Just seen on Twitter that KC announced this morning that Jon Wilkin will captain Saints for the 2015 season...

Think this is quite a good move as Wello wont be in the 17 every week & we need a captain who will play. I know some will disagree, but personally I think this is a great move by Keiron. Wilkin is very experienced & I think we will see him raise his game with the extra responsibility. He is vocal on the pitch and also has good experience working in the media for that side of the role.

Well done Jon & lets hope you are lifting the SL trophy at Old Trafford in October!! COYS

Good news I reckon.

Who is vice Captain?

Not convinced. I agree that a change of captain was called for, and assume this shows Wellens will play "when needed" and will make the transition to the back room, but I'm not sure Wilkin is the right choice. He can be quite hotheaded (see angry Wello thread) and that's before you get to him actually being in the team!

Also surprised it wasn't announced with a contract extension given Wilkin is ooc this year

Wilkin is at the forum tonight so it will be interesting to see what is said.....

Wilkin will need to calm down to be any good of a Captain. Roby or Hohaia would have been my choice.

Are you suggesting Wilkin wouldn't be in the team?

This is great news. It shows (Hopefully, fingers crossed) that Keiron recognises that there is no place for Wello in the 17 unless there are a lot of injuries and therefore he needs an on field captain who is going to play every week. Wilkin is as good a shout as anyone as captain I guess. He's been around for a while and if anything it could help his anger issues if he knows he's the leader. Plus, provided he doesn't get sent off I don't have a problem with a bit of anger, we certainly need it.

Wilkin wouldn't be in my team, but that's another story. If Greenwood and Thompson/ Savelio kick on, Wilkin would really struggle to keep his place in the forwards imo. He's not played there consistently for 2 years, and the advantages of having a big back row were there for all to see in the playoffs...

I think I'd have Wilkin in my team, but he will be under more pressure for a place than some.

I would not like to think a Captain has a free pass each week.

I can't really see who else we could have gone for other than Roby. But Not against it, just hope if he has a drop off in form and a better second row is avaiable then we do the right thing by the team.

That's the problem I have with this. I think he will be given a free pass every week at the expense of younger better players.

Wilkin would always be in my team because of his passing skills and reading of the game, you can only have so many bruisers in the pack, but you need 1 or 2 with good ball handling skills, Shirley from the Wigoons for example.

Can he captain the team from his BBC commentary posistion, got the impression he would rather be doing media work.

I was told this just after Xmas but kept it under my hat as it might spoil Wilkin big moment if it was leaked.

Robes is vice captain.

It's shown KC might have the balls to make what might be tough calls. I'm sure it was hard for KC to tell wello as they are good mates but he was brave enough.

I also like the way he had a pop at some of the older players after the Widnes game which again shows he isn't influenced by old friendships.

I know he divides opinion, but this is good with me. As Saddened! says, it suggests that Wello is no longer an automatic pick which, much as I love the guy, needed to happen. I'm also looking forward to seeing Wilkin in the back row, where his impact on the team is underrated, IMO. A game that springs to mind is Wire away last season, where he went looking for Westwood for 80 minutes and totally took him out of the game. That was his first game in the pack for ages, and soon after that he was stuck in the halves again. I think we've forgotten what a good grafting back rower he is.

Mmm. I'm not Wilkin's biggest fan as I think he's not physically imposing enough, but when he come up with games like you mention, he's a real cracker. I remember years ago when Skandelis was having a good season for Hudds, Wilkin really targeted him in defence and nullified his impact.
You need one backrower that will make 40-50 tackles a game and he will do that every week.
He sure can pick a line when he wants to as well. He may not be big and hard, but then again, he does annoy the opposition and doesn't mind taking a punch. He has been guilty of being Mr. Nice too often, but I think you lose that with age (speaking from experience).

The fear is that, as the tackling graft takes it out of him, will he stop running hard and start trying to be playmaker, getting in the way of our halfs? Not with Travis Burns around, I reckon

Wilkin wouldn't be in my team. I'd pick Flash (less frills but harder hitting) or Jones (more dynamic overall) as my grafting backrow.

I'm happy to be proven wrong.

No offence Pete, but posts like this are bloody pointless unless you actually reveal the scoop beforehand.



Wilkin is the most obvious candidate really, we're not blessed with lots of leaders so he's a credible candidate with Roby being the only other alternative really at this stage for me.

There are other players but I'm not sure how they would go in a leadership role.

To me Amor and Walsh spring to mind, but they ain't from the town and they may not be a long term possibility.

This is a good call. It shows Wello is now very much a reserve in case of serious injury crisis.

More importantly, Wilkin is very much an aggressive in-your-face kind of player. Saints need that desperately since Graham left. He's clever enough to stay on the right side of controlled aggression, and he'll communicate that attitude to the rest of the pack when he's back where he belongs in the scrum. I don't see Roby as captain material, to be honest - he's not a big talker, and he needs to focus much more on his own game, playing as he does at hooker in the thick of the action all the time.

As for whether Wilkin deserves his place, I think he certainly does. We may have some good young lads coming up, but effectively they are interchangeable prop/2nd row types of the sort we've been producing for years - decent solid lumps who run hard and tackle lots, but don't offer a whole lot in terms of a passing game, organisational skills, or clever line running. I think the loose-forward position is made for Wilkin, with a slightly more old-school ball-handling, wide-running kind of role. The likes of Thompson, Savelio, Greenwood etc can take their turn rotating in the prop/2nd row spots and doing the hard graft. Wilkin still offers just a few more options in his game than they do at this time.

I'd be tempted to go for Lomax. Bit left field admittedly, but it's something he could grow with, and I feel like it's something we could do with some longevity with. SOL was criticised from pillar to post when he was first given the captaincy, but he's grown into one of the best captains in super league, and I feel like Lomax could do similar

I'm actually going to miss Saddened's Wello bashing when it comes to an end, its been a quirky feature on these boards. Maybe Saddened! can find a new anti hero in the Saints line-up. Thinking about it, Wilkin has that potential.

I wonder who's this seasons scapegoat will be?

"Old boys club" in the coaching staff* obviously



*(Or Jordan Turner

)

Jordan Turner will be up there when he plays with no heart like he does for 60% of the year.

I've got a feeling that Vea might be in for it if he doesn't do big things. People will see him as a replacement for Sia and, I suspect, may have unrealistic expectations of him.