No, he played at full back with Gardner going off and Makinson to the wing. We did a fair bit of rotation so he may have played at hooker at some point, but I didn't notice it. He did run out of dummy half a few times and cause problems though so I see that being an option at some stage in the season.

I liked the look of lance at fullback, he looked more at home there and Gaskell looked more at home at 6 so wello IMO has a real fight on his hands with lance and makinson possibly going to fullback.

Jane foster looks to have carried his poor form at the back end of last year in to the year, hes a accident waiting to happen and total liability under any high kick. He's going to have a busy time under the high ball this year.

Gaskell actually came on in the centre for Meli to start with before moving to stand off and changing the game.

Gaskell is a must for us at halfback!

The good thing is that we have a couple of months to work out our best team before we start getting to the really important matches. The other good thing is that we are choosing from a position of strength, we have great options in the backs, we aren't scratching about trying to find a combination that may work, given a bit of luck. We also have players like Lomax, Gaskell, Makinson, Shenton, Wheeler, Ashe and possibly Jane(!) who will be our backline for the next decade. If they do gel we can focus our attention, and overseas quote on filling the slightly more problematic prop position. All in all, we are in a far stronger position than 12 months ago when we were scouring the world for any half back to fill the yawning gaps at 6 and 7.

True.

Ashe looked good again last night.

How did Flanagan play last night?

Forgot he was playing

Wow, as well as that!

At the moment it actually seams a simple task for royce as the players are making the choice for him. It would be trickier to fit everyone in if they all played well or were all appauling.

FB lance -Wellens is injured and as so will have to bid his time and earn his spot back

Gardner /Foster - These are the two weaker wingers so its up to one of them to grab a spot. If both turn out to be dodgy Royce also has the option of moving meli over and putting wheeler in that centre once shenton is better. Not to mention Ashe could offer up a wing option.

So at the moment two years for foster and an extention for gardner seams to have been a very good idea.

Makinson is clearly a first choice on the sheet so gets a wing spot.

Shenton when fit will move wheeler. but wheeler could move meli too.

Lomaskell to continue. If lomax is injured. Moved lance forwards and wellens to FB. ifGaskell is injured Wheeler gets his chance as he has a kicking game too.

Simples

Or back on planet Saints, we will pick up a handbag full of injuries, and will be digging through the under 20s to find anyone capable of pulling on a jersey!

That was part of the point though in the backs we have alot of depth. with four options for fb. five at half back before we need to resort to wilkin. five wingers before we start needing the likes of wheeler or gaskell to do a job there. our weakest position is probably centre. But thats the case across the league.

second rowers we have a plentiful supply of.

So there should be no issue getting a kicker in the halfbacks.

prop depth will depend on if la frank can do a job there. if megennis can do a role. other wise we look a little shalloow there with no big work horse like graham.

He was ill, according to Twitter.

After last night I'd probably go with a backline of this, when all fit:

6. Lance Hohaia
2. Ade Gardner
3. Michael Shenton
17. Gary Wheeler
21. Tommy Makinson

20. Lee Gaskell
7. Jonny Lomax


I now think Gaskell has to play after seeing the kicking game of Jonny and Lance. Lance looks a real attacking threat and should be included at Full Back whilst Jonny needs time to be allowed to progress. Makinson simply has to be in the team somewhere and for me he will slot in nicely on the wing at the moment. Wheeler showed some slight hints at what he can do yesterday, nearly broke through a couple of times and should eb given a chance to expand on that with some game time. I'd give the other centre spot to Shenton and Meli would miss out for me as I don't think he offers as much all round as the other two. Then its the Jamie / Ade debate and for me Ade is a far safer option, I don't think I can remember him making a glaring error in years. Makinson and Lomax can both kick goals so Jamie shouldn't be kept in on that point alone.

Gardner a safer option than Foster? In what aspect?

I'd bin Gardner myself, he isn't better than Foster in any aspect of his game, but is 30 rather than 20.

Gardner has survived this long because we've never had a youth player come through that's been good enough to oust him, in Foster, Makinson and Ashe we've now got 3.