Does Jamie deserve his starting place this season on the wing instead of Gardner or Meli?

Plus side he kicks better than Kyle (and Kyle probably won't be fit for the start of the season)?

Negatives: he was found lacking in the Grand Final although Meli left him high and dry with his defending?

I'd start the season with Jamie and drop Meli

Thoughts

He certainly needs to be kept involved. Despite his slight frame, he looks a lot more robust than when he started, and certainly has some excellent skills.
IMO though, if he wants to play for Saints long term, he needs to force his way into the centre to show off his skills. As a winger, I think he'll just be an also ran who'll get moved on sooner or later.

He's the wing version of Paul Wellens. Solid as a rock but no use at all in attack and a major weakness in our lineup. Our backs, bar Shenton, Pryce and Eastmond are amongst the worst in Super League.

Flannery and Meli should not have been handed new deals IMO. The money should have gone on a couple of backs.

What do you think of the chances of Meli being starting centre next season? Keeping Sia & Flannery in the pack?

Ever the doom mongerer (How many tries did "no use in attack" wellens score last year?). I agree he has neither the blitering pace nor size to really succeed in the reletively 1 dimensional (attacking wise) position of winger. However, he may have the abilities to make him a good centre - skill, timing, brains etc. Time will tell.

[sizeI certainly agreed on Flannery and, to a degree, Meli.[/size

Unbelievably harsh. Looks a talented player to me - good finisher and very good hands.

By the way, being the wing version of Paul Wellens wouldn't be a bad thing, unless you reckon 4 Grand Final wins, 2 WCC, 5 Challenge Cups, 4 League Leaders shields, Man of Steel, Players’ Player of the Year, Rugby League Writers’ Player of the Year. 2 Lance Todds, and 1 Harry Sunderland is a shoddy return.

I sometimes wonder whether you watch the game with your eyes closed.

Nah,thats a poor evaluation. He has good feet,prety quick over the first 30m's and clears his line well.
Lacks that killer speed from 30m's but imo he could make a very good centre. But there again my glass Is half full

No, I'm a visionary. People will still talk about me on the rugby league scene 40 years after I've died. In the days of Newlove, Albert, Sullivan, Lyon, Hunte, Gleeson the likes of Wellens and Foster are fine. They'd score 40 tries and it would work well. But when you've only got 1 centre in the entire squad and only Pryce and Eastmond who could be regarded strike players (One of whom plays once every lunar eclipse), there isn't enough threat to see us winning trophies in the future.

We are carrying too many 'solid but not brilliant' players in the backrow and on the bench to fill the outside backs and fullbacks with them as well.

Ancient RL fan 1: "Do you remember that weirdo on RLFans who thought that Wakefield had a better backline than us?"
Ancient RL fan 2: "Oh yes - he was weird."

Absolutely spot on. A 1 year deal for Meli was disappointing but a two year deal
is folly of the highest order.

Shenton will become like Loughlin the only consistent strike player in poor backline. All ball goes to him. Opposition mark him out of the game. Overplayed , forced to play with needles and ultimately broken.

Wellens is an institution but the position of FB has moved on and demands
HB pace and line breaking ability.

Bar Shenton the backline itself is very poor indeed.

You can carry the odd bits and pieces player such as Foster.

I still can't believe that Gardner has been at Saints for 10 years.

The whole backline needed radical surgery in the close season. Saints have suck an expensive plaster over one bit.

IMO i would not play wheeler at centre i would give his a chance at that 7 shirt when kyle is not playing. He is a fantastic 6 so why cant he play 7. 2 seasons ago we played Wakefeild away and he ripped them to bits him self with pryce 6 untill he got injured . He needs a good run with out injures and he will light up super league.

I would also try to play lomax or foster more this season on the wing and give one of them the shirt full time next season.

Flannery deserves his new deal as much as anyone else, he is a consistently fantastic defender, he runs fantastic lines in attack and makes more breaks than people give him credit for, and I wouldnt be surprised if it was more than the other back rowers. IMO flannery gets the nod over the other backrowers every single time

The Saints backline will be completely reshapen in the next few years. Shenton is the first part of the jigsaw and in the next few years Wellens, Meli and Gardner will all leave the club. Then there's Pryce and Eastmond's futures which are unclear, so apart from Shenton and maybe Soliola, we could have 5 new backs out of 7. I think it's impossible to replace all of them with players from outside the club, due to salary cap restrictions, so it's important to integrate the likes of Foster and Lomax now as they could end up taking positions in our backline.