Leaving blanch open for his try.

Regarding the last, why is nobody 'jealous' of every other player in team. Lomax, Gaskell, Makinson and Dixon all make mistakes due to their age, but people accept its part and parcel. Similarly when they play well they don't go tweeting every time somebody says how well they played.

Everybody used to say about eastmond's ego. The fact is it was only rumour about him. The way foster comes out in the press is far worse, and eastmond is ten times the player of foster.

The average British sportsfan doesn't like all the publicity of players, maybe it's jealousy, maybe 'its just not very British'. They'd rather see a grafter who spends more time on the training pitch than in the papers

Because the other young players in the team don't have his image. He is popular with younger fans because of his image, his car and his hair cuts. It was in the paper saying his barber was doing around 400 copies of his hair everytime he changed it plus he is starting his own business it's this kind of positive attention at 21 that creates jealousy.

No matter how long Foster spends on the training pitch it wont help, his problem is in matches and the only way to iron out his mistakes is to give him more game time and support. Do people honestly think abusing and dropping him will improve him as a player?

Top points - and it's been that way as long as I've watched the game

It's about time some supporters got off the lad's back and noticed mistakes other players are making.

To go back to the Wheeler contract situation; maybe Saints are being sensible and seeing how he copes injury wise this season before deciding whether to offer a new deal or not. Sorry to talk sense.

Other clubs wont be waiting.

Then I an sure Saints will evaluate the situation when that time comes. We have Mark Percival coming through as well.

Jamie has the ability to be a top class Rl player, he just needs to focus more on games.

I think Saints and the RFL need to take him out of the media spotlight for now. All this poster boy of RL stuff is i think not doing his development any good.
For a start it means fans from all clubs are watching his every move, and secondly i think its causing a distraction for him.

I keep thinking of Kevin Penny, another player who was splashed all over everywhere as a wonder player, when infact he was just a promising kid. Look how that has sadly turned out.

Couple of things, there were alot of fans (me included) wanting to see more of Wheeler. Some people want it all their own way. Happy to call Meli not a centre, happy to diride Meli, and when Meli is replaced, happy to do more of the same on the replacement. No doubt should Wheeler be replaced with Makinson and it not work out, they will diride the coach for running out best winger and putting him in the centre.

I want Wheeler to get a contract, I know we have all joked about his biscuit status, but seriously, he's a very good player.

Foster: I think his head has gone.

This is not saying I think his head is too big etc etc. I think his confidence has gone. He was a good safe defender, catching balls, defending his line until mid-way last season. It has not come back. I remember these discussions over other wingers in the past. He needs more game time verse drop him. I remember seeing wingers get more time week after week after week. All that did was give the opposition more and more time to hit his confidence. Target him and therefore make him more of a scapegoat, and rather than support fans start to get tired of the same or worse week after week.

It think a stint in the reserves takes the pressure off and lets a lad do what they need to do, get the match practice without the pressure. I don't want to see foster fail, but if we keep throwing him out their hoping it will fix it'self, it won't.

In the academy those high balls and defensive patterns will not be as exposed to so much hype. He will simply have to concentrate on rugby, and getting into a routine, once that routine is in place, then bring him back for a non-televised match, or CC match.

The wing spot long term is his to loose, Ade will not be around for ever. But in terms of competition for places at the moment it's not bringing the best out of him.

He looks a very good prospect.

He's the biggest one trick pony about. As I said on here 18 months ago. I'm sure many of you will remember, most of you argued against me at the time. Possibly the worst thing about his game is that it's regressed since then, he's become even more one dimensional.

Shadows, I agree with your post entirely and I think it's pretty much the only sensible post I've read on the subject of Jamie Foster. When he dropped that ball last night his head went down. He looked absolutely rocked by what he had done, and he was on Twitter apologising again. He's had too much to distract him and he needs to be helped back to focus. He was great in the first half. But he makes a mistake and he can't recover from it. Not that he got much help from his team mates of course, there was nobody in support defensively. But either way I think he needs some protection for a while, time to refocus and get his career back on track. Given that we have just signed him for two years the coaching staff obviously see some potential in him but at present I think if he makes more gaffs then his confidence will be shot.

If he has " done a deal " as your rumour suggests then its an illegal one,he cant talk to anyone yet.

Of course they can.
Saints with Shenton and LMS, Wire with Ratchford. Leeds with Griffin, Catalan with Pryce etc.

I think he needs putting back in the u20s to regain some confidence and also bring him down a peg or two.

People have bagged Meli for years for maning mistakes that cost us tries but people try to defend foster because if his age, the way I see it, he's being paid good money and given enough chances and if he's not good enough it's his tough luck but being young isn't a excuse for dropping ball.