it gets my vote.

If you make a compilation of Meli's top five performances in a Saints shirt, I would bet that all five are games in which he has played centre.

Meli and centre and Foster outside him works fine for me.

gets my vote - he is far better at centre

I played centre, stand off and loose forward and take it from me, centre is the hardest position on the pitch to defend.

Its ok saying you've got players inside and out side you but if you can't read the game you will always have problems.

One missed tackle out wide against speedy centres and wingers often results in a try.

Agreed. Meli is just as (if not more) prone of doing something ridiculous in the centre than he is on the wing.
He covered well last night, but I think its a matter of time before his positional defence gets found out. Wheeler's your man for the centre, but let Meli cover there and when he's back.....

Meli for 2nd row! His angles of run combined with his power would give us some excellent penetration. Plenty of chances for big hits without worrying about compromising the line.

2nd row is a terrible idea.

I think you could convice meli he's not been sidelined in the centre's . 2nd row and we may have another viral player in the team. The board have signed him for 2 years on a fair wage, so we don't need any more player disruption at the moment. Time will tell but I think he has not looked that weak in the centre's. I'll bow to a players point of view that it's tricky, but he does seam to perform well there. Maybe it's less focus by the fans on him there and no high bombs or chase backs to deal with.

Think Wheeler will get covering role for all injuries this year. (FB,Winger,CEnter, half back, loose, even 2nd row at a push) He can provide a multitude of cover. He'll get his day just like Roby did.

I think the romance of him in the centre will soon dissapear.

I agree. He, like most of the team, had clearly had a kick up the backside following last week's performance. So he put effort in defensively. However, that isn't usual for Meli. I expect him to soon forget the backside kicking and become his usual self defensively. If that does happen, he should be dropped and Wheeler played instead.

His defence one on one is ok. It's his postional sense that is the worry. When teams move it wide ( like Wigan in grand final and wolves in the playoffs) he's miles out of position.

IMO we should have got shut but as he's still here I think centre is the only postion he can play. He's not fast enough for Wing, can't deal with kicks on the wing and ain't got the fitness levels for a forward and is to lazy

This is what I think. When we come up against one of the above teams, they're going to target him, knowing his positional play is poor.

Twice on Sat he's done Watkins in the centre, which is no mean feat, so there's a good argument to keep him there. If we're to let him have a run there, then we need to straighten his fault out or else, come old trafford, we'll be blaming him again.

For me, his two biggest weaknesses are turning quickly to chase a kick through and catching bombs. Both of which are critical skills for anyone playing on the wing. At centre hes much less exposed by a good kicking game and he gets the ball in hand a lot more, which is a massive plus for the team. 5-10m out from the line, there is nobody else in the team you would want running hard at the line more than Meli.

Meli at left Centre with Foster on the wing is a good shout, purely on the fact we're short there and Gary Wheeler can't seem to string a run of games together.

Complete agreement with "The chief". On the wing his weakness under the high bombs is clear to most opposing teams and so he is logically made a target for the same. He is the exact opposite of Wellens.

If he plays at centre alongside another good centre he should be able to eradicate his positional/defensive weakness. Certainly he is worth persevering with.

Ch.

Ok maybe I'm having 2nd thoughts.

After the hype of Saturday, I've just watched Boot's and all the tries and O'Connor makes a good point. Meli had to make just 5 tackles against a young centre.

Where as Shenton made 22+ tackles against one of the most experienced centres in the game.

Maybe Meli's defence was just not tested as much as it could have been, or should have been.

Although Shenton did let a try in by running out of the line which Meli did not, so who knows.