As mentioned earlier , i think we should look at playing lafranchi in the back row.

I think a pack of

Perry
Roby
Walmsley
Soliola
Lafranchi
Wellens

Bench. Puletua, Manu, Clough, LMS

would take some stopping.

Hmm, it strikes me that Laffranchi is an experienced second-row who has played at prop pretty much every game this season. He's played more games than any other Saints 'prop', off half-back pairings that change almost weekly etc etc. Give that guy a break!!!

He was rested against Salford last week.

I get the feeling it could be little late to be converting Wellens to the pack. He is used to about 12 years of standing around until the last tackle, a modern day smallish backrower needs to be making 30 plus tackles a game. Couple that with the need to get bigger, it is a difficult transition that should have been made 2-3 years ago.

Yesterday was enough for me. He was knackered after 10 minutes and pretty much got injured every time he went near a Wigan forward. For me, he's not physically up to playing at loose forward. I'm sure he'd be willing to give it a go, regardless of getting knocked out every time he went for a tackle, but I'm not sure we should be asking him to.

Is it only me that thinks Laffranchi would be too slow to play 2nd row? Can't help but think teams like wigan yesterday would target him in defence to try and get as many runners at him as possible

Laffranchi has never been a prop, I don't know why we consistently play him there.

I think our pack is overrated by many on this forum. We have no quality in the props bar Walmsley (people think clough played well when his stats are the same as boofs)

Our only pack quality is roby and the back row Samoans but this is negated by the lack of grunt up front.

Prop is an urgent recruitment issue as well as half back

Why put Laffranchi in the second row and leave one of your most potent attacking threats and best offloader (Manu) on the bench? He shouldn't have been signed, simple as that. Averaging out across the sqaud, we are a small pack and consistently get dominated in the middle of the park. TP is the biggest forward in the league but wants to be a wide running back rower, unfortunately, he doesn't do much running nowadays and opposition teams know to move in quickly in him and he is nowhere near as effective.

The idea would be that he would be used as an impact player, maybe?

Manu is a threat with the ball, no doubt about it, but he does make some errors. One of my mates thinks he's a liability, but I think that is a little harsh.

Outstanding stats by Walmesley, looks like a great find.
However he looks like our only prop. Very dissapointed by our alleged senior props.

Don't forget walmsley was returning the ball from the drop outs which have blown up his stats. Not that I'm bagging him, he looks like a great signing, but stats aren't everything. At the end of the season, perry has to go, because he has been consistently poor and can't string any game together netween injuries. TP has probably been our best prop this year, but is old and also picks up too many injuries. Laffranchi is the only prop we can rely on to play the majority of games, and although he isn't a world beater, is a solid pro who should be given another year while we hint for other props and let the likes of walmsley develop. Flanaghan is nothing special. If he's on nothing special wages, I'd be tempted to keep him, otherwise ship him out.

I'd offer Flanagan and Laffranchi new deals. If Perry and TP are both leaving, then it could be tricky to have to replace 4 forwards at once.

Bring in another grafter down the middle and move Boof to 2nd row, allowing Wilkin to GTFO of the halves whilst allowing Wellens to retire gracefully.

Laffranchi played second row in the NRL, so must have been doing something right there. I think if we played him there, he'd play so much better.