What he said.

1. Who have been our top 4 most influential/performing players this season - Roby, Wilkin, TP, Soliola

2. Who have been our 3 most disappointing players this season - Perry, Eastmond, Pryce

3. Our best top 2 young and up coming players for the next season - Makinson and Gaskell

1. Robes on top by a mile, then Jammer, TP and Wilkin (mention for J-Lo here too)

2. Injuries have ruined Perry's first season as well as Wheeler (again). Wello unfortunately is well past it

3. J-Lo has been immense,eastmond who? and probably Makinson too

if i ignore injuries,
2. Shenton, Wello and Eastmond

1. Roby, Graham, Puletua, Meli - TBH only Wilkin or Soliola are the others who have stood up and be counted outside the other 2 categories

2. For dissapointment - read what I was expecting of them to show in this year
Eastmond
Pryce - he has been anonymous since his return, the last game showed that he doesnt look to have the heart to play for us anymore
Perry - International prop, the rest must have been all on holiday when he got that jersey

3. Lomax, Foster (not the fastest but getting 6 points for a try almost all of the time rather than 4 is a massive boost that cannot be underestimated.)

Disregarding injuries:

1. Roby, Puletua, Meli, Soliola.

2. Eastmond, Wellens, Shenton.

3. Lomax, Makinson.

Makinson will be a star if he carries on to develop at the startling rate he already has.

1. Roby, Graham, Puletua, Wilkin. With Scott Moore and Sia just missing out. Roby has been awesome this season. So much so that we dont miss Cunninghams ability any more we just miss the fact that Keiron Cunningham is coming off the bench and the hole place would lift. Jammer has been Jammer. Puletua has done a great job at prop and loose forward and Wilkin has done well everywhere he's been wether it half back, second row or loose.

2. Eastmond, Wellens, Perry. Self explanatory.

3. Makinson and Gaskell. Both prefered to Lomax because before this season these two had barely played whereas Lomax started a few last season allbeit at centre. IMO Makinson is the best winger we have, bags of pace. Gaskell also has done well in difficult circumstance and i feel quite sorry for him as as soon as Leon has come back he only gets a ten minute stint off the bench.

In my own opinion:-

1. Have been our top 4 most influential/performing players this season - Roby, Graham, Wilkin, Moore. Roby has been Man of Steel, I don't care what anyone says about Tomkins (Or worse still those who say Monaghan should get it after today who weren't saying it last week). Graham hasn't been as good as in previous seasons but is still the best prop we've had in many a moon. His departure will cost us another notch in the competitiveness ladder. TP has been sensational as well as the pack stopped what could have been a mega-collapse with some amazing performances. Wilkin has been utterly brilliant pretty much all season, silencing those fools who don't rate him. Moore has also been fantastic, a change of position into the back row has done wonders for his game. We'll miss him an awful lot and letting him go (If we have) is absolute stupidity.

2. Have been our 3 most disappointing players this season - Wellens, Perry, Wheeler. Wello, because the diminishing quality of the rest of the squad has exposed him completely. His continued presence in the first team, as a guaranteed starter, is farcical. He's not up to it and adds absolutely nothing to the team in attack and it's becoming that way defensively too as he's never able to get where he should be and has started dropping every other bomb. He has cost us more tries this season than he has in his career to date. Perry because he is always picking up very minor injuries and has contributed nothing at all. Gary Wheeler because of his continued inability to get onto the field. People on here claim he's better than Eastmond and Lomax, which to be frank is a complete joke. Saints should release him in the off season, he'll never contribute enough to warrant giving him a contract.

3. Our best top 2 young and up coming players for the next season - J-Lo and Gaskell. Both were fantastic when they were thrown unexpectedly into the team in a time of complete crisis. J-Lo grabs the headlines and is a fantastic talent, but Gaskell's kicking game is great and he's developing very quickly into a fine player. Given the signing of Hohaia we might not much of Gaskell, which would be a travesty to be honest. Not resigning Leon was another example of the board's inability to manage a squad properly and will take us down a notch or two. I get the feeling Lance will not play much for us, looking at his form and condition in the NRL and it would be disappointing if he is considered an automatic first teamer. Although he could be great at half back, we don't know that and he could equally be absolutely terrible. I don't see how J-Lo and Hohaia can play together in the halves as neither has a kicking game and neither can scheme and organise, they are both runners. Lance to fullback (Close your eyes when the bombs go up) with J-Lo and Gaskell would be better, but at Saints they don't pick on form or ability but on reputation, thus Wello and Lance will play every game no matter how bad they are.

Try and negate the injury situation in your assessment. - Impossible. It has completely altered our season. Without it we'd probably have been semi-competitive with the big 2 and we probably wouldn't have seen Gaskell or J-Lo.

Glad to see the majority of gone for Makinson , I don't know other peoples opinion but do you think he could turn out to be a decent centre. Gaskell was a difficult one for me, I'm not sure if he can turn out to be an organiser, but there are parts of his game and with further development might just make it.

I missed Foster out because he played for half a season last year too and so I don't see him as 'up coming' anymore; he's arrived!

That's what the girl who won his pouting contest said.

Saintfan smiles knowingly

I don't think I.m going to say anything revolutionary here.

