Noble would clearly rather play injured (Riddell) or not up to it (Smith) players instead of giving the lad his chance, not even putting him on the bench

So with tough fixtures coming up can we realisticly expect Sam to play anytime soon?

Err no.

hmmmm ... lets see

doesnt pick him vs quins - which will be another scrappy game.

he starts him against braford and leeds, then drops him forever because he doesnt win both games for us single handedly ????

I agree. If its when shud he get his chance for me its ASAP

Doubt it, in my opinion he needs another season to mature further, this season he shou;d get the odd match where he makes an appearance. I understand that a player cannot be judged on their size but i predict that teams would target him as a weak defensive link. Allow him to bulk up a bit and he should be ready

Once humpty dumpty has been put back together again

Like they do with Smith now?

If Myler and Eastmond are getting regular Super League games then so should Sam without a question

We have got a player with huge potential wasting in our reserves and nothings going to change unless he gets Super League game time

Ainscough proved the other night that youth deserves their chance so I don't see any reason why Sam shouldn't be given a go

IF YOUR GOOD ENOUGH, YOUR OLD ENOUGH

Utter Tripe not giving the lad a chance.

Cas demonstrated that perfectly:

Owen - Age 18, Shenton age 18, Westerman age 19.

Sam is 20 next month.

He is either good enough or he isnt and the only way we will find out is by him playing.


He should play next week for me with smith at 7 and tommy on the bench.

tomkins should be playing now,smith is

True that if your good enough your old enough, he should be given a run out, he should be swapped every match with mcillorum,

When maccy plays- 6. Smith 7. Tommy 9. Riddell swapping with Mcillorum
Tommy is swapped with Riddell when Tomkins is played so...
6. Tomkins 7. Smith 9. Riddell/Tommy

With an obviously unfit Riddell, Sam should get his chance now, for me he should have played against Castleford.

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.