Lets hope it half back and not full back cause saw Gaskell play there to the back end of last year for 20's

Is ur source reliable 1984

I hope you don't mind if I take that with a pinch of salt, but it would be nice if it's true.
I assume the coversation went soething like.
"Lance is crap at 6, so I'll probably give you a run out"

I don,t think he will, Makinson will stay on the wing. Eden has made some reasonable run returns but he is a disaster for errors one of the worse in superleague. We don,t want to gamble with Makinson in an exposed position.
Alsio if we took out Wellens, Meli and Lance out all at once, that would leave us with the most inexperienced back line in Superleague......not good.

I would trust this lad with my life he as no need to lie

If you are asking for our strongest line up then it's hard to choose at this stage as no one is playing and people can be great one year and pap the next.

Personally I'm hoping to see more than our best 17 each week, because it limits the squad, which for me limits competition for places an without the competition for places, people get lazy and don't perform at their best.

I'd be happy with the work load being shared out a bit more this year, some chance given at FB to someone other than Wellens (I'm not saying I would not pick him for key games but it's way past time we started to see who can step up to the mark when he leaves), I'd also like to see a halfback at halfback.

No true Saints fan would EVER refer to Wellens as 'the sloth'.

I always knew Saddened was a Wire.

Careful son, my army of fans have killed people for less than that.

I think the best 17 should be the side with the players that are best suited to defeating the opposition, this can vary from match to match.

In some games you may be playing against a side thats a bit lightweight so you could go for size and bully them across the park.
Another week and you may play a team like Wire or Leeds who have a decent pack but also plenty of pace and good field kickers. Therefore you need to incorporate more speed in your backline along with a strong kick game.

Furthermore we know this is Melis last season coming up and possibly also Wello's, therefore there has to be rotation at fullback and wing to manage the transition for 2014.

However I suspect the backline will probably look like this for most games

Wellens
Makinson
Turner
Meli
Foster

Meli and Turner give us good pace and power on the first tackle option following a kick return. This then can put the defending team on the backfoot, allowing Roby or whoever goes into dummy half to either scoot or bring the forwards into play on the next play.

We need to move Wello out in some of the lesser home games and for these i would look to playing Swift at Fullback. The perfect modern fullback is fast, elusive and has a good rugby brain. Swift we have already seen is fast and agile. He also is a standoff by trade so should have the footballing brain as well. The one thing we dont know is how he handles the positional and pressure side of fullback. This we need to find out by giving him matches against the likes of Salford and Widnes at home.

Josh Jones would not be out in the wilderness, but i think he was overused a bit last year, as for me it was noticeable that he faded a bit later on in the season. Its a real tough ask for a teenager to play nearly 20 games against men. So this year i would look to possibly bring him in for 10- 15 games. Possibly interchanging with Meli from the bench. Josh is actually an ideal bench sub as he can cover second row and standoff as well. Who knows maybe Josh will also be seen at loose forward in the future.

Wheeler. Got all the talent, but he really needs to stay clear of injury, otherwise i think Saints will waive the white flag with him. Defo got the talent to start in the centres or halves, but can you afford to risk it, knowing there is a good chance he will get an injury. Think he will get 10 or so games next season, but would like him to play a full injury free season so we could see if he can make that step to star player status.

The halves is another toughy. Basically we can go for Lomax, Gaskell, Wheeler and Hohoia.
I think Lomax is a bang on certainty. I'd be tempted to pair him with Wheeler.
What of Gaskell and Hohoia. I think Lance could be used as interchange hooker and perhaps in some games will be used as starting hooker with Roby getting a breather or being played at Loose forward.
Gaskell. I can see Brown using him in some games in a quasi loose forward role, similar to that in which he had Kevin Brown operating.
What is sure is i think he will be given more game time than this year, as he needs to be brought on.

I dont think its worth talking about the pack as they will get rotated to help them get over knocks and also stay fresh.
One things for sure the pack will be big and mobile and have plenty of depth.

Agreed, but Meli can't do this returning from centre... We have no kick return from Wello so the wingers need to shoulder this burden instead. With Wellens, Makinson and Foster carting the kick returns up you might as well just give us a 2nd tackle on our 10 every set of six... Meli must play on the wing preferably with Gardner on the other side to give us the momentum you speak of - the above 3/4 line would be every opposition kicking game's dream.



No way - Lomax and Gaskell are way too similar to work as a partnership and would be little better than Hohaia/Lomax has been. If one plays in the halves then the other must place centre or fullback. Gaskell is unfortonately the only player we have at the moment with the skillset to create a balanced half back partnership with Lomax or Wheeler, even though he's not ready yet to assume the mantle of our primary organiser and creator (and may never be). I think Wheeler is the more natural half and could take more of the load off Gaskell while he's learning the trade so that would be the pairing to go for if Wheeler gets his head in the game next year. I reckon we'll be seeing a Lomax/Gaskell partnership with Wheeler intemittently in the centres however.

That why I've picked Turner and Gardner on the wings.
Meli in the centre is perfect for me, all of his strengths, none of his weaknesses - he's one of the most dangerous 3/4s in the league and I'd rather have him in one, getting the ball and creating chances for us.
Turner has been questioned as to his defensive positioning in the centre channel and tackling capababilities, so starting him on the wing will tone any weakness down, whilst still giving us a big athletic lad on the wing to finish and return kicks.
Garner's kick returning when he was fit last year was awesome. Whether he could sustain it for a season is a question mark, I guess, but worth a start for this reason. He's pretty good under kicks, too, when in [ithe zone[/i.