So we need another prop, as well as a standoff (and scrum half, potentially).

Huby would be a very good addition, but we'll do well to pull that one off.

What to people think of Phil Joseph? I can imagine he wouldn't cost us the earth, and always seems a decent battering ram when I've seen him.

Signing another prop, say Huby for conjecture's sake, would allow us to field the following pack

Front row of Amor, Roby, Walmsley - with Masoe and Huby from the bench, covered by Richards and Walker
Back row of LMS, Soliola, Manu with Savelio from the bench, covered by Greenwood and Thompson

That's a big pack.

I like Huby - a classic case of a prop maturing late into effectiveness. I remember when I first started watching, people used to say that props don't enter their prime till they're past 30; how times change. I'm less keen on Joseph, who seems championship standard to me. I'd hope Saints have scouts looking at championship clubs to see if there are any big, nasty props - even in the latter stages of their careers, who could come and smash into brick walls at Saints for a bit. I do think prop is a position which can benefit from a bit of the older man's confidence and maturity. It's a rare 20-year-old who has the self-confidence to do what good props do well. That's why James Graham was such a standout.

I think we've already got 4 big powerful props : Walmsley, Amor, Masoe and Savelio. Then we have youthful cover in Beaumont, Forster, Greenwood and Walker. I don't see any reason to play LMS at prop with those options. Give the lad space, and stop asking him to do what he's never really been able to do.

In my opinion he hides when playing at prop - that has nothing to do with his size and everything to do with his attitude. He is perfectly capable of playing there when the team needs him.

Look at his run in the dying minutes at Cas - he simply doesn't have the attitude to apply himself in that way week in week out - he does it when there is some glory to be had rather than when there is hard work to be done.

In short, he lacks ticker.

Fair points. It's strange with him though because I know he's proud to be at Saints.

If everyone was fit, I personally would play him somewhere in the back row. At 13 though he'd still need to up his work rate. He'd still be playing through the middle and he'd be playing in a similar role. The difference being of course that he would 2 props there to help him out. He has a decent pace though and I'm sure he'd look decent playing a bit wider in the second row as well.

Ultimately though sometimes he is needed to do a job as a prop. He just went into his shell in the Wigan game.

He seemed scared, almost intimidated by the Wigan pack's aggression and that I'm afraid is unforgivable for a prop or any forward really. Playing in the forwards is easy when your rolling over a team, real quality stands out in the tough games where teams are going toe to toe with you. LMS is the kind of player I used to love playing against , sus out the weak show pony and then smash them till they disapear, the sad thing is LMS only got smashed once then vanished out of sight. He needs to grow a pair or sod off , we need players willing to do the hard stuff in the hard games