news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 247442.stm Says we're very strong 1-17 and hope we stay injury free, dont we all!

news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 247442.stm Says we're very strong 1-17 and hope we stay injury free, dont we all!

Saint's do look strong from 1-17. No stronger than any of their rivals but certainly on a par. It's out side the 17 where you falter, and it's been proved time and time again that squad depth and quality outside the regular 17 can make or break a team's season.

I'm still interested to see where Sia will play, centre of secondrow?

As for the 1-17 we do look quite strong,if we keep them fit we will be there or there abouts come the end of the season.
I would imagine Sia will probably play centre rather than 2nd row.

I don't think we're any weaker than anyone else in the replacements, almost all of ours have shown that they can come in and do a job in the first team. What we can't withstand is the loss of our two first choice half backs, plus a few of the reserve half backs, but name me a squad that can.

We're looking at 5 or 6 teams that can compete for that top 4 (depending on how Leeds coaching team do and if Huddersfields increased presence in the International arena takes it toll), which is only a good thing.

Strong from 1-22. If we can keep three of Pryce, Eastmond, Wheeler and Lomax fit at any given time we'll be right up there.

I think wigan have more strength in depth than us, so injuries (or lack of) will be cruicial. Warrington, IMO were very fortunate with injuries last year, and with a very old squad, it could be a big factor for them

The turnover in players that will be required at Warrington in a couple of years time is frightening. You look at their squad and and the players that make them tick, Briers, Monaghan, Morley and Hodgson all vital to them yet are only a couple of years away from retiring. Not forgetting a whole host of other Wire players over the age of 30: Carvell, Higham, Clarke and Solomona. So while their challenging for honors at present the likelihood of them keeping that up after loosing so many key players to retirement seems slim.

Granted their reserve teams are coming on leaps and bounds but we've yet to see a great filtration of those players to the first team like we do at the likes of Wigan and Saints.

whilst they have Moran willing to pay big transfer fees for young players, they dont really need their own production line bringing players in.

Our squad is as good as any in the league I think.

What we cannot withstand are the loss of Leon and Kyle together or 4 or 5 outside the first choice pack and bench against the big boys without injuries.

If we have same numbers out then I'll take our kids against anyones, if we are asking them to do the job against your Peacocks, Morleys, O'Meleys without several experienced team mates I think on occasion we will struggle!

to be fair, any team, like us last year, who loses both halfbacks at once is bound to struggle

I liked the use of his word 'sensational'. Mmm. Yes please!

Something we've not been told? Unless he's including Royce i count 4. Perry, LMS, Shenon, Brotherton. Maybe he only meant 4. I think im being far too optimistic here.

Wasnt long ago when we were saying if we can keep Long, Sculthorpe and Cunningham fit

We bloody failed with Scully didn't we?

IMO si has to play secondrow. Our backrow is is small and lacks any attack.

Sia will add much needed power and biff to our backrow which IMO is a weak spot for us.

Totally agree. Get Soliola in the second row and Puletua in the front row. Then put Gary Wheeler or Francis Meli in that centre spot.

Totally agree mate. I told you tony p was a better prop



Im not sure on meli in the centre to be honest, he got caught out big time against the wolves early doors when they was ripping us to shreds on meli's side.

He also got caught out big time in the grand final. It's not he can't tackle but his defensive postion at times is shocking.

Clever teams will suck him in like the pie's did at old trafford.

Maybe in time he can learn as he is pretty new to the centre spot which IMO the hardest and most important spot to tackle but he's getting on and i think it's to late to teach a old dog new tricks.

As i said last year, whoever has the a healthy and fit squad going into the play-offs between saints, wigan, leeds and warrington will win the grand final.

The depth of squad is very very important in super league these dats with the speed and how tough super league has become.

Last year saints took a huge risk by going with young kids. Although we ended up empty handed i think the 2010 season was a great year for us as we blood alot of kids that was awesome for us and will benifit from this in 2011 and add perry, LMS and a fit sia to that.

I just think it's a shame the young lad jake emmitt left the club as i think he could have been a very good prop for us and could have been a good player to replace jammer with if he goes to the NRL.

Keep Meli away from the centres. Sooner or later, he's going to start making a right hash of it.

He already has. He cost us two tries in play-offs against wolves and was all over the place in the grand final.

To be fair to meli, defending in the centre is not as easy as it looks and is tough to get the defensive postion right if your not used to it.

I was stand-off/losse forward but moved to the centres and it took me along time to get my defensive postion correct.

Tony P won me over as a prop last season, I must say. If we didn't have Soliola I'd probably still want him in the back row, but now that we have that option let's get him up front.


This much is probably true - he is a bit of an accident waiting to happen. But, in fairness, that's true wherever we play him. The theory that he'll do least damage out on the wing can be called into question by his grand final howlers against Leeds (I personally don't think he was at fault this year v Wigan - I think we were compressing way too quickly in the middle and leaving our threequarters exposed, on both sides).

Either way, if he's fit, Wheeler gets the centre spot IMO. But obviously that's a big 'if'.

Could we not put Meli somewhere in the pack? He'll still have his powerful running but won't have exposure to massive howlers, he can tackle when he gets near people so that shouldn't be a problem. Flannery can comfortably cover centre from what i've seen, doesn't offer much pace but will do a solid enough job. Wheeler can also play there if fit. Meli seems to have lost a lot of his pace too, so either way i think we'll have a slow centre.

I understand what your saying, meli is a accident waiting to happen and by playing him centre keeps him away from his cock ups with kicks but it's pretty poor on saints behalf keeping a player that mistakes cost us in big games every year.

Ive said for the last two seasons that tony p is better at prop

We get more out of him at prop, he gets the ball in his hands more and is tough to put down.

I think saints next year in Graham, Tony p, Perry and LMS will have the best front row in super league with clough acting as prop/secondrow.

It's a shame we didn't retain jake emmitt to make up as our 5th prop as i feel he would have become 1st choice prop over the next two seasons at saints.

Meli would do a job in the backrow but i don't think he's fit enough to play there fulltime. IMO we should have let meli go but now he's here he should stick on the wing as thats his postion.

Flannery has played his best rugby the centre for us IMO but he also lacks that defensive know how in the centre, he tends to get drawn in pretty easy which is ok against most centres but the good ones will leave him.

Meli and flannery will never make good fulltime centres but will do a job. With a bit of luck wheeler will show us just how good he can be.

When was the last time we had two out and out centres playing together at saints?

I'd be happy to see it tried, although I don't think he's slowed down all that much myself. I'd definitely pick Wheeler in the centres before Flannery though.


Indeed. It's a shame, as he does offer a lot going forward. He's just one of those players that makes you wince when the action goes his way.


Yep, it's quite a fearsome set of props, that. Emmit looks like a good prop to me too, but with the salary cap I don't think we could justify keeping him, to be fair. He'll do well at Cas.