In Powell we trust.

But Chris Riley (and Rhys Williams for a season) scored a lot of tries playing outside him and they weren't beneficiaries of the Briers bombs in the way that Hicks, King and Monaghan were.

Didn't Hodgson (& then Ratchford) do the majority of their attacking work on that side of the pitch?

Really pleased with the way these 2 players are looking.

Holmes always seems to play well in the big games and stands up to be counted when it matters.

Matautia looks a really good centre. Strong and solid.
Percival didn’t get a look in last night. Doesn’t take a backward step and best of all,
always ready to be first in when a bit of biff looks likely.

Matautia doesn't seem to like that little grub Bentley, so he has gone up in my estimation.

Holmes is having a great season, particularly in attack where he's always gone under the radar for me a bit until now. The footwork to turn Coote inside out was sublime and he's got some engine on him too.

INOUT

Agree. Thing is he does his best work in that left-second row position, so is he slotting in there and where does Currie go?

It's easy to see why Powell rates Mata'utia but I wasn't sure about Holmes at first. Since he signed I've watched him more closely and the more I see the happier I am. He's worked with Powell for a long time at Cas so I imagine part of the reason for bringing him is that he understands the coach and will help in getting the message across to the other players. He seems to put in a big shift every game and I've no doubt that he will improve our back row.

I few pieces of the jigsaw still to be put in place but recruitment is looking pretty good for next season.

My only worries is they won't improve, both have been under the same coach for a good few years so my guess is he has already brought the best out of them where as mamo at centre improve each game and could improve so much more under a new coach

I like Mamo as he offers something different on and off the pitch and at 27 he should be in his prime so Mata'utia has it all to do for me, more so than Holmes who I've always rated (that's a kiss of death then to his Wire career).

I suppose we will get to see whether Mamo improves under a new coach, just not here.

I’m in the “don’t want Mamo to go so his replacement had better be obviously better” camp!

But Mamo has gone so we’ve got to move on.

With Matautia what you don’t get is the length of the field tries which I suppose creates a bit of excitement and he possibly doesn’t score enough for a centre.
What you do get though is a Samoan centre who to me doesn’t like taking a backward step, good under the high ball and strong defensively. He creates more tries for his wingers and lastly in big games when wannabe ‘ hard men’ like Bentley last night was trying to stamp his authority on the game with little elbows into faces after initial contact Matautia is first in looking after his mates.

That was my long winded way of saying he better hit the ground running or I’ll moan more than the average Saints fan does about the ref after a defeat.

They both look the part, Holmes is a lot more than just solid and matautia is a proper out and out centre. Both of them seem to have a good attitude and work rate, I think they will fit in well and improve the first team.

As much as I love Mamo he isn't a centre, He has gone alright there and I do think we will miss having him in the squad but matautia looks like a good signing to me.

I’d hope Currie would stay where he was, Holmes is an improvement on Hughes, but Currie is ahead of him IMO, so should stay in his favoured spot.