He's doing great. He jumped straight in at the start of the season and hasn't stopped since. I was really glad he got his first try in the red vee last night. I think he put in an 80 minute stint as well, which at his workrate was immense.

All our forwards were poor against Wigan. We missed Laffranchi, who is our best forward by a mile at present.

Swift looks like a good talent, his pace is electric and his step reminded me of Sam Tomkins / Gary Wheeler. Could potentially develop very nicely under Brown and could be the one to replace Wellens at full back in the long term? We shall see, it's early days yet, but he's done well.

Overall, a very professional display from Saints without being outstanding. I don't think we were anywhere near 5th gear, Widnes were just that bad. Our desire to defend was exceptional, summed up when Marsh chipped over Wellens and 3 men chased back to stop him scoring. Meli intercepted the next play and Swift scored from that. The forwards were very keen for work last night and completely dominated Widnes. Two of the unsung heros for me were Clough and Flanagan who I thought were both excellent. Man of the match by a mile was Roby though, the guy is a machine, a definite contender for Man of Steel again on this form.

Overall a satisfying display and with the youth players we have, it's a chance to rest one or two next week against Oldham and give them more of a chance to impress.

LMS played well against Wigan, he was up for it unlike most of our other forwards.

I agree on Laffranchi tho, he looks the part, he's not your tackle breaking prop but his work rate and attitude is top class.

I agree, I don't think we got out of 3rd gear last night but made it look easy but the definitely a change of attitude last night in defence compared to last Saturday.

I posted earlier that Adam swift looks to have the makings of a fullback. Hes safe, fast and has good foot work but his defence is yet to be really tested.

No didnt see any of that meself 'not a standoff.
His passing Is rediculously slow,we have no flow.

Pity we couldn't pair Laffranchi with Jammer. Great player.

To have had Laffranchi and Jammer in the team together would have been awesome.

Does this mean speccies are accepting him as a prop and not just a second rower who is filling in? For me he is doing everything we could expect of any prop other than graham. Top pro and top signing.

We've no option but to accept him as our prop but he's done well and has probably been one of our most consistsnt players this year.

I would hope so. He certainly looks the part!


Totally agree. He's as near a replacement for Jammer as we could hope for.

I think anyone will accept him as a prop if he can do the props job. Same as people don't go on about Jamie Peacock previously being a 2nd rower. Some players can make an effective change of places in a team others struggle in the new role they are asked to play. We are coming close to half a season so if you measure up La Frankis stats with any other prop in the league lets say JP then he's doing pretty well. www.superleague.co.uk/statistics ... eason=2012 More tries, Similar meters in less carries Similar tackles made less offloads slightly more tackle busts a few more penalties but less missed tackles. So when compared to the England Captain and one of our best props, he's doing ok.

I think anyone will accept him as a prop if he can do the props job. Same as people don't go on about Jamie Peacock previously being a 2nd rower. Some players can make an effective change of places in a team others struggle in the new role they are asked to play. We are coming close to half a season so if you measure up La Frankis stats with any other prop in the league lets say JP then he's doing pretty well. www.superleague.co.uk/statistics ... eason=2012 More tries, Similar meters in less carries Similar tackles made less offloads slightly more tackle busts a few more penalties but less missed tackles. So when compared to the England Captain and one of our best props, he's doing ok.

Perry is that prop, or at least so his reputation would suggest. Having said that we haven't has a prop in that mould for many a year. Who was the last big aggressive prop we had? Fogerty? Davidson? Fozzard?