I'd still love to know what he did wrong in order to be frozen out so quickly. He went from being a star for us last season, wonder tries and some outstanding performances and signing a new deal in January this year to being dropped completely from the first team setup. I just don't understand it.

Lance Hohaia has been terrible all season, is terrible and yet isn't ever dropped. Meli has made more mistakes than anyone ever has and he's still involved and is rumoured to be being offered a new deal, Wello is well, Wello and is undroppable. Even Makinson, although we all rate him, has started making costly mistakes and never does anything in attack. What did Foster do that was so bad? Was it perhaps something not rugby related? Rush's comments on him are just lies, he goes on about him needing to play well in the lower grades first. The first week he was dropped Jamie scored 5 tries in his first game back in the academy.

It wasn't just what he did wrong, a couple of us discussed that, with Makinson and Foster (two very diminutive wingers) we had very little weight returning the ball on the first play of each set. Meli does this very well - making yards and getting us momentum early in the set.
I think Meli is a better centre than winger, but at the moment, he is more valuble to us on the wing.

Meli has been our best back by a country mile since the decline of Gidley. Foster has been a walking catastrophe for over a year. Everyone with half a brain knows this. Just quietly move on - rationality and logic doesn't come into it...

Oh God, how I love the "enemy" option - it saves me so much grief these days on here



Fantastic move all 'round anyway - Foster gets some gametime and we get to see him playing SL games and can assess if has any realistic future left at Saints at all. I doubt it but there's still some hope of a return for him given our (Meli aside) basketcase 3/4 line at the moment...

It's a shame we've played hull twice already, it would be a certain two points with foster on the wing for them.

So are you keeping Meli then? He has been linked with a move to us for years now and the links have been increasing for next season with him being out of contract.

We have also been linked to Foster, but I think that has died down a bit now. Meli would certainly be worth having!

One poster on the Hull board has claimed that he is one of the six players we have signed but not announced for next season, not sure how true it is, might be total rubbish.

How would you feel if this happened?

A bit Disappointed as he looked to have alot of promise but sadly he isnt rapid and he isnt that big which means apart from his kicking he's average. He might come on but he might not. For Saints a loan deal would be good.

It woukdnt bother me one little bit, he lacks pace for a winger, not strong enough, no footwork and is very dodgy in defence and with kicks.

He's a good finisher and world class goal kicker.

When you put it that way I suppose it would be better to get him off the cap. Can't help feeling some disappointment though, I always hoped he would have filled out and turned into a good centre.

In a ideal world he'd be our next winger or centre but IMO he offers nothing apart from goal kicking.

The problem with Meli is, for all the good he does throughout the season, his annual brainfart at Old Trafford just wipes those memories away.

As for Foster, I really feel for him. No one deserves to go to Hull.

I would like to see him go out on loan and come back with some confidence. He did more than well enough last season. People only started to slate him when the mistakes crept in this season. I think people just don't like him because of his lifestyle or their perceived image of him.

Nothing to do with the way he lives his life, it's what he does on the field which isn't good enough.

Before the mistakes he was 'solid' which is acceptable especially as I'm sure most of us where hoping he'd develop his game and kick on. Sadly he's just gone backwards , at least for the moment

The way it's been handled by Rush hasn't helped. Yes, he lost his confidence, and yes, he was right to take him out of the firing line for a little while to recoup in the reserves, but what I don't think will have helped is having Rush then play anyone but him in his position. He has seemingly been cast aside, which could be playing a role in his slump.

Jamie has now confirmed it in an article on SLFans

I'd be disappointed. He did really well last season and although he suffered a bit of a confidence knock at the outset of this year, he hasn't deserved the treatment he has received (along with a few other young players it has to be said) by the present coaching regime.

I hope he does really well for Hull. He's not been anywhere else though, lives at home and is young so he may feel a bit like a fish out of water for a while or he may take to being away very well, I don't know, but I really do hope he comes on in leaps and bounds. Peter Gentle comes across as a really nice bloke, as was Simmons, so he may well bring out the best in him.

Hopefully Gentle will help foster like he did with Will Sharp.

His confidence was gone last season and made massive improvements under Gentle. much more confidence and looked a different player.

Gentle seems like a nice bloke and I get the impression that the assistants at Wests had a lot of interaction with the younger players so hopefully he will do as you say and enable Foster to find the confidence he had last season as he really went well for us.

Foster would make a very good winger for Saints for a good few years in the current available talent climate if he could get back the defensive solidity (especially under bombs) that he showed for his first year in the team. If he can't then frankly it's difficult to see where his SL future (in the top half of the table at least) lies as being a defensive turnstyle with an ability to fall over the line from close in with a boot as a bonus is no basis for a top-level RL career. I really hope he gets his act together although I have a feeling in my water that he won't... It'll be very disappointing as he looked a real prospect at first but that's just the way it goes with young players.

I was told tonight Meli has signed a one years deal on a reduced contract.

Oh for pity's sake.

Fantastic deal if true. He looks to still have another year in him and there's bugger all else on the market of even remotely his quality.

Gardner has got away with that for over 10 years without the bonus of the boot.

A little unfair... Gardner went through a couple of horrific years under Potter but oitherwise has been the very definition of solid for most of his Saints' career.