1. Makinson
2. Gardner
3. Shenton
4. Wheeler
5. Foster

6. Gaskell
7. Lomax

8. Perry
9. Roby
10. Puletua
11. Soliola
12. Wilkin
13. Laffrinchi

14. Clough
15. LMS
16. Flanaghan
17. Hohaia

1. Wellens/Lomax

2. Gardner/Makinson
3. Shenton
4. Meli/Wheeler
5. Foster/Meli

6. Wheeler/Gaskell/Lomax
7. Hohaia/Lomax

8. Perry
9. Roby
10. Laffranchi
11. Soliola
12. Flanagan/Flannery
13. Wilkin

14. Clough
15. TP
16. LMS
17. Flannery/Flanagan

Looking good in the backs with loads of options, [ipotentially[/i great in the halves, and immensely strong but paper-thin depthwise in the pack. 3 or 4 injuries in the forwards and we're in trouble - a prop and preferrably another backrower needs to step up from somewhere.

Not that it will happen, how about

1. Makinson
2. Gardner
3. Wheeler
4. Shenton
5. Foster
6. Gaskell
7. Lomax
8. Perry
9. Roby
10. Tony P
11. Wilkin
12. Soliola
13. Laffranchi

14. Lance Hohaia/Flash Flanaghan
15. LMS
16. Clough
17. Ned Flanders/Francis Meli

Dixon as backrow reserve
Forster for front row

I think Lomaskell will benifit a lot from a full off season and we should see an improved variety of moves to both sides of the pitch.

I'd like to see:

Wellens
Makinson
Shenton
Meli
Foster
Hohaia
Lomax
Perry
Roby
Puletua
Wilkin
Soliola
Laffranchi

Flanagan
LMS
Clough
Gaskell/Wheeler

Wellens has been assured of captaincy for 2012 so will play.

Laffranchi starting at 13 can also be used in front row, as can Clough which will be useful for rotation.

Hohaia's versatility in the backs or at 9 is a brilliant asset and means we can rotate to give Gaskell enough game time to continually develop, but cant see us signing Lance to be a bench player

Will also leave likes of Dixon, Magennis, Gardner etc as cover players providing competition which can only be a plus, lets just hope Josh Perry manages to earn his money from playing rather than laying on the treatment table or warming the bench this year

It happened to scott gibbs and it didn't keep him out that long iirc.
Mind you, i remeber it happening to gary chambers ina game against us and it was horrific.
Obviously many of us will remember Cunninghams injury he got playing aginst the kiwis.

Cunningham's was worse because didn't he break the bone as well as dislocate it?

I think you're right.

A quick look at Gibbs on the heritage site suggests he was injured on 15th Feb and didn't play again that season (which ended on 14th May). He played in a pre season friendly against Hull on 6th August.

It all depends on how far it was put out of joint and if there is any muscular/tendon damage.It looked bad on the tv but we wont know until the club tell us how bad it is.

Has he had an op, or was it just reset? This seems like the sort of injury that once it happens, almost invariably happens again.

Shenton went for his operation yesterday according to Saints on Twitter.

I had a bad fall about three years ago. I did what the surgeon referred to as 'the terrible triad', meaning I'd dislocated the elbow, broken bones and damaged the ligaments. I had a frame on it for about six weeks and could hardly bend or straighten the arm at all for a while. After an operation and a lot of physio and exercise I got it to a point where I can bend it almost as well as before (I can lift a pint glass to my lips, anyway) and straighten it about two thirds as well as previously. I also have a titanium radial head now. If it's anything like that I'd be surprised if we saw the same player as the last third of the season.

I'm a little ray of sunshine, I know

In his favour, Shenton is half the age I was when I did it, he's a professional athlete and will have access to the best treatment and rehabilitation available.

Fingers crossed for the lad. Really hope he can get back to form he's been showing the past 3/4 games.

Assuming he gets back ok, I think we'll see a lot more of him once Lomaskell have a full off season together in place and have the ball moving well both ways, which we didn't really see this year.

Lomaskell will be nothing more than a fond memory once Lance is dropping balls all over the show in the halves next year.

The public will not allow it. I can see the banner now.