Smith will make minimal changes to a winning side.

Briers to 6, Grix to bench, Vinnie goes despite a decent little stint last night.

VAnderson having a good game was the biggest shock of last night.

And whilst I am thinking on (he hasn't had much credit) just how good was Westwood last night? The man is a machine.

Was going to say how about Briers on bench?
Grix and Myler are playing well but when Lee would come on he's pick everyone up, the players AND crowd.

Good point indeed. This could prove beneficial as like you say it would give the players a boost and us fans. Maybe bring him on after 15-20mins.

Briers and Myler are our 6 and 7, and if both fit, they both play IMO.

I like Grix, but I do think he is more of a 13 or a utility. He covers ok at 6, but I think we would have won the game a lot earlier last night with Briers in the squad.

Look at the ball that Solomona put out to King. That is the kind of thing Briers does for fun, and whilst Grix can do the basic stuff that has been practised, he is more of a runner than a bit of magic player.

Mathers at 1, although I wouldn;t be too concerned about Riley being there.

Briers at 6. He has played well against Saints loads of times, and we have never lost games against Saints because of Lee Briers.

Must keep Myler at 7. If you make a break, you need to finish them off against teams like Saints, and he is the most likely player to be in support like last night.

Higham at 9. Thought Monas was very poor in his first spell last night, and Higham has earned his spot, let Monas come off the bench.

Grix at 13.

Harrison on the bench.

Vinnie and Riley to miss out, although both very unlucky.

You thought Higgam outplayed Monas last night? One swallow and all that.

I rate Higham, but having Monas on the bench isn't particularly a criticism of him. I thought when he came back on later on he looked much better, and I'm coming round to the way of thinking that he can be devastating against a slightly tired defence rather than having him on at the start having to do the defensive work against the props running at their strongest.

I think Higham is the less dynamic of the two (despite his outstanding break for Myler's try) and would rather he did the hard graft early on.

What I would say about Monas first stint last night is,

1. The PTB was insanely slow, hence the penalty count which doesn't help 'what he does'.

2. The wind was unreal, some of the passing looked woeful, but I think the wind was actually a factor in the passing, especially first half, whether that was the way it was blowing, or sides getting used to it, but it was weird watching how poor some of it was.

I'd start Monas all day long. Last night I'm with you, first stint cack, second stint superb whilst Higham was consistant through his duration. All that said, Monas offers you an option to kick from dummy half, which at Saints could be crucial, ie, he's got a 40/20 in him like. If Briers is fit, this is less crucial, granted.

Monas is special. He points to a gap, then just waltzes through it, insane.

that was something we picked up on last night as well, a lot of the passing looked really shocking, certainly from DH and first receiver, quite a lot ending up over the shoulder, i thought we should have dropped the ball more considering.

I knew it was a strong wind like, the lad who I was with, his hair almost moved.

ing ell, i bet he didn't like that.


mincer.

I think the reason I was so disappointed with Monas is because his performances have been so good at 9 that we were really weakened by him being off the boil.

As he went off, it was like his impact had been wasted. Not sure if I'm making sense, but I think in every game you will get one or two flashes of brilliance from him, and to see him being replaced without delivering anything was a bit of a downer, and I'm sure would have been a boost to the Bulls. Fortunately for us Higham came on and delivered that bit of class.

I like the thought of the game being tight, after half an hour when the players are getting a little tired, and then the Saints defence looking up and seeing Monaghan coming on. That said, if he does two spells like last night, that same impact can still be had, albeit much later in the game.

leave monas starting ,higham off bench its working and the team winning ,dont change things that work right now

I was thinking about that when I typed my first post on this thread. I am saying we should make 3 or 4 changes, and tbh, I stand by that, although in the past I would have gone with your approach.

I think we need to make changes, keep things fresh and try different things. We can't just do the same as last night and expect the same results. As long as the nucleus of what we do remains the same, changes like this, and having Harrison coming off the bench could be a really good move and freshen up the team.

Smith seems to be a coach who is happy to make changes, so it will be interesting to see what he goes with.

Did carvell get a knock last night didn't come back on did he?