It looks like our recruitment is finished now for 2016 season. It's getting little quite on here so I thought I'd ask-

What would be your starting 17 for the first game ?

For me most of the team is fairly straightforward. It's difficult to know what Cunningham's intentions are with Turner and I've seen little of Peyroux. With that in mind I'd start with:

Lomax
Makinson
Percival
Turner
Swift
Burns
Walsh
Amor
Roby
Walmsley
Vea
Greenwood
Wilkin

Fages
Tasi
Savelio
Thompson

LMS, Richards, Peyroux, Owens, McDonnell next in line.

Burns is under pressure from Fages now so I hope to see an improvement in him.

Well all depending on who is fit again,mine would be
1. Lomax
2. Makinson
3. Percival
4. Turner ( slimmed down version )
5. Swift
6. Fages
7. Walsh
8. Walmsley
9. Roby
10. Amour
11. Vea
12. Greenwood
13. Wilkin
with a bench of Savelio,Lms,Tasi and Thompson.

I suspect we will start with something like this...

McDonnell
Makinson
Percival
Dawson
Swift
Turner
Walsh
Walmsley
Roby
Amor
Savelio
Greenwood
Wilkin

Fages
Tasi
LMS
Vea

I suspect that the team that starts the year will be very different to the one that ends it.

Still persisting with the Dawson to centre idea? Not a chance.

I'd go

Lomax
Tommy
Turner
Percy
Swift
Burns
Walsh
Walmsley
Robes
Amor
LMS
Vea
Wilkin

Fages
Tasi
Sav
Thompson/Richards

Can I keep going with Lomax at centre?



Centre is definitely the outstanding problem, and all of the answers seem to have question marks over them. We certainly have it covered, but I'm not sure who will win out as first choice!

SMD
Makinson Percival Lomax Swift
Fages Walsh
Amor Roby Walmsley
LMS Vea
Wilkin

Turner Greenwood Tasi Savelio

Should be a good season

I think Turner is the best option from a bad bunch to play centre. He does offer attack. While he can't tackle for toffee imo he's the best option from a bad bunch.

I like lomax at fullback as he can pop up in areas that scares teams. If he gets fully fit again and back to how he was then he's our biggest threat with the ball as he was.

If you put him centre, I think it's much easier to take him out the game and based on last year we will have our best attacking player only getting one or two touches a game and poor ball.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Dawson go out on loan or leave the club. He's just not going to get any game time at all this year.

We have makinson, swift, Owens and SMD in front of him for wing spot. We have Turner, percy, peyroux and maybe even lomax in the centre before him.

I like Dawson attitude, he comes in and gives 100% but at the end of the day he's just not good enough for a team that's serious about winning things . He's a middle 8 player imo or maybe championship standard imo

Lomax is a class player, and I really hope he can recover from the longterm injuries, but when they finally do get him on the field do we really believe he's going to stay fit and go on a run of games?

How does Lomax recover from 2 years out though? I agree it's easier to mark him out of the game at centre, but it also takes him out of the firing line a bit while everyone, including Lomax, figures out how capable he is returning into the team. Get back match fitness, and play a run of games before starting to move him back into the spine.

At centre he will still present an attacking threat, and better lateral defence than Turner showed in the last half of last year. Turner showed he's capable of changing the dynamic of our attack in the middle, and covers basically everywhere from the bench, so having him freed up is a benefit.

Anyone know the situation with Lomax, when will he be in full training, available etc.

Lomax Makinson Percival Turner Swift Burns Walsh Amor Roby Walmsley Vea Greenwood Wilkin..Fages Tasi Savelio Lms. Roby must be spelled on a regular basis next season for me Theo to rotate with him. Burns needs to improve if he isn't doing the job give Lomax a run at six and bring McDonnel in. More than anything a more expansive brand of football is required we served up some absolute dross last season. I fear for the kings job unless he can snap out of last seasons boring tactics. Signing a quality centre would of helped to compliment Percy on the right but not to be Turner only viable option.

That's something that only time will tell. I hope he does get to 80% what he was as he'd still be a massive boost for us in attack.

We don't know until he's back playing how he will recover. I'm all for giving him 5/6 games at centre to ease him back in but ultimately we need him back at fullback causing defences massive problems by popping up anywhere and causing problems like he does.

SMD has a hell of job getting back to anything like he was after his injury. I've not known a player come back half the player from that type of injury.

Which is where Owens comes into the equation. If in 5 weeks time SMD and/ or Lomax haven't pulled through to the required standard (or sooner depending on how preseason goes), there should be some pressure from below to take the spot. Same with Peyroux (whom on an unrelated note scored a great individual try vs Tonga for Samoa this year which I saw for the first time recently), and Turner for the centre spot

I think it will be:

Owens
Makinson
Percival
Peyroux
Swift
Turner
Walsh
Amor
Roby
Walmsley
Vea
Greenwood
Wilkin

Fages
Tasi
Savelio
LMS

I don't think there is much else in the squad worth changing many of those above. If Peyroux is marked down for the backrow (Most of his career has been in the centres, and he's not a physical presence, so I can't see why we'd buy him to play second row) Burns could come back in and Turner back to centre, or even Fages to the halves. But all the signs seem to point to KC not rating Burns or Turner in the centres for that matter. He was rightly criticised for his poor defense, dropped and when he did come back he played a variery of positions. Lomax could potentially start the season at fullback if he has returned to what he was two years ago, but even then I was far from convinced about him having a future at Saints. If you remember back that far he looked tired all the time and had little pace to start with after his first major op despite his obvious talent. As mentioned above, what is going on with him? Is he on track, ahead of schedule? Were the rumours about long-term hip damage true, or confused with Wello? What about the rumours of the recent operation? Were they true?

I'd like to see Luke Thompson take Richards place and be the go-to youngster as backup for the pack. I don't think Richards is going to make it and if he is he needs a lot of game time to develop so I'd prefer him to go out on loan in Super League if possible.

Is it true we're starting pre-season two weeks after all the other Super League sides? Will that transpire into a poor start?

According to the Swift interview in the last article Saints put out last week, preseason starts in the next 2 weeks. Whilst I don't have every teams schedule, it doesn't seem later than anyone else ...

I'm pretty sure I read on Twitter that every other club is already back in pre-season bar Saints and Leeds, whose season only finished two weeks ago.

That's not right mate. Wakefield start back tomorrow for example.

All the new youngsters and new signings start tomorrow (9th). The rest come in a week later on the 16th.

I don't what it to happen, I expect it to happen

Very difficult to pick a side at the moment with so many possibilities up in the air. I expect one or more of the youngsters who emerged in the pack last season to really kick on - which could cause some welcome selection headaches. No idea where Fages is likely to play. No idea whether either of our fullbacks will recover sufficiently. So aside from the definites (Roby, Walmsley, Walsh, Percival etc.) I'm really in the dark insofar as the starting 17.

Would be nice if we didn't pick up any season-ending injuries early this season, tho.

If all declared fit for the first game.

What I want -
Lomax, Swift, Percival, Turner, Makinson
Fages, Walsh
Walmsley, ROby, Amor
Greenwood, Vea
Wilkin

Tasi, Savelio, LMS/Thompson, Burns
(I'd actually consider dropping Walsh for Wilkin and cementing THompsn in the 17, but hopefully he'll start the season back to somewhere near his old self)

What I think KC will go with
Owens
Swift, Percival, Peuroux, Makinson
Fages, Walsh
Walmsley, ROby, Amor
Wilkin, LMS
Turner

Vea, Tasi, Greenwood, Richards