Too much disruption to the halves for my liking; I'd prefer Tomkins to play the full 80 with Smith and have TL on interchange with the starting hooker (Mike Mc or Riddell)

Swapping the half back combination every week aint gonna help IMO. Tomkins should play at 6 with Smith at 7 if he plays we'll he stays in the team.

My description was terrible but i meant to describe it how you corrected me... sorry

After speaking to him today I'm guessin not in the near future, he's not happy about it either.

Enlighten us further

You have to feel sorry for the young lads at Wigan - especially when you see Aussies coming in and not performing. They must be itching to get out on the field. Today Saints played more youngsters because we had lost Cayless and Graham as well as not having Meli. Wheeler and Frodsham both had spells on the pitch and took their chances well. Wheeler scored a try.

Oh dear Christ, I really hope we don't lose this kid because we've not used him

He is in the squad, isn't he? If Noble doesn't consider him ready, he should not be in the squad.
Pick players on form. So drop the ones who were poor against Cas. e.g. Smith and Riddel and bring in replacements. e.g. Richards and Sam.
If Sam does not perform, then drop him.
It's simple really. Don't pick players on reputation, because they are Aussies or because they are of a certain age.
Pick players on ability on attack, defence and fitness. Oh, yes...and to please the fans

.

You watched the SL show

Was just sayin theres more chance of noble picking our team's stand off than him at the moment.

The annoying thing with the Tomkins situation is the lad hasn't even been given a chance yet at SL level and it dosen't look like it's going to happen anytime soon. The only chance I feel he'll get is if injury forces Noble's hand like it did with J Tomkins & Ainscough. Whats even more annoying is the fact these 2 players excelled themseleves when put in the first team yet its done nothing to change Noble's view on playing youngsters

Hope for an inury to Smith is our best hope then



Considering he doesn't do many tackles that looks unlikely

So how many ex Saints academy players played today for Saints?

I would have played him against Wakefield, they were missing both their first choice halfbacks and we had no recognised stand off in the squad, it was the first match of the season at home against what at the time appeared to be a weakened team, he should have been used more in the previous friendlies in preperation for a debut, if he doesn't play we'll never know how good he is, leave it too long and he'll get fed up and could look elsewere for an opportunity.

Can't see him getting picked at all in the near future.
He needs to play behind a winning pack and ours isn't.
Chris Feather ran holes into our pack every time he hit the ball up. If Feather is doing that then your pack's defence is poor.
We need a pack like Noble had at Bradford, and Saints have had these past few years. Big, powerful, aggressive men who when interchanged provide relentless power going forward. They wear the opposition down and create space for the halves. That's what Wigan need.
Catalans last night were nowhere in the first 30 mins, Perry & Bosc weren't seen. When the Cats pack took over in the 2nd half and steamrollered the Wire forwards Bosc & Perry ran the show.
We haven't got a pack like Leeds have, nor Saints or Catalans.
Noble needs to build one and is perfectly capable of doing so.
All he needs is Ian Lenagan to pay what's needed.
If Sam Tomkins played at Leeds, Saints or Catalan he'd be a blinder.
Play him behind our pack he get killed!
Sorry to disagree with everyone but I'd rather him wait than get murdered.

7 - Wellens, Tom Armstrong, Cunningham, Clough, Roby, Wheeler and Gareth Frodsham.

Out of interest there were 3/4 overseas players in the Saints team today - Gidley, Puletua, Flannery and Maurie.

Credit to them

He will get a run out weekend of 3 april its the 4th round of cup and we get a lower league side in the draw cos i cnt see noble picking him before that.

Agreed, if he plays well in the challenge cup and the team is still playing poorly it will but alot of pressure on Nobby to get him played.

what if we draw a superleague team in the cup??

as others have said wakey and cas would have been ideal matches to play him.
looking at the next 6 matches id say the only slim chance hes got of playing is against salford away.

Shenton is 22 but yeh, I do see your point

He has to start against Quins imo because Smith just doesn't look up to the grade at the moment. He can't defend and isn't exactly firing in attack.

The thing that gets me about Noble not wanting to blood youngsters is that we have nothing to lose anymore. We can't be relegated and the only way this club is going to get back to the top is by producing our own 'world class' players. We haven't seen a player of that quality come through our system for quite a while now but in the likes of Ainscough, Joel and Sam Tomkins we have players capable of getting to that level given a chance.

I'd take a couple of years worth of inconsistant results and preformences from the team if it meant at the end of it we had 3 or 4 high quality local lads in the team.

Here Here. TBH i dont think we have the squad to win something this year(I know thats negative but its the truth) so lets start thinking about the future and get the like of Sam, Mossop and Farrell in the team.

Agree 100%

With Noble in charge I can't see these youngsters ever getting there chance though



Barring injury of course