beat Me to it, think meli will make the 17

as for people knocking the lads tackling skills, did they not see him dump the centre as wekefield scored, if gardner had stuck to his man and line the centre would have chosen not to offload and we'd have all been calling johnnys tackle a big shot

I don't think anyone (sane, at any rate) is knocking the kid. He did better than can be expected.

But we have to be realistic. The odds are heavily stacked against any kid becoming the "New Darren Lockyer". Indeed, the odds are against him even making it at Saints. For every junior that realises his potential there are ten more that don't (Joey Hayes, Danny Arnold etc. etc.)

Let's keep our feet on the ground. Certainly, the worth of stats achieved against a team decimated by injuries and grieving over the loss of a colleague are dubious to say the least.

That's true, although I will say that with the league going to 14 teams and quota rules tightening, the youngster we're seeing coming through our ranks - Lomax, Wheeler, Frodsam, Armstrong, Eastmond, Ashurst and Dixon all have a great chance of a SL career even if they don't make it at Saints.

I was astounded by this when I read it in the press. He's a very courageous guy.

I'm with Rogues in my disbelief of people knocking Lomax. He had a great debut and it was a damn shame he was stopped within inches of the line as it would have been a nice touch to get a try on his first game with the big boys!