Despite the hype around frodsham, Emmitt's the one taking his chance at the moment. Played well against Leeds the other week in particular.

noel cleal - flannary has been one of our top performers every week this year so i dont see how we wont offer him a new deal, hargreaves will be kept on as we dont have many props for next season, LMS is a direct replacement for fassavalue is it comes off, agree with meli as i just dont rate him and never have, but unless we can sign someone to replace him i dont think we will let him go

Isn't Perry the replacement for Maurie?

If that is true then no doubt about it we can expect another big overseas signing imo.

Outs.

Gidley
KC
Fozzard
Hargreaves
Meli
Flannery
Faasavalu

Ins.

Perry
Shenton
LMS

No way does them 3 signings cover those that are leaving. Not a chance! and with Eamon stating that next years squad is going to be even stronger than i expect to see another 2 signingson top of them 3. If the likes of Wigan can go out and retain there best players on long contracts (Mossop and Tomkins) and still sign 3 quality NRL players then surely we can.

Do you not think we're going to see (continued) belt tightening whilst we're waiting at widnes for the new stadium to be ready?

Besides, I reckon Meli will get another contract and Emmitt is getting picked in front of Fozzybear at the moment.

If the belt gets any tighter it'll snap us in half at the waist.

Smeli won't be given a bumper deal. No one else wants him.

I'd have to agree, i wasnt sure but the lad has really taken his chances and seems to have a professional attitude.

Played well on Sunday as well. Big lad for his age, he doesn't look particularly athletic but he puts the work in. If he keeps it up I could see him taking Hargreaves' place.

I'd also like to add that if Saints dont think Gardner currently warrants a first team place when everybody is fully fit then we must be looking for a winger to replace Meli.

Lomax will be a starter next year imo.

As I mentioned earlier, come the end of next season, there's going to be at least half a dozen youngsters who the coaching staff will have probably made up their mind about, so we'll see them turn into first choice starting 17 regulars a la Clough, or farmed out on loan to Salford a la Smith.

rogues - perry in for fozzard/hopefully LMS for fassavalue

Perry and Shenton(if true) are very good signings for next year, prop and centre are two postions we needed.

I also think we are a top class backrow short for next year, we lack a good tackle breaker in the pack.

I would make lomax first choice winger in front of gardner now(when lomax gets fit) and try and get shut of gardner as he is rubbish. Meli will do for one more year as he's played pretty well.

Wheeler is getting to be a worry, if his bad luck with injuries carry on next year then we are a centre down again,.

All in all for 2011 i would like a backrower, another prop to replace maurie(LMS would do) and maybe a centre as wheeler never ever plays.

Emmitt does have 12 months on Frodsham, and hasn't suffered the season long injuries. But I agree that he has taken his chance when given it.

I assume that the 'tackle breaking' second row next year will be Soliola, especially if Wheeler can keep himself fit.

If we sign another prop, Puletua may also spend more time in the back row.

Puletua is by far a better prop than he is a backrow, he makes big yards and is massive, i would like to see tony p used off the bench to spell perry and graham.

I have watched alot of the NRL over past years and sia ain't really a tackle breaker to be honest, he's more of a good hard runner and big in defence.

When i say we need a tackle breaker in backrow, i mean a player like hock, joel tomkins, ali or just someone that can make things happen in attack.

With perry, graham, tony p and maybe LMS as props, roby, moore as hookers the front row is top class, but our backrows are all grafters, nothing wrong with grafters as they very important but i feel we just need some class to work along the hard work of clough, wilkin, flannery.

Fair Point. I doubt we will be getting one under the salary cap though, just have to hope the likes of McGennis turn into quality players.

Same here, i would much prefer the likes of magennis to come thru rather than bring in 3 NRL players

I realise there's mitigating circumstances, I myself have been keen to see his emergence when hearing about his exploits for Saints and England at junior level, it just a shame injuries have stifled his progress. Hopefully we'll see a bit more of him this year.

Will Wilkin's role change? We have lamented the way he's turned into a grafter to play a certain role for the coach, but now we have Clough to do that job, will he be able to turn his attentions to his attacking game.
The tries from the wakefield game show his ability to run smart angles. If you go back a couple of seasons when he was in top form, this ability was very apparent then.

Also, will roby be used at all in the back row, or will he always be directly rotated with Moore? When he's played loose for us this year, his lines of run have been excellent.

Another backrow option would be Wellens to SR/LF
with either Lomax or the recruitment of a pacey FB.

Wellens was keen to move into the the forwards when Potter
arrived but there was no replacment at FB.

I'm not too worried about him at the moment, having long term injuries at a young age didn't hinder Paul Anderson too much. It is a shame though, he looked promising when he's played.

I think it'd be a mistake to put Wellens in the backrow. It may seem like a good idea on the face of it because he busts a few tackles now and again and defensively he's solid. But when push comes to shove and you need good hard yards to get get of your own 20 I don't think Wello's the man to provide it.

Having said that I'd love to see a backrow of Flannery, Wellens and Wilkin go up against Joel Tomkins, Hoffman and O'Loughlin next year.

I don't think wilkin can change back to that type, his handling is ok but he ain't a attacking backrow anymore, he's a grafter.

I agree with that. A couple of years he could probably have made the step up but I don't think he carries enough weight with or without the ball and would not be an upgrade on what we already have in those positions. Don't get me wrong he has the attitude to make a reasonable go of it, however I see more potential in our youngsters in our back row slots than I do Wello.

Agreed. There's no point in turning a very good fullback (with matching wage) into a very average back row, especially when we've got Flanders, Wilkin, Clough, Soliola, McGennis, Ashurst & Dixon knocking about, not to mention Hargreaves and Puletua who can fill in there.