How few weeks make a difference ey. It was only few weeks back some was saying Owens would keep lomax out.

As I said weeks ago, a 60% lomax is better than Owens and SMD.

Put swifty fullback until lomax is back. We have the worst kick returns in super league in Owens and Tommy. Tommy is dead with the ball unless he's 1m out from Their try line. I'm in shock that some fans said last week they would take Tommy over Briscoe at Leeds

Didn't KC say at a press conference that he was Lucky to get Owens, what does that say about his abilities? good players do not always make good coaches.

I would not say makes a difference. I certainly wouldn't criticise a player before I've even watched him play in the side. He was better than last week but it's like he is learning the role.

I know it was only minor in the big scheme of things last night but letting the Sydney try scorer improve the kick by giving up was lacking professional standards. Even swift when it was a lost cause pushed the Sydney man wider.

It very much sounds as though he is excellent on the training field but come match time he is way out of his depth, sooner have him or Dawson on the wing and Swifty at full Back until Lomax or McD comes back.

he is a good goal kicker but a liability in defence/attack and makes wellens look like an olimpic sprinter you are welcome to him you got him for free that sums it up

Jack was an international youth full back and showed plenty of ability when he first came into the Widnes team on the wing. Although he's not blessed with great pace, he looked a fine footballer in those early days. He had a nightmare cup semi final against Castleford in 2014 and was never really a regular starter after that. The odd game he played you could see that his confidence had taken a big knock. FWIW, letting Jack go divided opinion amongst Widnes speccies. There were plenty who said he wouldn't be missed, but plenty, like me, who thought he had bags of talent and would come good in the end. Having seen his last two games for you, his glaring lack of pace is a big stand out. It's easy to pick on a young full back making his way, but your problems go much deeper than that. Jack would have got away with things in a dominant Saints team, but you are anything but that, and definitely he's not alone in being not good enough.

It's just silly to take a statement such as that at face value without thinking about the context in which it was made.

If I said I was "lucky" to lay my hands on a twelve year old Nissan Micra with 40,000 miles on the clock people would rightly scratch their heads. If I then said I got it for £200 quid on short notice after my regular car (which I can't do without) had failed unexpectedly and subsequently lasted me a good three years of fault-free motoring I think most people would indeed say that my luck was in.

Tend to think that is even more silly lol, a lot of IF'S, come on £200 car and three years of trouble free motoring, in your dreams.

I'll think of Owens as a Nissan Micra forever more

I don't want to be harsh on him, he played better. Did better under the high ball early on in the game.

However, turning off when it is a lost cause is criminal for a pro, Swift is a shining example of a professional, it maybe a lost cause, but you chase down the player and push them wider out.

I'm not sure how well he can organise the defensive line and I've seen very little in terms of an attacking threat. He does not bring the ball back from a kick with any great runs.

So for me despite not wanting to move our wingers, I would until Lomax is fit move one of them to fullback.

Defensively Makinson is probably they best full back that could take on that role. We would lose something from the wing position and it's a shame we have lost Percival as Turner would make a winger who could bring the ball back from a kick.

What do you think we'd lose from moving Tommy from the wing?

I'd put swifty fullback until lomax is back.

I'd love Swifty to play full back. he would return the ball much quicker and be very dangerous in open play one on one. His errors are few and far between these days and communicates a lot better with the players around him. Defence wise and positional play he is still far better than Owens, I would put Owens on the wing to take some pressure off him.

The same reasons I'd put swifty fullback. Tommy is pretty much like Owens and dead with the ball on kick returns. Swifty will punish bad kicks.

I spoke about this after the Salford game but the most concerning thing with me for Owens is how often we get our numbers and spacing wrong defensively. While to a degree this is everyone's job, the fullback's main responsibility in defence is organising the defensive line and watching from behind the sticks on Friday, this was an area of the game where we were really poor. The best example is thishttp://i.imgur.com/RqgBOCP.png" >

The whole point of all the moves the top teams run is to create an overlap because someone makes a misread in defence. If we're looking at the prospect of facing a 2 man overlap, despite a slow PTB, before the opposition have even done anything, it's going to be a very long season.

Makinson needs to be fullback until Lomax/McDonnell is back. He's okay at numbering us up, and while Swifty may be good for an extra 10 metres a set on a kick return, consistently getting our numbers right is more important than that.

I think we would lose less putting Tommy to FB than swift.

Tommy has played FB a few times, he is safe under pressure with a high ball. Swift due to his size can get crowded out on high kicks. Swift returns the ball better and can make something from nothing, but he can do that on the wing just as well as he can do at FB.

I also think Makinson has in the past been a good organiser of the defensive line.

Swift would probably chime into the line better than Makinson from FB, but for me Makinson is the better choice at FB in the short term.