I was actually a critic of hicks signing without actually seeing him play - thinking him as being an Aussie here for a final pay day.

I was 100% wrong.

He was one of the finest wingers I've ever seen play in p&b. If not the finest since watching in the 70's. His hat trick at the cc final was unbelievable. Joel with speed. Imagine them 2 or him and john Bevan in this team... Drools. especially with gleeson and King.....

I loved Chris hicks and Henry Fa'afili, Fa'afili did have a lot of help from Gleeson and in the end he played in the centres and was much better. Hicks is one of the best wingers we've ever signed and i had no clue at all who he was before he came over but ended up being amazing

Never forget that try in the semi against Wigan! Will live with me forever

Yup, was probably 07 when penny hit the scene, we had an injury crisis and ppl started getting shifted around, gleeson was playing 6 and 13 and fa'afili moved to centre.

We turned on him partway through his tenure here as he was not turning for kicks and was costing us a la lineham.

He was a quality finisher though, no question.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkCkXWkNVAM ahem , i didn't post this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkCkXWkNVAM ahem , i didn't post this

Great bit of video. It just made me think that for wingers to score tries the team and good players working together to make space are the key.
Solomona this year scored lots of relatively simple tries due to Castleford's back door play usually involving Gale and Luke Dorn ... mind you Solomona is pretty handy. When we had Briers and Gleeson stacked up on the right we scored loads. When Brett Hodgson chimed in we scored on both sides of the pitch out wide.
Kevin Penny would have scored plenty this year playing for Castleford and Lineham would have bagged a few playing outside Briers and Gleeson.

3rd try of that penny hat trick. Be nice to have some pace like that in the side these days

I have always taken the view that the primary task of a winger is to score tries, I think the game is so much poorer now they are expected to be a jack of all trades. The pleasure I got from KP's tries at Knowsley Road far outweighed the mistakes in my eyes, guess I'm just a romantic at heart.
I also thought the treatment of KP by the Saints fans was shameful, they destroyed his confidence and in the process prevented us from seeing what could have been one of the outstanding wingers of our time. But that's just my opinion.

You're wrong, it's not just your opinion, it's mine too.

So it's the fault of St Helens fans that he's not very good at rugby???

Regards

King James

You could well be right with that. What Joel produced with a try a game was an amazing feat, but Hicks imo was amazing to watch ,he was an acrobat who was also a winger.

I think any player that lets opposition fans get to him like that is never going to be a great player.

The likes of Tomkins getting booed by 'England' fans whilst in England duty didn't affect him one jot.

We've given plenty of players stick over the years, and had the boot been in the other foot with Penny wearing a red vee, I dare say the outcome would have been the same.

We need a centre over a winger.

Atkins has signed a new contract so as he doesn't pass so much an expensive winger would be a waste of cap, n we have Lineham on the other wing who if can maintain and progress from his performances in the s8 onwards is fine. So realistically the easiest improvement would be a centre for Lineham

The other wing keep penny n Atkins on that wing hopefully t king can get some game time and look for a winger for king once Atkins retires or moves on.

That leaves Russell for cover on wing or full back unless he can improve and stake a place in the side for somthing other than a scoot.

Centre and wing play iswhat I love about rugby and we have not looked strong in that position for some time so if this rumour is true I hope he is coming in as a right centre I would be a tad more optimistic about our chances of silverware next season if Evans was not at centre. Cannot fault the guys commitment in how he defends and puts in 100% effort but there's no excitement when we move the ball out wide to him like when king or gleeson got the ball there was always the chance they could just do somthing don't get that with Evans, Atkins more but needs to make the easy pass more than try the showboat offload to Russell or penny.

I'm of mixed emotions about Atkins staying I like him and his performance this season certainly Warren another year in my books, but I do believe now could have been the time to give king the centre spot. He will make errors but also must be given the opportunity to learn from them. I think us wire fans have patience for youngsters and support them well whilst they are still developing and also are more forgiving if they make a blooper!