1. Top 4 players. RObes and Jammer - a given. TP has given some insired performances up front.
Since he's not been mentioned, I'm going to give a massive pat on the back to Francis Meli. Pilloried by the fans and then moved out of position, he's been one of our major threats this year.

2. Dissapointments.
Wello - Our hero for so long, fails to bring the slickness in attack that we ask of him at 2nd pivot. He's also looking less than secure.
Perry - Injuries have robbeds us of seeing much, but I seem to be on my own thinking that the performances he gave were impressive. He added alot of weight up front and I wish we had him going into the playoffs.
Clough - due to injury. I was looking forward to him improving again this year and given Perry's woes he would have had plenty of chance to shine. Hopefully next year will be more like I want.

3. Young guns. Lomaskill. The way Lomax has taken his chance has been uncanny and I think Gaskell has the makings of a cracking half back (even showed good pace from his interception last week) . I'd make sure both of these were involved next year in the starting 13 with Lomax at 1 and Gaskell at 7 with Hohia playing 6. Gaskell may look skinny, but he's got a pretty big frame and won't have to put on much to turn into a very strong lad for a halfback. I've been critical of his positional defence, but I'm sure that will get ironed out.

1. Have been our top 4 most influential/performing players this season.
Roby, Graham, Wilkin and Meli. I think it's probably the first time I would include Wilkin amongst our top performers.

2. Have been our bot 3 most disappointing players this season.
Perry (I don't see how you can negate injuries from disappointing players because even when he played he was pretty average), Eastmond (has to go in because of the union situation which has undermined his and our entire season) and Wellens (simply not good enough anymore for the full back berth and I see no way back for him to former glories).

3. Our best top 2 young and up coming players for the next season.
Lomax and Gaskell. I know that not everybody on here can see Gaskell's qualities but I thought we looked better on Friday with him on the field, particularly as The Leon King hasn't really hit any sort of stride (bar the odd run) since he's come back.

I disagree with the bold bit, though. I think when he's played he's been impressive. Not Fairleighesque, maybe, but lots of solid yards, driving in the tackle and a lot of heavy defence and wrestle. Alot of talk in defence as well, when you look closely.

Of the games Perry has played he's been fairly solid in defence, but his offence in most of his games has been average with perhaps one good game taking the ball up.
To be honest I expected more go forward and some off loading, maybe we will see the real Perry once he becomes injury free, in a similar scenario to Soliola.
Hope he makes up lost time quickly in what is obviously a disappointing season for him.

You must've been watching a different Perry to me. He's looked overweight, slow and not punched his weight. We've been better when he hasn't playedm IMO. A HUGE disappointment for me and he owes us a big year next season.

I pretty much agree with McClennan's choices. Meli in particular has been excellent and provided cutting edge that the majority of our backs just don't give us.

Problem with perrry was he never had a pre season due to injury and kept getting niggles on his comebacks. He's a big guy and couldn't get the extra weight off due to his injuries.

I'm sure we will see the real perry next year after a good pre season.

my thoughts (and hopes) exactly

1. Roby and Jammer are a given. Wilkin has really impressed me this season, playing some of the best rugby of his career and really stood up to be counted. Meli has also been very important for us, recieved a lot of stick from a number of fans before but seems to have really nailed down the centre position this year. Also think TP, Moore and Soliola have impressed but would say the 4 for me would be Jammer, roby, Wilkin and Meli

2. Josh Perry has suffered a lot through injuries, and has looked good in some of the games he has played, but equally has disappointed in others. Seems to be an all or nothing player and picks his games (when he does actually play). Wello hasn't been at his best at all this season making a lot of uncharacteristic errors, seems as though he has been carrying an injury to me so be intersting to see how he fares next season. Kyle Eastmond (but purely for the way he started the season and hsi attitude), showed a lot of petulance, but in fairness took his club suspension on the chin and came back and played well when he got chance again after this

3. All the kids who have played this year have done extremely well and havent been disappointed in any of them. The stand out 2 for me though would have to be Lomax and Foster. Foster has scored tries for fun, is extremely confident and is the first goalkicker in a few years we have been able to rely on, winning us certain games with his kicking. Lomax has gone from a reserve grade full back/half back to one of the best 7s in SL and a very good chance of making the 4N England squad, the best prospect in SL by a country mile for me and scary thing is he will only get better

1. Have been our top 4 most influential/performing players this season.
Robes, Jammer, Sia & TP

2. Have been our bot 3 most disappointing players this season.
Flanno, Eastmond & Perry

3. Our best top 2 young and up coming players for the next season.
J-Lo & Wheeler (no please don't laugh)

llol.

Come one talented yes but half a wonder games against wigan does not do it for me.

1. Have been our top 4 most influential/performing players this season.

Same old same old. Roby, Graham, Wilkin and TP.


2. Have been our bot 3 most disappointing players this season.

I've not gone for those who have suffered injury's, because that's nothing but rotten luck on their part. I've instead gone for players who've played the majority of the season in an underwhelming manner. Shenton, Wellens and Flannery.


3. Our best top 2 young and up coming players for the next season.

Lomax has been nothing short of superb, and Gaskell whilst shaky at times does look to have a bright future ahead of him.