Ball in hand I was impressed by him but his defensive position was quite poor but that can be worked on. His kick off's were poor though he kicks the tee further than the ball and was getting no height atall

With a few more experienced players on the pitch I am sure he would have been helped out in any areas he was lacking. This is why the idea of playing so many inexperienced players together was wrong. Far better to have him in the side alongside the experienced pros rather than having a potentially confidence sapping time of it.

Russell is a talent and is fast and elusive but he has major flaws in his game that worry me. He makes a lot of mistakes and his defence is a worry and these are obviously key flaws at full back where you need to inspire confidence. In attack he is also too greedy for my liking and attacking moves stop dead when the ball gets to him. He still has a long way to go imo.

FB and coping with a high ball should not be an area where it looks like we need coaching in, given the fact Hampo is on the staff, possibly the greatest ever under the high ball

I thought his attack was superb and is a area of his game that is already at Super League level in my opinion.

He is slightly shaky under a high ball but he's only now being introduced into high pressure stadiums and crowds which will take time to get used to.

With regards to his positional play yesterday, I just think he should have taken the pitch in to consideration. The ball was always going to travel further and bounce higher on the i-pitch so maybe he should have been a little deeper for him to attack the ball rather than chase it.

But all in all, he did well.

I don't thonk Russell did too bad defensively. I've just watched the tries and Mellor was involved in about three or four of the missed tackles for the Widnes tries.

The game went away from us with the Mickey Mac substitution in the second half at that point we were 18 points up. I suspect Wane thought it was a good timer to bring Logan Tomkins on, but then that injury to Goulding (never mentioned on the tries show last night, or in the League Express or League weekly) meant a reshuffle and not just a simple change back for the hookers.

Logan and Mellor got run over for the equalising try.

Personally I would have gone with Sam Powell before Mellor as he is more like
Tommy L in terms of defensive ability.

Totally agree on all counts.

I'm more disappointed in letting an 18 point lead slip through woeful defense and only playing for 20 minutes of the match, than I am in Wane's selection of yesterday's team. I don't know whether Mellor and Logan have struggled with defense in the past, but yesterday's effort on Winterstein was atrocious.

I actually thought mellor was pretty good yesterday. A great ball to put tuson through a gap and a very good support player. He seemed to get through alot of defence and widnes definately targeted him. Personally think he looks ready for first team and I would like to see him playing in the same side as tommy and finch.

For his 'try'?

Not the best effort but they did force him to drop it short of the line but sadly it was still given through the sheer incompetence of the officials.

Widnes deserved the result and that slice of fortune but I still can't get my head round it being given. I was dead in line with it about 8 rows up in the east and it was blatant.

Swings and roundabouts though.

In fairness to Mellor he was working his socks off defensively. I think he made 32 tackles during the game. The more he plays the more he'll improve defensively. Powell is definitely better defensively but he's not quick or direct enough to compliment Leuluai or Finch. Mellor had some good touches with ball in hand.

Russell did very well though. He was a bit shaky under the high ball but Sam Tomkins can be like that too. Russell made 175 metres during the game which is more than Tomkins' average.

Yep the try.

I didn't see him drop it personally. But he should never have got within touching distance of the line, but Mellor and Tomkins just weren't physically strong enough to stop him.

Shame about the Lloyd White try also. School boy error both marks retreating to the same side of the ruck.

Probably won't be here next season, Several NRL clubs are chasing his signature

What I was getting at was that if Leuluai wasn't playing then I would have used Powell, however if Finch had been left out then I would have used Mellor.

Those stats for Mellor do look good and he was targeted by Widnes. We commented at half time how well he's done in defence but maybe fatigue caught up with him later in the game.

I see what you mean, although I'd say Finch is a stronger defender than Leuluai, it's just that Leuluai hits harder.
I think both young halfbacks will need games and I also think they'll need to be tried on both sides of the pitch as it can make a big difference to some players.

I hope Wane keeps Mellor in the side or has Powell on the bench against London, so long as the rest of the squad is close to full strength. I'm not sure when clubs are allowed to start negotiating with out of contract players but Wane will need to know what type of player we're looking for in the halves next year, because it seems like we will need to sign one.

Come to think of it, I think you're right in saying that Powell should have played instead of Leuluai. He's a halfback who can play hooker (I'd rather he played there than Logan Tomkins or Carberry) and passes well to his right while I think Mellor tends to look better on the left.