rlAs I said, Gaskell and Foster were dropped.rl

They were only injured for one game each (Foster - Wigan; Gaskell - Cas).

I wasn't saying they weren't dropped in the first place, of course they were. What I was saying was they probably would have played last week, had they been fit for the games that we needed them in.

Not that you're backtracking, obviously ...

Forster to get run out.

magennis for perry subs clough forster lms dixon otherwise same as last wk

think he did last night

I thought he had a brilliant debut against Widnes in the cup for such a young lad and the with the death of his grandad.

He played very well last night, he's good good hands, great foot work but has a brilliant attitude, he wasn't just satisfied of just being on the field, he wanted the ball and went inside regular looking for work.

The play where he took the high kick, then stepped thru a few defenders was top class and looked signs of maybe being a good fullback.

Since the premature loss of Eastmond, Gaskell has been forced to shoulder immense responsibility as the only effective playmaking kicker in the team. The plan was most likely to introduce him gradually in much the same way as Lomax & Wheeler. Ideally he should have played no more than five or so games starting with plenty coming off the bench. Instead he ended up playing much of the season and admittedly he performed well. Nevertheless he is still physically underdeveloped and my guess is with Hohaia now available to lend a hand in the halves Rush has reverted back to plan A which I'm sure he thinks will give Gaskell some breathing room before he bulks up in the close season. The kid is arguably our most precious asset so it makes sense to take him out of the pressure cooker for a time and introduce him gradually (and most importantly - fresh) toward the business end of the season.

Foster is an altogether different issue as he doesn't possess anything like the same talent - although he does have tremendous confidence and that in itself is valuable - provided it doesn't get out of control. Right now we need to let Foster mature physically and then evaluate his worth. He does lack pace but he also has the makings of a good centre. His ball skills are good. It's entirely possible he could put on an extra stone and half a yard which would certainly make him a far more valuable asset. Let's remember that neither Wellens nor Roby looked anything special until they fleshed out. Indeed, both seemed certainties for the door.

I honestly can't see foster becoming a first team regular again, he lacks pace and size and doesnt have any foot work so basically he can't beat a man.

I know people will say he's not bulked up yet but neither has makinson, swift, charnley, tomkins etc but they all showed slight signs of doing something.

Hope I'm wrong but that's how I see it.

Eh? How has Makinson showed MORE than Foster? Foster might not possess the greatest footwork but he's a pretty good finisher. He knows how to squeeze into tight spaces and put the ball down. He's also demonstrated superb goal-kicking - as good as anyone I've seen in twenty five years. Those two attributes [ialone[/i put some pretty big numbers in Foster's plus column. Explain what Makinson has done which can be roughly approximated in similar terms?

In any case - you've stacked the deck hopelessly against Foster when you're introducing names such as Tomkins. I mean, who next - Greg Inglis?

Let's be honest here - Foster's problem is not that he makes mistakes (all players do), it's not the [inumber [/iof mistakes (in which case Shenton would be way ahead of him) - it's that he makes [i conspicuous[/i mistakes. If he got to grips with his handling of kicks very few people would be mentioning his name. And there's the fact that he has lots of confidence - which is always a polarising issue for fans.

Are you saintsfans brother?

What the hell has Greg inglis got to do with it? My point when I brought up tomkins (as well as charnley, makinson, swift) is that they wasn't the the biggest of players like foster but looked like they could do something with the ball.

He is a great goal kicker but IMO lacks any attack at all, he's no step, no pace, no size and no power so I can't see him being a saints regular when we've got makinson, Ade, Meli and now swift as IMO they offer more than him and are safer than foster.

Makinson is virtually 100% safe under the bomb, can deal with grubbers and can tackle, sometimes in a seriously impressive way. He's also faster than Foster, although Foster's no slouch either (in spite of this myth that some fans seem to be spouting about him being slow). Makinson has also shown himself to be at least the equal of, if not superior to Foster in finishing skill, the GF try being the top example but there are others too - during one match this season (can't remember which one), he caught the worst of passes off his bootlaces and dived in for a try all in one glorious movement. I'm not sure Foster would have pulled that one off although he might have done. But he doesn't appear to have quite the ball handling ability of Makinson.

I am still hoping to see Makinson as our fullback of the future. I think he has it all, albeit more raw talent at present due to lack of opportunity there. But in the meantime, he should be our starting winger during Gardner's absence as he did more than enough to prove himself worthy of the spot last season and at the beginning of this.

Meli is most definitely NOT safer than Foster. Meli is a permanent accident waiting to happen and, as most people on here were saying prior to the club men takeover recently, Meli was better in the centre. Nay, he was apparently a revelation there until about a month ago!

I'd bet you 2p that foster has give more tries away this year than Meli.

I do agree tho, Meli is always a accident waiting to happen but I feel same way about foster.

Foster now has a point to prove with falling behind Ade, swift, makinson and Meli and in reality is now 5th choice winger. Maybe that will give him a little kick up the backside and if he gets his chance will take it.