Now i must admit that i used to call this guy alot for his mistakes but i cant make my mind up now was some of us fans wrong because for me now he's been playing like a machine

Was he a just a scapegoat?

For me he has improved on him game ALOT!

Super timing. He just has another 'Meli Moment'

Lmao true BUT Wellens and co did nothing but watch him put the ball down for a try

One of our best players and has been for a good few years now whether the kneejerkers like it or not.

Kneejerk would be to have a pop at him for 1 mistake. He has made many many many mistakes and they always seem to cost us. Guesswe'll just have to wait and see tonight

At least we're spared seeing him cost us at O/T again this season it seems

Every dog has its day.

Even lame blind mongrels.

No1 Saint - watch your blood pressure!

Meli dropping that ball for dog lover to score combined with the try just before half time was the game breaker.

The gamebreaker was our inability to convert field position and pressure into points.

Very much agree but went from 14-6 to losing ten mins after half time. If we'd gone in at 14-6 (I think it was) IMO we would have won the games.

The failure to score with that much pressure had been a problem this year.

I've been one of Meli's biggest critics over the years but to be fair he was probably our best player tonight - Monaghan does that week in week out so don't really blame Meli too much for that try .

As for game breaker - just before Waterhouse first try we went 80m in one set and ALL 6 plays should've been a penalty to us (even pie eater Clarke spotted it) then the useless Perry gave away a soft one on tackle 2 , we went from a position where we should be level to being 10 pts behind in 2 mins - quickly followed by Waterhouse second soft/dubious try.

Sigh here it is again,the Meli thread,lets blame him instead of the players that didnt clamp the ball in 3 man tackles and allowed offloads,or the sloppy defence on Waterhouse that even though it was crossing it was the worst attempt at tackling ive seen this year.

Meli contested the ball with Monahan and thats all he could be expected to do,Monahan is one of the best around at trys like that and has the advantage of coming at pace before jumping.

It was the same predictable problem we've had for the last 2 seasons and that we've seen so many times against Wigan and Warrington in that time now - our forwards dominating territory and possession and laying a platform as big as you like for the halves to create from, but just no clue on how to break the line down from said halves whatosever and one-up rugby trying vainly to batter the opposition line into submission. We can only win at the moment by barging over and while you can do that with the quality of our pack against the lesser teams on a regular basis, and sometimes against the quality sides when they have an off day, you're doomed if you play a top side on a bit of form as we did tonight.

For next season we need to sort Lomax out (he's regressed massively this year under Rush and we have to hope that the damage done to his career as a half isn't permanent), hope that Gaskell can put a year in the stands behind him and kick on under a coach who knows what he's doing, and find something productive for Lance to be do in a Saints shirt (i.e. not playing half). It can only get better than the appalling dross we've had to suffer this season on the field outside the second row...