By sound of it, he will be in 21 man squad for Friday, which wouldn’t be a surprise considering he’s been playing in the halves aswell as hooker

There was me thinking O'Connor might get the nod at 7 or 9...

I really like 0'Connor but I don't get the desire to put him in a spine position just because he has the build you might associate with it. Hooker and half both real specialist positions and not less than a speciist should do.

I know but in his junior days he has played these spine positions, and he's one of these general sportsmen who's good at everything. Remember he took that conversion? I think he's just a talented lad.

With Smith at 13 maybe O'Connor rotates/gives cover there, but we'll see. We can drop Prior, Tet back there and have Field coming through the academy potentially - and we haven't seen much of O'Connor in recent weeks.

I don't see where O'Connor fits at the moment to be honest, unless he gets past Smith, or maybe becomes our James Donaldson MkII.

Yep. I think he has the potential to be an upgraded Donaldson, which would not be a bad player at all.

Yep and Donno has had plenty of game time.

Different ends of career though, I suspect O’Connor will be looking for a starting spot.

We have plenty of options in the back row perhaps too many. If the back row stays healthy then Donaldson game time should be limited next season.

I still think Walters has potential and he’s another one with a big pre-season ahead.

Are we feeling confident for this game?

Honestly I think we need Cas to beat HKR and then I think we’ll be safe in the 6.

I agree Walters will get etter with more game time which he'll get next season when the reserve league comes back. I am correct in thinking the reserve is to resume?

St. Helens - 1. Lachlan Coote, 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Kevin Naiqama, 4. Mark Percival, 5, Regan Grace, 8. Alex Walmsley, 9. James Roby, 10. Matty Lees, 11. Joel Thompson, 13, Morgan Knowles, 14. Sione Mata’utia, 16. Kyle Amor, 18. Jack Welsby, 19, Aaron Smith, 20, Joe Batchelor, 21. Lewis Dodd, 23, Jake Wingfield, 24, Josh Eaves, 25, Dan Norman, 29. Ben Davies.

James Bentley out for us with spinal ligament damage caused by the ridiculous Kasiano incident. Unsurprisingly the Sky campaign to get Paasi banned worked and Kasiano was let off.

Bentley off to see a specialist but faces an indefinite period out. Hopefully it's not as bad as first expected, but could be one that affects his start to the season with Leeds as well. Google ranges the injury from 6 weeks to a year.

Real shame, gosh he's had it tough this last year. He would very much have wanted to sign off at Saints on his own terms as well.

Hope it's a good game on Friday. It could go any way I reckon, Saints will start as favourites but Leeds are in patchy good form. I expect Saints to win this one; I think they're a mentally strong side who will respond from the Catalans result, and on paper they just have a better squad than Leeds right now.

Leeds will need a couple more standout performances like we saw at Magic to challenge them, and to get on top early so that seed of doubt gets in there and we get at their energy levels.

Yes it was Sky’s fault Passi got banned, nothing to do with his shoulder directly to the jaw or anything.

Saints fans have nothing to moan about the disciplinary procedure when Tommy Makinson recently got his ban reduced! And Passi is very lucky with 2 games

Vuniyayawa's not in 21 man squad. Can't afford to lose any more props before Hull KR. I don't think we'll beat Saints, so I stand by my selection. Throw Corey Johnson in too.