I think "Pessimistic Pete" would agree he did a little more than alright, Barba showed some nice touches, very smart player seemed to be communicating well with his half backs and hooker.

Hang on a minute. I've not called Barba bad player and I've stated I'm big barba fan and I think He Will come good NEXT year.

Answer these questions

Is barba unfit ?
Did he deserve to walk straight in team?
Did he play poor against Wigan and Wakefield?
Did he look slow in the two games?
Was he poor under the high ball?

I was stating facts.

But the problem is Pete you never mentioned.

Does he look better with the ball ?
He is linking up better ?
Is his passing game better ?

The problem is. If we was flying high top of the league i would agree with you leave him out. But the fact is the majority of the team including Lomax have let this team down this year. None of played well enough consistenly so yes they deserve to be droped or move for someone who is capable of world class performances.

If James Graham was in his pomp at Saints would you give him injections and strap him up for a game we need win, or would you not play so Greg Richards can start ?

Were in desperate need and no coach or club with a brain cell between them would not play Ben Barba its as simple as that

He's shown glimpes of what he can do with ball but certainly nothing to say he's still world class . He s doing nothing more than hardavker or Tomkins can do. His kick returns are poor at the moment but lomax been like that since his injuries


I don't think he has linked up the play as good as jonny lomax so far to be honest.. Jonny is very very good at linking the play and being the 3rd pivot

His passing game has been very hit and miss. The threw two awful passes against hudds and few more against Wigan and one resulted in gildart try.

In summary he was awful against Wigan, very poor against wakey and had decent game against hudds..yes massive improvement against hudds but let's not kid ourselves that it was the Ben barba show and was world class.

Like I said, I think he will be a good signing for us if he gets fit but can't make excuses for him because of his name..

He's getting there seems to be improving in every game, his try was what we are going to see, he skinned Leeming for pace and it was Leeming who chased Grace down in the 1st half. I,m not sure if I agree totally about his passing game, he takes the ball up right up to the point of the tackle and releases, a few of our players are not ready for that kind of stuff, Morgan in particular has over run on a couple of occasions and is taking the ball behind his shoulder.
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Our support play when Barba is around needs to be smarter, he now seems to be communicating with Roby and Richardson to open up play in the attacking line, so hopefully there is some growth in understanding there.

It seems barba is excellent and the rest of the team are miles Beihind him? He has half decent game against hudds a team with nothing to play for and it's like who was jonny lomax .

He did throw bad passes and can't blame anyone else. I remember lomax first game after about 12 month out and half on here wanted shut and he went on to me Wayne Bennett fullback for England. Obviously your name goes along way in st Helens.

Yes we all want barba to be the best player in super league but he's got to be treated like the rest

Has a half decent game against the worst team in the super 8s and the saints fans are ejaculating. Lol
Totally agree with St Pete here

Regards

King James

And we don't agree on much I might add.

But where was Lomaxs decent games agaisnt the worst side in the super 8's earlier this year ?

I dont think ive seen Johnny make 1 clean break this year against anyone nevermind 2 in a match.

And i'm not knocking Lomax im glad we've moved him to 6.

Season doesn't start in super 8s. You have to play to get into them. I for one, don't think lomax and fages deserve the treatment they been getting.

You could argue, when did lomax drop as many kicks as barba?

Did you see the hull game at home? Lomax couldent catch a cold that night. It's irrelevant. We have a world class player just enjoy him whilst he is here. The club and Holbrook think the same way as me. That's all that matters.

Lomax Is shining at 6 passing needs improving but his getting in more dangerous positions than he did from full back. Johnny's body is shot he needed taking away from full back.

Anyway no point keep harping on about it. You have you opinion and I agree with the club.

It does for Barba though, Holbrook has thrown him in the deep end when he perhaps should have left Lomax and Fages were they are and gradually give Barba increasing game time from the bench.
Holbrook has took a gamble and has just about got away with it, Lomax and Barba should now be getting familiar in there playing roles. Fages now on the bench is a causality in all of this but at least in the 17 and Matty Smith isn't.
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I don,t think Barba has dropped all that many kicks, in the Wakey game he failed on 4 kicks, 2 of those were the standard drop ball, 1 was a failed competing in the air ball and the other 1 he just failed to get into position expecting Grace to do the take.
Not sure if he dropped any kicks in the Wigan and Huddersfield, the Superleague seem to back those facts up in the stats.
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It looks as though Barba, Lomax and Richardson is the combination he is going to stick with, hopefully that will put us in the play offs, we will just have to wait and see.

I will enjoy him when he puts in performances that justify his salary.

What happened to you championing our home grown players? Poor jonny done nothing wrong and he's out of position

We,ve been crying out for a top class full back for about 5 years, now we,ve got one with world class ability I don't see why he should be judged by his salary.

I would feel pretty confident that an 18 game Barba would benefit the team more than an 18 game Lomax, on the attacking front he is already chewing into the stats of Lomax on clean breaks, tackle busts and offloads and is already halfway on these values on just 3 appearances so far.

Barba will improve in defence and more importantly kick returns, Lomax is smart but is going slower, so maybe operating at 6 is the better for the team overall once Holbrook gets the pivots operating with understanding.

spot on.