I was in the east stand just yards from where we scored our tries and if you don't think he was skillful in his part in them there is no hope to change your opinion on him.

He can be extremely good at drawing in defenders and releasing the ball with just enough space and just the right timing to release Jamie the sparrow down the left hand side. When those two click near the line they are terrific. It's just such a pity it took until the last 15 minutes for them to click. We could have run riot down that edge with more composure.

Yes and I've seen his awful throw it anywhere passes which are totally embarrassing.



Unless we get in there 20 meter, Meli is not useful at all. He will never be a player to score long range try. He's a good finisher and has done ok but he's never a real centre.

On my goodness.

So Shenton is not good enough, basically translates to there is no England centre good enough for Saints.

Meli is not good enough basically translates to there is not a SL centre outside of Carmont from Wigan good enough for Saints.

Foster has no pace, and can't beat a man, yet when he got his hatrick against Catalan's he seamed to beat a few of them for pace.



Makinson well the jury is out, but it is his first year.

Wellens, well there is much agreement on that.



So what is being said is that our 4 players on the wing and centre, must be brought in from NRL, with the exception of Carmont.



Are we living in cloud cookoo land. You can only have 5 overseas under normal rules anymore.



It's just not going to happen, the days of busting the salary cap and packing your squad with kolpak NRL players are gone. If you want to replace any of the above 4 it needs to be done within Saints or other SL clubs.



So unless we are suggesting that the Saints board can buy the wigan backs, this is all completely pointless. Meli has one more year at that point depending on whether some others like Soliola stays we may get a chance to get an NRL centre, but it will not be a top player, it will be someone on a pension or someone struggling to get in. The NRL already beats us hands down money wise and this gap will only increase. We have to make our own or buy from other clubs.



Anyone got any credible suggestions better than what we already have???

So rubbish he's scored three tries less than the top try scorer this year. That's playing outside a player who is apparently never a centre this year.



Yes, he's incredibly rubbish.

Tries.

Whats Matty Blythe or Jon Clarke got to do with anything ?



Lets make a comparison.



1. Michael Shenton a big signing from Cas who who will be on a very good contract and will be one of your top earners, Matty Blythe is basically a kid thats just starting out his career at this level and won't be on much money at all, he's not even a first choice player for us, a squad player thats been on dual reg at Leigh. Hmmmmmm



2. Jon Clarke, a player thats now in the last stages of his career compared to Scott Moore whose only 23. Clarke again is just a squad player so i'm not sure what your point us with any of the above 2.



We had to play Matty Blythe against Wigan because of the injuries to Harrison and Briers, Bridge went to 6 which means Blythe had to come in at right centre to cover for Bridge. He was obviously out of his depth at that level in a game of such importance, what was Shenton's excuse given that he was touted as being one of the best english centres in recent times who has also played for England ? Shenton looked out of his depth against Wigan which would be a worry given he is supposed to be one of (if not) the best english centres in the game. I'd take Chris Bridge all day long ahead of Shenton at right centre, just a pitty we couldn't play him at right centre against Wigan due to injuries.

Wingers' try records are deceptive.



Put bluntly, me and you could have scored both of Foster's tries on Saturday. He had a total of about 4 yards to run.



We'd have been useless at just about everything else mind...



Darrell Goulding was the 2nd highest try scorer last year - he's not even close to being the 2nd best winger.

I think it would be stupid not to play Lance at FB next year...lets be honest when you play in a position for so long like he has, you would be stupid to move him to HB unless it was a one off injury crisis...but they never happen at saints

I'd have Pryce there if recent news is true. He would work very well as a 3rd pivot I feel and isn't a stranger to Full Back. For me Lomax has to stay in the halves, he's the future of this club and that is his native position. As for Lance he has one major flaw, he can't catch a bomb. If you think Meli is bad for it wait until you see Hohaia. This problem is negated if he plays in the halves and so I feel it would best suit the team if he took 6/7. He also has a better kicking game than both Pryce and Lomax, especially short.

We've seen that the lad can finish though, not all those tries have been falling over the line. It was asked what he brought to the team bar goal kicking, given the tribulations we've had as a team this year, he's done well to score an amount of tries comparable to the wingers at Wigan and Warrington, teams that have been far more fluent in attack with more settled teams than us this year.



I don't think Foster is the finished article, nor that he's in the top 2 wingers in the league. But he's shown that he has good hands, knows where the try line is, has a decent turn of pace, is safe under the high ball and isn't error prone.



I just find it a touch ridiculous to write him off as being not good enough now at 21 in his second season because he isn't ripping teams apart playing in a team with a winger as his centre, a full back that's as slow as a tug chiming into the line and has had two rookie half backs for most of the year.



Some players have obvious deficiencies that they never seem to get rid of, Goulding is a good example of that, Foster is not one of those players though.