Lomax went off on Friday right after he'd had a knock, but I think it was a tactical substitution, so was coming off anyway. He also wasn't getting any treatment when he got back to the bench, so it couldn't have been that bad.

Have we heard any news to say he'll be available/unavailable for Sat?

I'm not usually in favour of bashing coaches and I am still far from calling for his head. As a rule I think that coaches should only be sacked in the off season, or when the season is more or less already over.

However the only person who can impliment solutions to our current situation is the coach.

The loss was not a great shock, Quins are a decent outfit at the moment. The shock is the 16 -0 , 18 - 0, 20 - 0 scorelines against Wigan, Wire and Quins.

It's only been by pure fortune that we have had 2 poorer sides inbetween these games to keep us going.
Eastmond may or may not be trying, but it's common consensus that he is being ineffective. I certainly would not put him out to pasture unless they can pay him off and get a replacement. But 3 or 4 weeks training and slow reintroduction may do the player, team and fans the world of good.

I can't believe Gaskell is getting hammered by some fans already. He is a prospect, but just that at the moment, with his senior partner being ineffectual for what ever reason, it seams some fans are expecting 30year old sean Long performances from a player who probably expected anothe year of maybe 1 or 2, 10 min appearances.

When Long joined the team, he had Goulding, hammond, and Martyn before him and he was allowed to make mistakes without being the crucial element in the team. He would come on and run wild without the responsibility to organise the team and kick. And when Long joined he was no junior.

The Foster experiement has failed and it's time for Simmons to move on and return to 3 forwards and a replacement hooker on the bench. Foster to wing , meli to centre where he can run effectively but not have to make defesive choices that he's not been able to do for 5 years.

The forwards are not offloading or spinning in the tackle, this is for the training ground, also support players, where are the runners off roby's shoulder when he does get his head through??? Usually 10 - 15meters behind him.

Wilkin at loose has been a good coaching choice in my opinion, but when he was injured the coach should have not put or major impact prop at loose. He is not a kicker. Should have been moore, or lomax or even megenis.

Given the injuries I was expecting a close game, and possibly a quins win, but I was not expecting another 40mins of ineefectual play from Saints.

Good first post, agree with all of that.

Wilkin's injury is a bigger blow than people realise.

His work running off the ball was something we missed a lot on Friday. All the players should be doing it, but I know wilkin puts the graft in for this department.

awaits st pete ......

I will say this once and only once!

I think wilkin has looked better this year and more like the old wilkin.

Let's move on now!

sorry mate couldnt help myself

The major difference being that Wilkin had far better players around him in 2006.

It was much easier to be Jon Wilkin in 2006 with the ridiculous pack we had the, than to be Jon Wilkin since.

Can I just point out one other minor flaw in your crusade? In 2010, compared to 2006, Jon Wilkin:

- Scored more tries per game
- Had more assists per game
- Made more metres per game
- Carried the ball more per game
- Made more tackles per game
- Missed fewer tackles
- Made more offloads per game
- Bust more tackles per game
- Made more clean breaks per game

Just a minor point.

Ahh, the "(insert saints player name here) is only good because of the players around him" line, it been a while

I can see Joel Tomkins going the same way mate

Christ! I even get slated when I praise wilkin.

Think il stick to just slagging him off then.

I think the people who are hammering Gaskell are those who are either clueless about how rugby league is played or they don't care! Gaskell is showing a lot of courage, commitment, maturity and skill. He is raw and his mistakes are bound to be significant given the unfortunate position he has been placed in by partnering Kyle Eastmond. However, I sincerely hope he is receiving encouragement and guidance not just from the coach but also from senior players so that his confidence is not jeopardised. I also hope that Simmons continues to keep him playing in the first team as during one of these matches we could see him click and really kick on, much like Foster did during last season.


By doing this though you are asking for a wholesale change around in the team should one of the backs get injured. We had enough of that last season. The players have openly said in the local press that they want to play in one position. We have already seen how well Wilkin has responded to that. Such a shame he is injured as he was crucial to us, especially in the absence of Pryce.