He was stinking the place out at 7 at the beginning of the year though.

I agree the move of Wilkin to 13 is better for him and the team, I'd possibly bring Hohaia back to play alongside GOB to play the running role (which is his game really) or possibly one of the U20s? Our major issue is the end of the loan period though.

That's fair enough

He was stinking the place out but that was with hohaia and Gaskell with him in the halves. If we play O'Brian at #7 and wilkin at #13 it gives jonny a free role and not got the pressure of having to ball play like early in the year.

Doing it this way gives us two good halves which has been a big big problem. It allows wilkin to get back to playing a more complete game of actually running those lines he's famous for.

As already mentioned the first half performance with the ball was very good. We were far more adventurous and constantly looking to offload. We came up with some delightful moves and given the possession we had, we should have been 30+ up at half time. I wouldn't read too much into it as Bradford put absolutely no effort into the game and were just going through the motions.

The second half was a complete shambles really. When Roby went off everything completely collapsed and we looked farcical again. It was a real worry that with 15 or so to go, we were only 6 points ahead in a game we would have been leading by 50 or 60 had we shown more composure. Our goal line defense is appalling still, Bradford scored with pretty much every one of their rare spells in our 20.

Standouts are the usual suspects (Of late) really. I thought Willie Manu was the man of the match, he was superb. Sia put himself about and Roby was superb, back to his usual self. J-Lo looked bright and spritely, showing absolutely no sign of his injury. I have to also give a big nod to Jordan Turner, who had his best game for us. I've been critical of him, particularly his defense, but he was solid as a rock today and looked very dangerous today, making several half breaks. He seemed very motivated today, determined to prove himself. I'll take the credit for that.

What annoyed me was Paul Wellens playing. I would love to know what hold he's got over the club and why he can't be dropped. He pretended to play fullback in the first half but did absolutely nothing. He was then playing a mix of centre and half back in the second half and was anonymous there too. His stats at fullback will have been something like metres made 0, tackles 0, missed tackles 2. He didn't do much more in the halves either.

Most people have pretty well written us off as contenders this year, and there was a post earlier this week saying we should have an immediate clear out. Taken against that background, I would say brown is abdolutely right to try different combinations and find out what his best formation is. Lomax is still a bit if an enigma, he is best at full back, but the team did best with him in the halfs? This is the sort of thing brown needs to work out, so that next season we hit the ground running.

I think the pleasing thing about today was how threatening we looked and that was a complete contrast to Monday night. That has to be down to Lomax's inclusion and although we all want him at FB, I thought he was equally as impressive from the position he was playing today, virtually a FB in the attacking sense. I'm happy with him playing that role for the remainder of the season as it gives a far better balance to the team IMO.

I thought Manu was exceptional yet again, as was Turner who was rightly moved back to centre. LMS is starting to make good yards too and that is good to see as he has been garbage so far. Obviously Roby was great too - unsure why he was taken off really and that seemed to change the flow of the match.

I also thought Meli was great today and looked very dangerous and his kick returns were a big part of why he impressed me. Compared, in that respect, and his overall wing play, to Gardner it is clear who we SHOULD be offering a contract to.

Negatives: I thought Soliola was quiet today, as was Walmsley. Those two have been impressive this season and probably our stand-outs, yet they looked ordinary today. Walmsley took that knock so in that respect it is understanable, but I'm not sure why Soliola was quiet? I also thought Jones was pretty average too and he bombed a lot of chances. I thought he was poor vs Hudds, I don't think he is a good enough centre.

The young lad Hand seemed to blow his chance really. Came on and gave away two stupid pens and they scored off the back of that. Wonder whether he'll be given another chance next week?

I'm unsure on GOB tbh. I think that he made too many unforced errors today and we should be expecting a lot better. I think if that was Ashe he would have been slaughtered on here (by me). But, at the same time he has shown a good passing game and can kick. I'm not sure whether I'd want to make a move for him permanently, I'm on the fence currently...I obviously do not want to write the lad off already but the more he plays the more he should settle into a role.

Yes, for the first few games of the season. But NOT in round 18 when we have been losing loads of matches. Had we lost today as a result of his stupid meddling, there would have been outright dissent on the terraces. Why do you think McManus put that piece in the programme? He knows that fans are not only unhappy but making it known they are (there were boos weren't there, the last time we played a home game?).


