. That's the kind of reaction most of us will be looking for!