Jamie was born in Whiston hospital as is the norm for most people from St.Helens.
He also lives in Haydock. He used to practise on King Georges playing field as a kid.
He went to Eddie Arrows as is normal for catholic kids from Haydock.
Mugwump and Mclennan from these boards went to school with his mum, which makes them feel REALLY old.

Jamie has acknowledged that as a stupid kid he followed Wigan, but as he matured he had an epiphany and chose the path to salvation.
Sadly there are always some in every generation, who are lost to those who play on the dark side of the hill.

No chance. Without his kicking he is just another decent winger.

I agree he scored a fantastic try at Leeds but that one try made a name for him really. It was a great try but that doesn't make you a great player. A winger in the NRL did something even better, it won't get him in the Aus team.

I think Makinson will be the better winger.

We have Pat on one wing, surely you wouldn't take Foster over Pat?
We have Charnley on the other, I doubt Foster could have scored the try that Charnley scored at wire. Charnley has that xfactor which Foster lacks as just a winger. Unless we have a goalkicking crisis, I would stay well clear.

Makinson is a better winger than Jamie and so is Meli, Gardner and the ain't much in it between Armstrong and Jamie but what Jamie brings to the team is points, he's a good finisher, reads the game very well and is also a great goal kicker!

He's a valuable member to the first team because he's a points machine. Points wins games.

He's also a match winner and has already won many games for saints already.

Also, just think if we didn't have Jamie this year I'd say we'd be 4th or 5th in the league.

and thats what a difference a good kicker can make. He'd be worth it if he was an average superleague player, but IMO hes better than that

Hes a good finisher, good goal kicker and is pretty safe although he's looked bit dodgy under kicks over last few weeks.

He's not a great super league player and will only ever be a average winger but he's a points machine.

Just a shame he can't beat a man or have genuine pace.

I love it when people say "If he wasn't such a good kicker he'd be an average winger"

Ok but HE IS a good kicker so what's your argument.

Briers would only be an average half back if he didn't read the game like he does now.
Cunningham would have been an average hooker if he wasn't so strong.
Offiah would have been an average winger if he wasn't has quick as everyone else

To the Pie fans aiming slights at Foster, *cough* Botica *cough*

The is a difference in the comparisons you've made above to be honest. Goal kicking and playing are two completely different things.

It is possible to beca great goal kicker yet a average player.

Against Wakefield if my memory serves me well.

Wello missed a easy kick at home in a loss to Wakefield.

Just the one? I seem to remember a match when he missed two or three kickable ones when we narrowly got beat in awful conditions.

You are missing the point of what Yed is saying. Don't focus on the bits he is pointing out but the fact that without those bits they simply would not have been the players they were. Saying Jamie is average without his kicking and finishing is as pointless as saying that Longy would have been average without his rugby smarts or drop goal kicking or whatever. People are stating the obvious but pointlessly so because the statement applies equally to all sportspeople who have a talent.

Jamie is talented and it is his goal kicking and finishing and ability to read a game that make him talented. Those qualities make him a must for our first team.

As indeed is his endurance. The lad hasn't missed a game since he started in the first team halfway through last season. So there is another plus for him.

Oh, and his tackling has come on very well under Simmons. Some of his tackling against blokes twice his size on Friday night was awesome.

A winger isn't just a speedster. He has to be a lot more than that, and Foster is developing well. Don't forget that he is only in his first full year at first grade.

He missed about six goals against Wakey at Knowsley Road. That is, he missed them all. We had no kicker at all that night and I remember thinking that Potter was cruel to let Wello continue. Wakey won because we couldn't convert a single try.

Thankfully we now have a few goal kickers in the team. Foster, Makinson and Lomax can all kick. Wheeler can boot one in a blue moon over too. I think Gaskell can kick goals as well.

Theres not much _ _ n _ _ in Rogue either

I can see were St.Pete is coming from in that Jamie is no Jason Robinson or Martin Offiah on the wing able to score a try from nothing.

However there has always been a role for the good alround points machine on the wing.
I'm minded of people like Paul Eastwood, Michael O'Connor, Frano Botica, Hazeem el Masri. These guys were not the best try scoring wingers out there, however when they brought there kicking game into the equation, it helped them rise above their fellow RL players.

For a guy like Jamie to have already scored over 500 points for St.Helens and have only just turned 21 years of age is phenomenal. He is already in the top 40 all time points scorers at St.Helens in what is really is first full season as a starting player.
Put it this way if he keeps accruing points as he has done this season. Then he will overtake Len Killeen within 2 seasons. That will put him in the top 10 points scorers for Saints of all time.

Well said.

And exactly what I was trying to say.

His points record for a young guy is unreal. Ifs stays at saints he'll smash every points record by miles.

He's got to be worth 10 points for the team each season with his points scoring.

I've no doubt we'd not be 3rd in the league without Jamie, we'd be 4th/5th. The kick against Cas and the kick at hull saved us losing 4 points.

There was. When we got him to sign the "Bomb Disposal" flag, he asked for us not to make one about his kicking.

