I cannot see how we can regard him so highly for making a few decent angled dummy runs. That is crazy. He was nowhere to be seen when we needed the forwards in the GF last year, he was nowhere in the WC and so far hes been nowhere again this season.

For a lad with such ability he should be demanding the ball and driving it up or pivoting a move, he doesn't. If his only role within the Saints set up is to run some decent angles then we really are in a bad way this season.

His attitude is a disgrace and has been since he joined us. That is from personal experience which I don't need to go into.

I'm surprised by how many saint's fans don't rate him that highly i thought he was classed as one of your star men like wellens,long and KC.

Wilkin is great player IMO. Looking at the stats he makes plenty of yards, makes plenty of tackles and his fair share of breaks. Also he has an excellent in play kicking game which is a good option to have in a second rower. Wilkin's form usually picks up in the summer so wait and see.

`I agree, He doesnt seem to be making any progress (if not goin backwards)
He often trys to make big shots on the big men and comes off second best missing the tackle.
I also think he probably thinks hes better than he is.

He should be given more respnosibility. I remember when he played half back, or stand off in the playoffs when we had loads of injuries and he was fantastic

Jesus wept. There's no Meli so i suppose someone has to be targeted amongst our ranks. Wilkin is a class act and once the pitches firm up will become even more invaluable to the side along with Leon. Pryce at 6 and Wilkin at 13 is the way forward.

I think he has got lazy. As someone has said he is great when we are racking up the points but when it comes to "hey lads hey" he seems to disappear (EG Grand Final 200icon_cool.gif.

Seriously!!!!

My god we have been spoiled over the last few years, so one player isn't as amazing as people "think" he should be!

As has been previously stated, Jon is a dry weather player, but he never let us down in any game that i have seen him play, which i want to point out, its probably around 99% of them. And to say that he went missing in the 2008 Grand Final, jeeeeeeez, none of the 17 really played as well as they could.

To single out one player is unfair, but to say he walks around as though he is a super star is just ludicrous.

He doesn't always make the headlines, but thats part of being in a team, and in my view is a brilliant team player who never lets us down.

Get rid of the patronising rubbish and judge him in a balanced manner.

He plays for a top side so he is by logic a good player. The point is that he is not as good as he should be and doesn't work hard enough for me.

The Grand Final needed forwards to put the ball up their shirt and give us some field position to take some form of control of the game and the reality is that not enough of them did this, including Wilkin. You could similarly say that Wilkin is supposed to be a play making back rower. Well I have not seen him make a big play when we have genuinely needed it in a big game yet for Saints, not once.

This idea that Saints player are not to be judged or we have been spoiled is utter rubbish. We have been at the top because we have had the players to put us there. Who exactly is Wilkin replacing at Saints? Chris Joynt, Paul Sculthorpe ? He has to start proving he is a capable enough player to warrant a Saints jersey and he hasn't for 2 years now IMO.

So if he is so rubbish who would you replace him with?

might i point out that at present WIlkin has made 157 tackles in 4 games. Thats 39 a game harldy a lazy player as some have said

patronising rubbish???

I just dont understand it when people say he isnt as good as he should be!

He has played in the team for what 4 or 5 years now straight and to say he has gone backwards, in my view, is a bit harsh.

He is a very good player, and like most players in any sport, he plays well when the team is playing well. But for people to say he doesnt show up when the team is playing badly....he isnt superman he cannot make the team play well all on his own.

I just hate it when fans pick out certain players for not being world beaters every week.

I recall KC suggesting at a recent Wello forum that Wilkin was probably the most under-rated player in SL.

His lines and dummy runs create holes for other players demonstrate how he his a smart player and provides a self-less role within the team.

I would suggest KC's opinion echo's that of his team-mates and coaching staff. Is he not contracted to Saints until 2012?

And what would he know compared to Stirlingshire Saint?

Well I have not seen him make a big play when we have genuinely needed it in a big game yet for Saints, not once.

Sorry, only just noticed this.....

you must either have a really bad memory or you are chosing not to see it because that is a load of rubbish!!!

Are you his girlfriend?

Whoever has said Wilkin has 'not lived up to his potential' is suffering from some sort of amnesia, because Wilkin was hardly setting the world on fire when he began to appear in the team.

Wilkin is a dependable player - his tackling is reliable and he puts more thana his fair share in, like Ski said he is always involved in play and generally has a good RL brain.

He is not that type of player to break tackles left, right and centre in what has essentially become a collision sport due to the inordinately high number of substitutions that can be made.

Rather, Wilkin offers subtlty that is needed in a good pack - the clever pass down the blind side, the stabbed kick into the corner as a foil for Long etc etc.

You cannot pack a team with biff and bash merchants. Wilkin adds to the team.

Some people need to get a grip.

so for sticking up for a player, i must be his girlfriend......ok then.

I think i'm just one of those people who tries to look for the positives in players, don't get me wrong, im all for opinion and thats is why im giving mine right now, thats what being a saints "supporter" means.

You're a beacon of shining light in a world of idiots.

He seemed to stack up last year? www.superleague.co.uk/statistics ... eason=2009

He seemed to stack up last year? www.superleague.co.uk/statistics ... eason=2009

I never said he was rubbish once. I don't happen to think he is anywhere near the player some supporters seem to think. In terms of replacing him,I wouldn't because British RL has such a dearth of quality that the only alternative is a foreigner which helps nobody.

Offensively he offers barely anything. Maybe the odd decent kick and the odd pass but these are nothing like consistent aspects to his game. He doesn't make millions of yards and to be perfectly honest, I am not going to get chuffed over some decent angled dummy runs, these are areas of the game where they could shove anybody there and tell them to run in a certain way.

Defensively he obviously makes more tackles than it appears however how many of these are third man in tackles ? How often does he make an impact and win the collision in defence ? I would suggest it isn't very often.

These are all opinions and everyone is entitled to theirs. Wilkin for me needs to buck up big time.

Sometimes I despair, I really do. So Wilkin is the latest player to come in for a slating.
With such a bunch of under-achieving, no-mark players how the fsck have we managed to be so successful over the last 13 years.
God help the lads when the 'glory days' end.

i'm a bit torn on the Wilkin issue.

I think he suffers massively from when he broke into the team and people expecting him to be the next Sculthorpe - which in 2006 he looked like he was shaping up to be. However, he isnt Sculthorpe - he lacks the class in his ball handling amongst other things. However, he works hard, and like others in the team he does a lot of work that goes unnoticed by the average viewer.

He also suffers because he is probably the biggest personality in the team, with all his media work - so people expect him to be the best player in the team and play at the top level every week.

I thought last year, he wasnt great - and I was massively disappointed with his non-performance in the Grand Final, and his petulant outburst afterwards didnt exactly put him in the best light. If he can get back to 2006 form, he will be is a massively valuable player this year, in a year when we will need experienced players to dig in and go the extra mile.

Thats the point that i was making!!

Well said.

If people who say they are supporters dont take notice of all of the things that go up to make a RL team work then perhaps they should just be called watchers.

Without players who do the type of things that Wilkin does then the rest of the team do not function at the level they are capable of.

Dummy runs produce holes that other players can run through, the better the dummy runner - the better angles he runs - the easier it is for the ball carrier to get through the gap.

This is the difference between being an average team and a very good team, however the dummy runnner very rarely gets noticed - just the break.

Basically Wilkin does all of the tasks that a team needs but doesnt get noticed by the average supporter, plus he has the ability to create, kick and break the line - all in all the type of player you want in your team

Best post on the thread.