I can echo what has been said along with , I was entertained , it was a joy to see Saints play as we want to see them play , with a bit of flair , a couple of people around me said "this is like Saints of old" and it was in places!!

Only downside of our performance for me was the defence down our right side. Lynne made far too many breaks and was their main attacking threat. Turner and T-Mak need to tighten up down there, because better sides will punish us.

I think we're going to miss Shenny this season as his defence was his strength. Turner comes with a rep so far as defence goes. Aside from a tendency to come in from his wing, Makinson's defence hasn't been an issue. In fact he has sometimes put on some outstanding efforts at defence.

I think it'll more be the Gaskell / Turner combination that could be exposed rather than Turner / Makinson. However, Turner's slight problems in defence come from positioning, this can be coached out of him and I have no doubt Brown is capable of that. Turner if more than capable of tackling in the contact, it's just his positioning that could improve.

In the Huddersfield game Lomax defended well done the right side with Turner and Makinson. I was surprised to see him on the left, and Gaskell on the right on sunday.

Probably a case of testing combinations. I'd imagine long term Lomax will be on the right as he's the stronger defender. Gaskell will be on the left as Josh Jones is a very good defender and he'll have Manu inside him too.

Gaskell's defence was ropey when he came through in 2011, but he managed to improve it rapidly. Perhàps being out of the first team for so long has knocked him back, but hopefully he will improve again. I'm over the moon he's been reinstated as our #6.

I'm also very excited about young greenwood making a mark. Along with Sia and Manu, we all o a sudden have some real size in the back row.

I can't remember where I read it, but someone was talking about Sia and his big hits. Quite happy that they almost oblitorate the opposition, but it comes at a price as he leaves his flank exposed.

Sometimes when there is an overlap, it's not always the end men that have caused it.

I'm not for one minute suggesting that an aggresive tackle should be stopped to keep a solid line. An aggresive tackle can be very effective in causing errors in attack. But we should not always look at the gap left and blame those who have had to shuffle across.

It's a gamble and you need gambles to win anything big. But we also have to accept it will leave us exposed and breaks will happen.

While Lomax is an able tackler and a goo at "giving them the outside", his decision making in defence is often awful. If Turner's rep is deserved, perhaps they're better keeping them apart?

In the end, if it's our fringes where we are exposed then we have little to worry about. The quality of outside backs in SL is poor and the halves are not much better. If you don't get punched up the middle in the forwards then bar the odd couple of players, there is not much threat outwide.

There is against Wigan and Wire. They both exposed us on the fringes last season, and we'll need to smarten up if we want to pick up silverware.