This

You are so wrong, wrong, wrong.
Remember how good he was against the pies last year at 6 until Tommy L did the very late dirty tackle on him which knackered his shoulder. If that hadn't happened, we would have won the game and he would now be our first choice no 6. The goons were terrified of him.

I can only take the word of my nephew who played with him and most of the other young lads in the brook team and always told me that gary was far better and had more potential than lomax, gaskell or foster - a fact acknoledged by all of them (except jamie!!).

I have said this before and will say it again - he will play for england by the time of the world cup (subject to no serious injuries!) - probably at centre as he will not now be given a half back role unless we get (and I pray that we don't), long term injuries in those positions.

A word about Dicko - he is a friend of my mate's family and was apparently very unhappy about royce last year.
I am told he thought royce just didn't like him and wanted shut. Personally I think royce has had the desired effect on him and he is a whole lot better having lost a bit of bulk and increased his speed and mobility without losing strength. Again, he is known to my nephew who thought he was a skully type player in his teens e.g. running to the line on the arc at speed. like a lot of young guys he then bulked up a bit too much and lost speed; he now seems faster and a better shape than last year.

This is nonsense. You're taking, what, fifty minutes of ONE match he played (admittedly well) in and then arguing that [ithat [/iperformance is in itself sufficient evidence to prove he is a) a genuine stand off and b) Saints' future stand off.

Let us pretend for a moment he wasn't injured in that game. We win and Royce selects him for the next ten matches at stand off where he performs poorly. Where is your theory then?

It's ridiculous to judge a player off what isn't even a full game. Using the same reasoning I could introduce a whole cavalcade of failures - from John McAtee to Scott Moore - and embarrassingly argue they should have had long-term careers at Saints on the strength of 80 minutes (or less).



Potential and actuality are two different things entirely. A player with enormous potential does not mean a player with enormous ability (and vice versa). Saints fans shouldn't need to be reminded of this.



I hope Wheeler does play for England. Why wouldn't I? But he'll never win an England shirt simply because I [ihope[/i or [ibelieve[/i he will. Gary has to do that all on his own - which means delivering the goods consistently at a high level. Something he has struggled, so far (for all manner of reasons - many of which can be attributed to bad luck), to achieve.

Sorry, but he has also played in that position for parts of other games and has done well. It's fine pretending but why are you using a silly non-example - if he (or anyone) played poorly at stand off for 10 matches, why on earth would Royce still select him and why on earth would I still be advocating him to still be selected in that team? If he was playing poorly he would obviously be dropped?



I am not judging him off that game alone. I am exposing a theory that a player who has played in that position for most of his youth and at U18's and U21's MAY actually be quite good at it. I'm also saying that if he hadn't got injured in that game (and also not been injury prone generally) then there is a good chance IMO he would have retained the no 6 (gaskell had some doubters at the time and was not a stitched on first choice no 6 then). I am confident that if that had happened he would have made a very good fist of it and quite possibly made the position his own.

As we all know, it didn't happen and gaskell is the no 1 choice, so gary has to make a case for building his career in a position which was not his natural position. In all honesty he will just be so pleased and proud to be in the team playing anywhere he is put.
I'm sorry you don't agree with my opinion and speculation but I won't hold it against you.

These young lads have all done great over the last couple of years. I am sure over the season injuries and suspensions etc will kick in and they will all get their chance. Realistically I think Royce does not really know his best back line yet and there will be a bit of experimentation in the games against the lesser sides.

It is a great position to be in, to have Gaskell, Lomax, Lance, Wheeler all capable of playing in the halves. It was only two years ago that we were having to borrow matty smith back for the playoffs!!. Competition for places is fantastic and it will keep everybody on their toes. For some reason I feel quite confident that we can have a good season this year and I have not felt that way for a few years.

What i would say is, If I was Meli I would be very nervous about my place in the team at the moment!!!

Dixon did have a very good game but did grab a bit when chasing down kicks. He looks like he has picked up his game. Royce said in the match summary on the saints website that he told Dixon to up his game at the end of last year. I can see the Joynt comparisons with Dixon, people forget that Joynt started as a free running second rower and did not have a high work rate early in his career. It is a shame we cannot send Dixon to the Newcastle Knights in the off season to toughen him up.

Regarding Flannerys place in the team, I am sure that if Maggenis, Dixon and even Hale have good years then there will be no need to keep him on for next year. I am sure that if Dixon (and Ashurst) had played better last year then he would have nailed down his spot and Flannery would have been released. On the basis of what he did do letting Flanno go would have been a brave, i.e. foolish, move.

Wheeler did look good in the first half but the tactics resulted in him not getting a lot of ball in the second. It would have been good if he had gone into the centre of the field and looked for work like Gardner does. I would like to see Royce continue his rotation and give Shenton, Wheeler and Meli equal time in the centres assuming they all stay fit.

Makinson is a good goal kicker but is obviously out of practice. Foster needs to work on his defence and getting to balls on the ground. Makinson at the moment is the more complete player. Percivals goal kicking was amazing in the preseason game at Oldham and he already looks good enough to play in the first team. In a year or two he could be putting Foster under some real pressure for his place.

Gaskell had a great second half. Our halfbacks cannot win sometime, Lomax passed most of the time and got accused by Cullen for not taking the ball to the line and Gaskell runs the ball more and gets accused of being greedy.

^


What he said.

I don't see why Gaskell can't play centre. Other than being a good kicker, his game play would easily transfer to being a top centre. IMO Wheeler at 6, Gaskell at 4 would be a good option.

And what she said

O er missus

I've no doubt wheeler is a good stand off and no doubt Gaskell could make a decent centre but having wheeler and lomax in the halves for me won't work as I don't think lance with either wheeler or lomax won't work.

Lance, wheeler and lomax are runners, they like to take the line on but Gaskell is a ball player as well which means IMO Gaskell has to stay stand off.

I think Friday night showed that lomax may not be a scrumhalf, he didn't have a bad game but he runs far to often for me when it needs to move wide, he's stepping back on the inside instead of moving it wide.

If you saw finch and lulu move it wide against leeds you could see they ate natural halves with good quick hands.

I'm not bagging lomax as I think he's a massive talent but I'm not sure just what his best postion is.

This option crossed my mind after the games played so far. I don,t think Royce really knows how to structure the back line.
Lomax, Gaskell and Lance are too similar with the exception of Gaskells kicking game.
3 seasons ago Wheeler was destined to be our No 6 and over that period due to his and the teams injuries has been played out of position.
What I have noticed is Lomax looking a bit lost in his role play, especially when Lance and Gaskell are trying to run the plays as well.
Royce needs to sort the situation out quickly before the big close games come up.