I rate all four players highly but it's a massive stretch to to say you'll shortly have the best 1-5. They are all young players and you have no idea at this stage whether they'll all pan out or not, or even whether they'll all stay at your club if they do! Leeds 1-5 are the best in SL at this moment in time and if you want to compare future like for likes with Wigan, for example, you have Lomax v Hampshire. Anyone willing to call who will turn out the best there is a braver man than I, for a start, and Bowen, at his NRL best, is a league above either at this stage of their careers. Burgess looks the better player v Swift at the current time but, of course, the same caveats apply. Then there's Makinson v Charrnley and, as much as I rate Makinson, currently you would have to be seriously biased to take the youngster over the Superleague's top try scorer for the last two seasons and current international. That's not saying Makinson won't turn out to be just as good of course, just that at the moment he's not proven over time whereas Charnley is. Turner was a poor second (or even 3rd) best, not only to both our centres on Friday (and has been hit and miss prior to that, off what I've read on here) but also to our 2nd row turned centre for the day, Bateman. Not the most compelling reason to put him in 'the best 1-5 in superleague' if we're being honest. As you point out, Percival didn't play so, to date, we have little direct comparison apart from last season when he wasn't as effective as either of the Wigan centres but, again, he seems a good prospect and could certainly go on to eclipse either or both.

Now, I do realise you said 'one of the best' rather than the best but what exactly does that mean? 3rd best..4th best...or were you intimating that they were destined to be the best? Obviously the above is only relevant if it's the latter. However if it's somewhere further down the pecking order I'm not sure what you're point is in the context of this thread. If it's, as I suspect, that you were suggesting they would shortly be the best then I think you're way off the mark as things stand. They are still some way behind the Leeds 5 and, currently no better than Wigan's.

I realise that the above reads as though I'm putting the young lads you have coming through down. Nothing could be further from the truth. I think there's some real quality in there. Lomax, in particular, has always impressed me. I just think to say 'shortly have...' as you did is pushing it a little.

Our backline is now better than its been for years, but lets not get carried away. Wigans young backs look very good, but Leeds backline is a class above IMO.
Ours can still improve, but its very young and very raw still

Currently I would say Saints back line is in the top 3 this season, I would agree that Leeds look to have that top spot at the moment.
For actally finishing by way of tries Saints are riding 2nd at the moment, but as mentioned earlier these Saints backs have not played the current weaker teams of London and Bradford yet.
Once the Percival and Swift partnership is developed we might see a shift from big powerful wingers to the more athletic, evasive type of back play.

One thing that (with a notable exception in 2005) annoys me at Saints is we dont put teams to the sword. Wigan racked up a massive score v Bradford, but you can guarantee we'll either field a weaker team or if we start winning comfortable, we'll pull lots of stars off and cruise home.
I can of course see the benefit of resting players, even half way through a game, but every now and then i'd love to rack up a massive score

Shenton didn't like the move. The traveling used to wreck his head. That played a big part in his loss of form but poor ball outwide didn't help

His form picked up immediately when he agreed his return to Cas.
He's a player that is at his best when he can come from deep and hit the ball moving, but at the time we didn't have the fluidity in the backs to supply him.

I think you are right, good playing partnerships develop with playing a lot of minutes with each other. Brown shouldn,t be resting the backline based on the opposition, look at Long/Martyn Newlove/Sullivan Lyon/Gardner some of there plays were instinctive established over playing a full 80 mins.
We.ve done reasonably OK in attack this season but we have been nowhere near where we are capable of, Lomax,Swift, Percival,Turner and Miracleson all in top form playing consecutive games is a positive to a successful season.
I,m not really concerned about Turners temporary loss of form its Percival the missing jigsaw piece due to consistent injury.

He didn't get any quality service at all with Saints, often got a pass with defenders right on him, never had time and space, Saints put his game backwards.

We were lucky he didn't sing for Wigan. Maguire had just taken over and they were playing exactly the sort of rugby that would have suited Shenton, with sweeping moves for centres coming from deep. If he'd have gone there, he'd have looked exceptional.

Thank God they scrapped the Brigantes.

I agree. We were in need a of a centre to replace George Carmont (surely one of the most under rated players ever in Super League) and Shenton would have been a good fit. Another one we missed out on was Joel Moon who I rate as the best centre in Super League at present and a lot better than the much talked about Kallum Watkins.

Shenton publicly stated that he found the journey difficult to deal with. Looks like he's playing pretty well at Cas this season.

I don't understand that. Why didn't he just move? Renting a house for his family would been easily affordable and they could have gone home on his days off. Never understand why players put themselves through 4 hours of driving every day when they've got a job that relies so heavily on physical exertion.

His wife may have a good job which is better suited to living in Yorkshire, and him commuting rather than her.

I think he did stay over here some nights.