It was hard for tommy last night kicking. He's not kicked for long long time and everyone expects him to come in and kick like foster.

He missed the easy kicks (only two) but kicked some good goals.

I think if he took on the kicking duties for whatever reason he'd be a fine kicker.

He does seam to leather them. That first one I thought was nerves but then he did it again later on. I think Foster is safe for the time being, but so is makinson. Ade was good too, so I would expect rotation and competiton for places especially in games where we may be expected to win.

But what happens in the games that will be tough ?

Every point will matter so foster with his high percentage kicking will get the nod IMHO. Unless Makinson gets more chances to prove his kicking.

i have never seen the competition for places in the saints starting line up be so strong, is there only Roby and lomax who you would say is certain to start every time? obviously with all the younger players pushing for a start it will benifit the whole team - the likes of meli and gardner need to raise their game to stay in the team where as i don't feel they had that sort of pressure on them 2-3 years ago. was impressed with wheeler last night, particulary in the 1st half.

Dixon was also Saints best player in last years GF.

He did have a very good grand final.

Would not say lomax is safe at HB with Lance on the big bucks.

so would you put gaskell ahead of lomax? or drop gaskell to fit lance in? either way i think the increase in competition for places can only be a positive as players will now know that they cannot rely on past reputations to get them in the 17, and long may that continue!!

Your youngsters are great.
You are winning games but could be winning by a much greater margin,If they wernt so greedy.
They dont seem to want to pass the ball unless they have to.

Me too, there were times were we had silly dives for the line rather than good team play. Royce says as much in his report on the first half on the Saints website.

As for young players being greedy. If that's in referance to the gaskell break. I think he was on his own for 80 % of that run and when you watch it on TV the side Tommy comes flying in on, Gaskell never looks up at that point as he is wary of the Salford cover and is getting ready to fend. In future I'm sure gaskell will look around more, but at the time it's easier to see options from TV and the stands than on the pitch with Salford players chasing all around you.

Maybe they need to work on calls for the ball, but they are not really greedy, the chip, catch dummy run and pass showed that.

Then later Lomax makes a break then backs up Meli and then lost the ball trying 1 pass too many.

Watching on TV the commentators where saying Lomaskell don't run at the line enough, but then they do and people say they should be looking for the pass. It's a no win really, you can't please all the people all of the time.

I'm just waiting to hear from the six or seven regular muppets who've slagged Dixon off for the best part of two years.

you could play Lance / Wheeler in the halves as well just to add to the conundrum,like you says the competition for places is going to be good.

Wheeler needs to stay centre for mine. He killed them in very little space. Give him a ball on the fly and he will be a nightmare. He could spend 4 out of 5 games being a back on the bench if he does not play centre. Waste of talent, defense wise he is 1000% better than meli and in attack he looked pretty nifty too.

Shenton no doubt will take his place back, but I can see us rotating all 3 of these to give Wheeler more game time.

For me Lance is the versitile player to cover, FB, half back, back on bench, hooker etc. I can see him being rotated in for Lomax or Gaskell on some games but from last night Lance did not impress me much, but you can't read alot into 1 game.

It's just great to have options to rotate in every spot. Roby will always start but I still think he needs some rest time in matches before we bust him to pieces.