This is what I think. When we come up against one of the above teams, they're going to target him, knowing his positional play is poor.

Twice on Sat he's done Watkins in the centre, which is no mean feat, so there's a good argument to keep him there. If we're to let him have a run there, then we need to straighten his fault out or else, come old trafford, we'll be blaming him again.

For me, his two biggest weaknesses are turning quickly to chase a kick through and catching bombs. Both of which are critical skills for anyone playing on the wing. At centre hes much less exposed by a good kicking game and he gets the ball in hand a lot more, which is a massive plus for the team. 5-10m out from the line, there is nobody else in the team you would want running hard at the line more than Meli.

Meli at left Centre with Foster on the wing is a good shout, purely on the fact we're short there and Gary Wheeler can't seem to string a run of games together.

Complete agreement with "The chief". On the wing his weakness under the high bombs is clear to most opposing teams and so he is logically made a target for the same. He is the exact opposite of Wellens.

If he plays at centre alongside another good centre he should be able to eradicate his positional/defensive weakness. Certainly he is worth persevering with.

Ch.

Ok maybe I'm having 2nd thoughts.

After the hype of Saturday, I've just watched Boot's and all the tries and O'Connor makes a good point. Meli had to make just 5 tackles against a young centre.

Where as Shenton made 22+ tackles against one of the most experienced centres in the game.

Maybe Meli's defence was just not tested as much as it could have been, or should have been.

Although Shenton did let a try in by running out of the line which Meli did not, so who knows.