Er... he wasn't. He had a decent mid period of the season, but he was awful at the start of the year and his Grand Final performance was embarrassing.

I don't mind Meli. I'm actually a fan of his game when gets the ball but he had his worst season last year by far. He was badly exposed both defensively and at kicks.

I'm hoping he comes back eager to impress a new coach this year. He's not made a good start considering he's not even here.

I agree Meli was consistantly inconsistant last season.

Is Francis in the last year of his contract? I can`t believe we always have a scapegoat at Saints.

Is he? I wouldn't know, myself. I've only been an active fan since the middle of the 2007 season. But I don't remember anyone else playing on that wing. So how do we know we don't have someone better?

Because DA would've played them when Meli's confidence was as low as a gnat's chuff last season.

Must be a very long way down from that horse of yours Dave.

People keep saying that Meli is the best we have, how do we know this if we do not give others a chance? Persoannly I have not been to any of the pre-season friendlies but reading what others have said that have been then by all accounts Armstrong has had a few decent games, why not give him a chance?

One of the main reasons we cannot compete at international level is due to the fact we have no decent backs because most of the decent backs playing over here are foriegners, and until we start giving some of the youngsters a chance this will never change. We have an academy setup for a reason, so lets use it.

A few decent games in friendlies doesn't mean he is ready to play SL level week in week out.

I think its probably a pretty safe bet that if last season we had had someone more capable Anderson would have played them, same for this season if it looks like someone will be better we have to have faith that Potter will play them and put out the strongest team we have available for that game.

But how do we know this if he is not given the chance?

We don't, but the coaching staff probably have a lot more experiences of when the time is right to start introducing players to the first team and when they are ready - thats why they are coaches and we are fans!

Correct we probably do know less than the coaching staff, but one thing most of our fans know is tha Meli is a liability who costs us more tries than he scores.

A quick Scenario for you, Armstrong or any other Winger that we have comng through plays against Wire, they don't do anything spectacular in attack but in defence are solid and take every kick put their way and don't concede any tries. Said player is then dropped for the Hudds game and Meli plays, he has his usual laid back approach scores a soft try, but then drops 2 kicks conceding 2 tries. Who would you go for in the 3rd game?

You could spend all day coming up with possible scenarios, but at the end of the day they dont show anything and all that shows anything is what actually happens not what really happens.

Meli though has become the new Gardner and whatever he does isn't going to be good enough for some fans, they look for every little error (that with any other player they would hardly notice!) and turn it into a big deal.

Like it or not he is probably going to be first choice next season when fit/available and yet we have fans on here determined to write him off before he has even set foot on the pitch. Yes at times last season he was awful and a liability but at other times he was great for us, infact after Castleford away (where along with most players he was dire) [imost [/i of the time he did more good than he did bad, yes the grand final he was poor but again he certainly wasn't the only one who didn't perform that day.

Potter has a few options open to him so lets wait and see what he does, but unless Armstrong (or another player) shows something exceptionally special I can't see anyone but Meli playing when he is available.

So players not getting picked on Merit is the way forward is it?

Say what you want about people picking out his faults and getting on his back but what the majority of people are saying is the truth, having a couple of good games throughout the season is not good enough. He was poor for about 85% of last season.

Personally I think he will get shown up this year due to not having a specialist centre playing at the side of him.

Point out where exactly I have said that please?

If you read what I said I was very clear in saying that at the moment it appears he is the best we have and unless on of the players like Armstrong shows something special to suggest he is up to making the permanent step to first team now it is highly unlikely Meli will be dropped, or do you want him to be dropped just for the sake of it?

And as for the rest of your post I think you have proved well what I said about people simply not being willing to give him a chance and always looking for fault.

How much more of a chance do you give him? It's fine saying people are writing him off without giving him a chance, but can you really see him improving on his performances from last year with no pre-season training? If his performances don't improve from last year then he does deserve to be dropped, or do we keep him in the team because we are not willing to give an untried youngster a chance?

Wasn't it the Hudd game that Meli played at full back and did so to some praise..... I said it late on last season and believe it to be still viable, the guy is playing on the wrong wing, he is a right handed player playing on the left wing. Yes I know the arguement "professional" "paid to play anywhere" etc, just look at Gardners performance since changing wings (not withstanding the centre's he has had too) and most folk will agree that as good as Willie was he was also greedy with his distribution at times .