I don't care about next season right now. I care about us making the best of this season first. I'm a season ticket holder and I want this season to end up a good season. That will not happen if he changes the team around mid game, or indeed midweek. He now needs to stick with the team who played in the first half and bar injuries or major drops in form/attitude, he should go with that and allow it to settle so that us paying punters can get something good from the season.

I haven't written Saints off and I don't care whether others have. I want my team to play to the best of its potential, especially now as we approach the business end of the season. I expect the coach whose wages I help subsidise to have that aim in mind also, regardless of next season.

Did you notice that massive bandage on Soliola's arm? He didn't look at all comfortable in the tackle with it. I think he should have been rested today as he certainly gave the impression that he has quite an injury there.

Walmsley has said on Twitter that he was dazed after his head knock but that he is now ok. So that might explain that.

Other than those two possible reasons it just could be that they simply weren't as lively as normal. Everyone has quiet days I guess.

It did feel like Soliola was holding back a little, so it would not surprise me if he was not 100%. But given how cautious Brown has been with injuries this season I dismissed this as a reason.

I think sia has started to miss some of the big hits he goes for. Maybe the new shoulder charge rules have effected his big hits.

The amount of knock-on's today was ridiculous in such dry conditions.

We dropped the ball far less during that treacherous night against Salford earlier in the season.

We should have put 50 on them in the first half alone. Turner, Lomax, Roby, Wilkin, Meli (in attack), Manu played well for me. There were even flashes of the Saints, the way we threw the ball around at time, dare I say! Still lots to improve on though, but at least we're back to winning ways.

I've just watched Superleague Fulltime.

We made 21 errors in the match and our completion rate was 50%, worse than London's (52%).

I saw the same stats on sky but it appears that most people saw a different game for some reason.

Is it possibly the worst for any SL team this season in terms of errors and completion rate?
Most other teams in the comp would have punished us dearly for that. Obviously the two points are very welcome.

Interesting to see the full game stats when they are out.

It was a curious game. A heck of a lot of chances bombed. Some curious changes at halftime. Bradford came out a lot stronger in the 2nd half. The first half it took them 30 minutes to set foot in our half of the pitch with ball in hand.

Our defense and discipline was outstanding in that first half.
We threw a lot of ball about, which lead to a lot of errors.

The 2nd half Bradford played a lot better. They ran a lot harder and made more ground. But also for about 30 minutes in that 2nd half, we only had 1 prop on the field. Not sure of the reason for that.

I'd say it was far from a complete performance but as Pete said earlier on a step in the right direction, to go with the other steps from the last 3 weeks.

Crazy stat that! We should have put 50+ on really. Just one of those games, good job Bradford were cack.

Seems like it went well. It appears Wilkin is taking the ball playing pressure off the young lads to give them soem freedon - especially important with Lomax.

So the sticking points are three fold

- Tinkering at half time. After all the e we've had to watch lately, it would have been nice to enjoy the whole 80 minutes.

- Wello. Whilst Makinson had mixed results at fullback and, imo is needed on the wing, surely we would be better using Charnock or Swift in either the #1 or #6 position?

- Roby. When Roby isn't playing, we're a shadow of our potential self.

You are right he hasn't been impressive this season at all. This is probably because he keeps picking up little knocks and injuries and never plays for more than 3 consecutive weeks. This means he can't find form, so he is under performing.

Match stats available www.superleague.co.uk/match_report/8884 Very impressive from Wilkin 146 metres along with 38 tackles. Manu also came up with 203 metres Gob came up with 5 errors, most of those I recall were dropped passes that he should have taken.

Match stats available www.superleague.co.uk/match_report/8884 Very impressive from Wilkin 146 metres along with 38 tackles. Manu also came up with 203 metres Gob came up with 5 errors, most of those I recall were dropped passes that he should have taken.

Paul Wellens 48 metres, 6 tackles, 2 missed tackles in 80 minutes.

That is one metre every 1.7 minutes or 100 metres in 2.7 hours. About the same speed he runs at.

As I expected, Manu stats was very good.

Wilkin was also very good. I think playing 13 really gave him more freedom to run the ball as well as ball playing.

A more traditional 13 role is clearly his best position, he's the nearest thing to Scully we have and as you pointed out in another thread I think he provides us with an extra pivot while we have to carry Wellens at fullback.

I just hope Brown doesn't tinker with the line up next week.

Of course he will , he got it right so now he must break it again.