He's being playing very well recently. Since the incident at quins and the exchange of apologies between him and certain fans he has been a different player. His £300k will be fully justified on saturday when he owns eastmond or whoever is marking him.

Why?

What's the use if Eastmond is already earmarked as our next scrum half he should be in no farting about now Longy is going at the end of the season. We need him for a kicker as well leave Wilkin at 13 where he can kick from out wide with some touch finders.

I agree.

If Eastmond is "the one" to take over from Longy he must be played at 7, for the full game. None of this moving about. He is either ready or isn't.

Eastmond has to play scrum half.....can you imagine what it would do to his morale if he isnt named there when there is no other option.

Think Dean and Wheeler can do a better job at centre than Gilmour, so would go with those 2.

Pryce at 6
Roby at 9
Wilkin at 13

I would have Lomax on the bench to provide cover for every position. Probably switch Wello to 13, and Lomax to full back at some point, moving Wilkin to 2nd row.

At the end of the day there are that many gaps in the team, you could come up with 100 different permutations of who slots in where. I dont envy Mr Potter's job this week at all.

Dont let your lot find out about this sort of blasphemy la. The £300k salary is deserved not many players will give you the fnger and tell you to feck off, most are to scared and gutelss and just do it in the dressing rooms

I have to say though I'm sure his salary is some comfort to him in times of adversity.

Gilmour and wheeler have go to be our centres.

We have got to have some threat outwide.

well saints fans,we have a world beater in eastmond.these wire fans think a player will justify his 300k salary by marking and owning him.praise indeed for one so young

you really would be better off saving those comments for when he is up against top class international opposition.not a kid breaking into thee first team

(apparently) Carney is in the starting line up for saturday.

I note many of you have opted for Gilmour on the right centre. However he is a left sided player and always has played down the left.

I therefore doubt he would be played on the right.

If Gidley is out then Flannery will no doubt play centre again. Which would be a big worry in my book.

Talk of playing Wilkin at SH means we would be going into the game with only one recognised kicker eg John himself. Against Leeds i think they under estimated his kicking ability. I doubt if Wire would do the same. They would in all probability pressure him. This would destroy Saints kicking game.
Pryce isnt really a kick option as he is poor in this regard.
Playing Eastmond gives us, him as a kicker and also Wilkin if fit.

The only other alternative for right centre is Wellens. This would allow Lomax to slot in at fullback. The concern here though is that fullbacks organise a sides defence. With an inexperienced fullback misdirecting the defensive screen we could get caught out.

I would hope Wheeler would play there, not Flannery. Wheeler has been very good there this season already. Potter would be foolish not to play him for Gidley.

We already have one lazy Samoan international in the pack, another one against a pack the size of Warringtons would leave the other forwards with far too much work (maybe a tad harsh on Puletua, but he needs to look interested after the last few weeks).



Definately. The lack of centre play against Salford was obvious, if Wheeler is fit he should play there.

I have a feeling Wire will win this.

good news for us.

Really



He is an inspirational player when on form. He'll be out to impress if he makes his debut against us.

Exactly. Whether he plays or not I'm not to sure. Me thinks its just mind games from TS, I'd be surprised if he does play.

If Carney is playing i am sure saints will test him with some bombs as he may be a bit rusty . If he does catch a bomb i hope for your sake he doesn't kick it out on the full as he may still think he is playing that horiable game of union lol !!!!!!!

According to the St.Helens paper today Gidley could well play!
Huge boost if so

If we were worried about king being the main threat to our right, you could get Pryce to mark him out wide?

Eastmond has to play 7. Anything else would be lunicy.

What did Dixon do wrong in the last game. He seemed to provide more in attack than Ashurst. I would not be suprised if he gets to play a head of Ashurst (if indeed Wilkin does play).

They could always swap around during the game if we were under major pressure.

On the 7 question, for me it has to be Eastmond. And it has to be for the rest of the season. There comes a point when he has to be tested with a run of games and it may as well be now.

MoM in League Express too IIRC.

Yes really.

I have doubts over a 30-odd year old winger who has hardly played in ages being fully fit and/or upto match speed. I'd rather have to face him than Riley or Hicks, who, to make way for him would have to be dropped.

looks weird without long in your side i must say ,, always breaks wires hearts , still got good players tho e.g - wellens pryce roby graham ,, l like eastmond and lomax but whats young emit like ?

Team for Saturday is

Wellens
Gardner
Flannery
Wheeler
Meli
Pryce
Eastmond
Puletua
Roby
Graham
Wilkin
Gilmour
Clough

Bench is

Fasavalu
Hargreaves
Lomax
Dixon