No comment, Your Honour.

Sorry Ski, it's the lawyer in me ... my missus saw me laughing at one of the comments and straight away asked 'how would they know?'.

When you mentioned 'lash' I assumed it was a reference to boozing as in 'on the lash'!

.. but the wife, she's intreagued

Your wife told me

- the writ is in the post

Have to say I was VERY impressed with Lomax last night.

He didn't look out of place when he came in field and got involved at the play-the-ball.

Even to the point of holding the ball for big Tony so he wouldn't knock on. To have the presence of mind to do that in a game which is your SL debut is very impressive.

All hail the Saints academy.

In fact I was vey impressed with all our young lads tonight. Dirty shot by Atkins on Wheeler though his card should have been marked by BIG JAMMER after that!

Lomax looked lively and all-in-all made a decent debut. If he cuts out the mistakes he looks another good prospect for the future.

leon felton, mark 2

Really ? I thought he looked pretty poor. I know it's naughty making judgements based on one outing on SKY, but I thought he was the weakest of your 'kids'. Even thing like pace etc, I thought he looked slow, when he made a half break in the second half etc.

Without too much fanfare, I thought that Ashurst went about his business well, good ball for Gardener, and good composure when he put Pryce under the sticks, just seemed to make stuff look easy.

Wheeler looks to have something about him. I'm not sure what he is, that footwork for his try was excellent, he looked like a young Bobbie Goulding after converting his own try, chest puffed out, trotting back. He looks to have the bit of atttitude, maybe that's the wrong word, presence, self belief about him. He was excellent on the wing last week, his try apart last night, I wasn't that impressed with him, I thought his passing was a bit laboured, a bit slow, but he's got a massive future in SL as 'something'.

It was his debut, so I imagine he probably would have looked the 'weakest'. It's also a really hard role to fill with the big boots of Paul Wellens haunting him so I give him respect just for doing what he did.

Incidentally, Wheeler's chest is always like that!

Maybe so. you lot probably see far more of him for the reserves etc. It's just, as a neutral, your looking for something, not a polished performance as you know there'll be nerves etc, but something raw like, and he just looked a bit laboured to me, that's all. He worked hard enough, ran in the ball in full of zest etc, was probably a bit unlucky not to score, he just seemed to lack a bit of class, genuine burst of pace etc, y'know what I mean ?

SL is good right now, people knocking the competition after the WC, but there's plenty of young talent, at different stages of their development, top tryscorers are folk like Hall, Wheeler, Halley etc.

That Wheeler, is footwork for that try, very Chris Bridge-esque.

There was never a mark1 pal

I was impressed with Lomax.

Pretty tough task to make your SL debut at Full Back when it isn't your position. He made a couple of mistakes, but what I liked was the fact that he was always hovering around the play the ball and the ball carrier looking for something to happen (more like an Aussie style full back).

As for the comment on his pace, he didn't look too slow to me when he was chasing down Danny Brough.

Promising debut from Lomax for me. Dont understand where the no pace comment comes from at all.
Lots more to come from the lad by the looks of it.

Jealous fans on here again.

Can we start banning these fools please?

Knocking young lads with rubbish statements. No pace etc.... absolute bollox!

Played well, welldone!

Lomax exceeded my expectations. Yes, he made a few mistakes (a couple of wayward passes from the dummy half and a dropped ball), but there were far more positives.

His kick returns yielded plenty of yards. This was because he a) positioned himself well, b) caught / picked up the ball early and confidently and c) ran elusively. When he needed to be brave he was and made at least one break because of it. During the first half he played it safe and concentrated mainly on defensive duties. But throughout the second he was up and around the attacking play like a bluebottle near a neon light. Whenever he did inject himself into the line he gave the defence a torrid time. With a bit more luck he could easily have had two tries.

Look, it's very early days. His diminutive frame raises questions about his ability to field high kicks (especially in wet conditions and under heavy pressure) and whether he can tackle big guys. Full back may not be his best position.

Out of the current crop of Saints kids he seems to have the most self-confidence (not that any appear lacking in this department). At times it looked like he'd been a regular for a decade.

He is roughly same size and weight as Darren Lockyer, Billy Slater and Matty Bowen, who are quite a bit better than Paul Wellens at fullback.

The modern day fullback is not there to act as a shot stopper, he is there to be the leading edge of the attack.

We need to look more at what he offers in offence, rather than playing a big solid lad at the back.

The way Lomax attacked the ball when kicked to him was more in common with the Australian approach, of trying to take the ball at pace.
He fluffed it on occasion but considering his inexperience at fullback thats understandable.

Its also worth noting that at 18 he has plenty of opportunity to get faster and stronger as he matures.

They're also not great [ibecause[/i they are small.



That's garbage. No one's suggesting he should be Andy Platt in defence. Or Garry Jack leaping for a high ball. But if he's a [iliability[/i in both areas it won't matter if he can slice silk as a "leading edge". He won't get in and nor should he.

personally i think the modern day full back needs solid 1 on 1 tackling and good positioning, a bit of pace and being able to catch a high ball. Lomax seems to have at least three and can practice under the bomb. His goalkicking ability is an important addition that we badly need as well.

We're dealing with potential here, not the finished product (and indeed, is a professional ever actually 'the finished product' or are they always learning and adapting?). I think he was full of zest. But he was not irresponsible. He worked as part of the team. The team were more cautious in the first half, it was a difficult game in the circumstances, and more expansive in the second (in part because Wakey let them, not being on the ball themselves given the circumstances). He made some smart moves and while one spotted break turned into a knock-on, the fact that he spotted it and had the balls to run towards the ball in the hope of converting the break into a try shows, to me, that he has the potential to make a good RL player. Apparently he has only started playing fullback in the reserves this season, presumably because the staff knew about Paul Wellens and his knee problem, so this was not only his debut but probably about his fourth game ever in that position. I'd say he did extremely well, especially given the big boots he had to fill. I hope he can kick on from here and just grow, both defensively and in attack. Time will tell and I sincerely hope Saints fans give him and the other young players the time they need. I suspect they won't have much choice, given that our injury list is ever growing.

Yeah, his ability to boot the ball down the field stood out! He definitely can kick, that's for sure.

If he can kick a ball down field well he'll be on £500000 playing union in a matter of weeks!

Shhhhh! You might give the lad ideas!

I think that's really harsh. He did make one or two mistakes, but I htough he looked pretty good throughout. Seemed to have threat when returning kicks, ran good lines when we were in attack making a few half breaks and as for pace - he was tearing yards off brough (who's quick) following his interception.

You can coach a player how to catch bombs, and tackle, but you cant coach them to run 100 metres in under 11 seconds.
Considering he has only played a handfull of games at fullback he handled most kicks to him well. Certainly with more practise he should improve in that area.
He is also regarded as an enthusiastic tackler, and wasnt shown up on friday when making tackles.