We lost enough games in the couple of seasons before Jamie simply through missing kicks. So even if he only stood there the rest of the time he'd be worth having. But as has been said he's a good finisher and his enthusiasm is clearly visible, and his overall game is improving all the time. He is without doubt a huge asset to the team.

His kicking is a huge asset and we'd struggled for a good goal kicker before Jamie came in.

All i can say is darryl halligan, any doggies fan will know
their record points scorer. Average winger but a points machine
and a record breaker. Jamie could be the same

Maybe its just me but I would have an "average" winger like Foster, who scores 18 tries a season and kicks goals for fun in my team. For the first time since 2006 we have a reliable goal kicker in the team which is a great bonus as we have seen this year with games against Cas and Hull just to name 2 examples. Compare his stats to the 2 current England international wingers this season and Foster has 18 tries in 22 games (including the first 3/4 games where Royce played him off the bench and only got the last 10 minutes), Tom Briscoe has played in 23 full games and scored 16 tries and Ryan Hall has played 22 full games and scored 18 tries also...not a bad average I would say. Add onto that the 98 goals he has kicked and he is very valuable to the team I would say. For such a young bloke he is very confident, safe under the high ball, returns kicks well, finishes tries and his kicking is an added bonus - not sure what else people would want from him?? As for his try scoring abilities, all I can say is... www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iViwER2lBY

Maybe its just me but I would have an "average" winger like Foster, who scores 18 tries a season and kicks goals for fun in my team. For the first time since 2006 we have a reliable goal kicker in the team which is a great bonus as we have seen this year with games against Cas and Hull just to name 2 examples. Compare his stats to the 2 current England international wingers this season and Foster has 18 tries in 22 games (including the first 3/4 games where Royce played him off the bench and only got the last 10 minutes), Tom Briscoe has played in 23 full games and scored 16 tries and Ryan Hall has played 22 full games and scored 18 tries also...not a bad average I would say. Add onto that the 98 goals he has kicked and he is very valuable to the team I would say. For such a young bloke he is very confident, safe under the high ball, returns kicks well, finishes tries and his kicking is an added bonus - not sure what else people would want from him?? As for his try scoring abilities, all I can say is... www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iViwER2lBY

Quote ="wakey_saint"Maybe its just me but I would have an "average" winger like Foster, who scores 18 tries a season and kicks goals for fun in my team. For the first time since 2006 we have a reliable goal kicker in the team which is a great bonus as we have seen this year with games against Cas and Hull just to name 2 examples. Compare his stats to the 2 current England international wingers this season and Foster has 18 tries in 22 games (including the first 3/4 games where Royce played him off the bench and only got the last 10 minutes), Tom Briscoe has played in 23 full games and scored 16 tries and Ryan Hall has played 22 full games and scored 18 tries also...not a bad average I would say. Add onto that the 98 goals he has kicked and he is very valuable to the team I would say. For such a young bloke he is very confident, safe under the high ball, returns kicks well, finishes tries and his kicking is an added bonus - not sure what else people would want from him?? As for his try scoring abilities, all I can say is... www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iViwER2lBY'" He has also taken most of the randomness in defence from that side. Ok he had a brain fart on Friday (love the way everyone is using this, trying to think of another phrase to resurrect), but the days of Meli giving away surprise tries seam to be over.

Quote ="wakey_saint"Maybe its just me but I would have an "average" winger like Foster, who scores 18 tries a season and kicks goals for fun in my team. For the first time since 2006 we have a reliable goal kicker in the team which is a great bonus as we have seen this year with games against Cas and Hull just to name 2 examples. Compare his stats to the 2 current England international wingers this season and Foster has 18 tries in 22 games (including the first 3/4 games where Royce played him off the bench and only got the last 10 minutes), Tom Briscoe has played in 23 full games and scored 16 tries and Ryan Hall has played 22 full games and scored 18 tries also...not a bad average I would say. Add onto that the 98 goals he has kicked and he is very valuable to the team I would say. For such a young bloke he is very confident, safe under the high ball, returns kicks well, finishes tries and his kicking is an added bonus - not sure what else people would want from him?? As for his try scoring abilities, all I can say is... www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iViwER2lBY'" He has also taken most of the randomness in defence from that side. Ok he had a brain fart on Friday (love the way everyone is using this, trying to think of another phrase to resurrect), but the days of Meli giving away surprise tries seam to be over.

It's a great compliment to such a young player just starting his career and still learning that Foster is openly compared to other great wingers.

Foster missed out on the decent wage because he signed a contract before the other youngsters. He wasn't in the first team regularly and all he had then was 'potential'. He was very happy with the deal then.

However, his fellow youngsters coming through with him all signed a little later after they'd been covering for injuries etc. and had shown more of what they were capable of. Consequently people like Lomax got a much better deal.

Rightly or wrongly this grates on Foster now and he's trying to renegotiate a deal more on a par with his colleagues of a similar age.

Consequently, stories like the daft one above come out as rumours.

Good luck to the lad. I hope he stays a Saint and gets a good deal. There are many people employed as 'Managers' or 'Business Development Managers' at Saints getting a lot more money than Foster.