Nope and I hope robes isn't as bad as they think either.

You have to wonder what impact this will have on Lomax. If it is as bad as is being talked about, that will pretty much be two years of football he will have missed...

He'd lost pace from his last injury. That's not me noticing from the stands but its a fact.

It was just a question of when Lomax's leg was going to go again. Every tackle he's so careful to get up and he's stretching the leg constantly. As Pete has said above he's lost some pace too. That's why I think we should look to replace him.

I think we could struggle to score in this game. Considering they defended well against the best attacking team in the league it could be a long night for us.

It is noticeable, there have been a couple of breaks this year which I'd of expected him to finish but has got caught. Just before the Wellens try is the obvious example.

So what's the worst case scenario?

Wellens
Dawson Turner Jones Swift
Burns Wilkin
Amor Hohaia Walmsley
Greenwood Vea
LMS

Masoe Richards Thompson Hand

? Or are there more than that?

I take no pleasure in saying this but I agree. A top class fullback should definitely be towards the top of our shopping list now, irregardless of how long he is going to be out for.

He simply isn't dependable now and without that speed off the mark that he had, he suddenly becomes an average full back. There's also huge doubts about his defensive positional sense too.

I am not writing his Saints career off but fullback is a position we need to be seriously looking at.

He just needs to get fit surely.

How much of a pre-season did he get once he had recovered from injury. I think it's always the simple answer to replace someone, but players can come back.
I think Kevin Penny should be an example to all players about what getting your head down and working hard can achieve.

Kevin Penny is a completely different situation. He had to go away and work on his game and improve in various areas.

The situation with Lomax is about his fragility and his durability which is a much harder thing to work on and improve.

When players Lose that initial speed off the mark which as a player they rely on like lomax then it does become a problem.

It's not a case of just getting fit to get that natural speed back as injuries can take it away permanently.

Sean long lost that pace off mark he had which made him change the way he played. He was no longer the break maker and try scorer but he adapted to a more of ball playing 7 than the runner he was.


Lomax has the sort of mentality to adapt and he's a clever lad so this is hope. If that's as a fullback I don't know.

Could he play the utility role lance plays next year? He can cover fullback, halves and hooker.

Never thought of him as a hooker. But I can see the logic.

If we are going to lose Walsh next season and when Lomax finally gets back to fitness, maybe as suggested he should be brought back into the halves if young Hewitt is still not ready.
It seems Lomax injuries the majority of the time are as a result of high impacts be it running the ball out or defending against a player at speed.
Maybe we should bring him back into the game as a ball player, he can still wrong foot players at close quarters, at the moment he is still only 25 so we still have a few years to decide on the better options ..........when he becomes available of course.

We are missing:

Grix
Myler
Rhys Evans
England
Toby King

And possibly missing:

Monaghan
Harrison

Evans and England wouldn't be in your 17 anyway and who is Toby King?

Monaghan and Harrison are both rumoured to be back this week as well.

Lomax, Walsh and Roby missing for us is pretty drastic. It'll take another brave effort to get a win. I'll not be overly concerned about a loss given all our creative players are out. If we did win it would shut up the people who doubt our pack.

Rhys Evans was in our starting 17 prior to his injury & was given the number 2 shirt, since he has been injured Matty Russell has played on the wing and been a revelation. Anthony England could well be in our starting 17 off the bench, Toby King is a up and coming Centre from our 19s. He got his jaw broke against Wigan under 19s a few weeks a go.

It would not surprise me at all if James Roby played this Thursday.

Ironically Wheeler will be fit.

Will he? He wasn't on Friday. He had a calf injury.

Evans certainly would be in the 17.

I agree though that your losses are terrible. Whilst they are not as important to us, the equivalents for us would be Ratchford, Myler (out anyway) and Clark. We would struggle with those three out.

Why don't we just sign another good half for next year if no Walsh?

Historically, having home grown talent in the halves gives you stability and a good chance of longevity in success. If you look at early Saints, Bradford, Leeds and partially Warrington they have managed more consistency in the silverware department.

Changing you half backs every season with short term overseas players is not ideal, I think Hull KR, Wakefield, Catalans etc for example is not a recipe for success.

It would just be nice to have two proper halves on the pitch regardless of where they from.

True, when we eventually get Walsh + Burns playing at the same time is this the first overseas 6 and 7 for Saints.

I like your optimism in using the word "when".

It would indeed, it would be amazing if we could keep a halfback pairing for a few years though and finally get some stability

In a ideal world we should have had eastmond and Gaskell as our halves for 10 years but things happen.

I'd just be happy to get walsh on the field playing with burns for a long spell this year and then next season also.

Burns had carried us really well in the halves this year and he's not been able to play his usual running game.

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In a ideal world we should have had eastmond and Gaskell as our halves for 10 years but things happen.

I'd just be happy to get walsh on the field playing with burns for a long spell this year and then next season also.

Burns had carried us really well in the halves this year and he's not been able to play his usual running game.