Ablett being a bit dodgy positionally is nothing like having Meli on the wing. Even in the exiles game Meli was taken off the wing. Soliola ended up playing on the wing. Leeds have exploited Meli in every GF we have played against them. He has been our big problem in GFs. Sinfield knew that. Everybody knew that. It didn't take a brain surgeon to know that.

Looks like Royce didn't know that

I'm a push over for second chances but for me enough is enough. Leeds did not exploit Wheeler biscuit boy did they. He maybe a buscuit with only a little more game time than pryce but they left him alone.

Assuming shenton is fit next year starting line up for me is

Lomax Makinson Shenton WHEELER Foster Gaskell Lance

Forward to be decided.

Meli has been a good centre at times this year. But since the exiles game we've seen zero from that centre position. Not a scapegoat just a look to the future next year is his last year and we either have to build a centre or buy one.

I cant see any uk centre who we can buy. So that leave overseas or build one. Overseas would mean lossing sia as a forward. And we could only gets an NRLreject centre or a guy who cant make it in the NRL.

But for me Meli has had his time. Only to be opened incase of emergencies.

Maybe your starting to see the light and admit we do need a real centre. The fact our quota is full for next year when we are in dire need of a prop and centre is a massive problem.

To be honest I'd rather have had Tony Martin centre than meli next year.

Tony Martin. Is he off quota.

Supposedly we are still looking at a prop.

For me Wheeler has next year to make centre his own. Or we will have to dump sia or perry and go shopping for 2013. I'd prefer to keep sia. He can miss some but he can crunch some too and is still a young man who could be huge in the pack for us.

Its telling that all our big pack players are from overseas. TP Perry Laffranci sia.

Clough and dixon seam to have made the grade. Megennis might. But prop wise do we have anyone in the academy big enough?Or are we going to be buying props for the foreseeable future.

Tony Martin is exempt as he's a crusaders player.

To be honest I wouldn't bevto happy if we signed Martin but he's better than meli in the centre and knows the position.

I would have had Martin back in London anytime, but sadly he signed for Hull last week!

I look forward to the day when Meli is no longer with us -useless ****

The usual retort of the Meli-defenders is [i"his form during the season is good"[/i. I'd argue he has had only two genuinely good SL seasons (by his standards). But it's not like our chances of getting to the Grand Final hinge entirely on Meli's presence in the side. If we took him out - sure, we might take a hit in terms of finishing power. But we would still be in the hunt and capable of contesting the title. Better still, we wouldn't be saddled with the biggest handicap any side has ever had in a GF.

Totally agree. I've been promoting biscuit all along and he should now be given his chance at centre (although I believe his real position is SO and will end up better than gaskell).[u IF[/u he can stay fit, he will also be a good "reserve" for either HB position if need be.

just watched the game again on BBC.What a plank Meli looks when taking the dummy and then he virtually drags Ablett over the line instead of tackling him.
PLEASE can we get rid of this useless waste of space?

Not unless he decides he wants to go home or someone takes him off our hands

Taking the dummy isn't good but as for pulling Ablett over the line, it looks more to me like Lomax pushing him that way. Not critisicing either player for this as i am sure both were actually trying to stop Ableet rather than assist him. Seems wrong to criticise Meli, even discounting the season and just looking at this game. Soliola gave away a penalty at a bad time, Puletua's poor attempted tackle on Burrow in first half, Moore fell off a tackle for a try. Again, not really criticism of these players, just errors that cost us.

Without injuries to Wellens and Shenton, feel we would have won.

None of those players have designated scapegoat status however. Recite the Official One-Eyed Saints' supporters sacred code 50 times as penance for your error: "Meli must take the blame for anything and everything that ever goes wrong in any game regardless of his contribution thereto".

This is becoming pathetic. Meli has been blamed because, well, he dropped an enormous clanger. Had he clattered the ball carrier instead of taking a dummy (which no professional player should [iever[/i take) the game is very much alive. Had he (as part of a two-on-one tackle) stopped Ablett the game would still be alive.

I and most other fans would be quite prepared to cut Meli slack if this was his first major error. All players drop a clanger at some point in their careers and we shouldn't hold such against them. But when a guy becomes directly responsible for costing us THREE Grand Finals it's time to put the horse out of its misery. How much failure is it possible to tolerate before such begins to affect other players around him?

You're not one for giving the opposition any credit, are you?

I think he is but some of Meli's howlers over the last few GF's are nothing short of embarrassing. You'd be disappointed if an amateur made errors like that.

2007: Meli is out-jumped by Lee Smith for a try at 6-19. Perhaps a little harsh this one but he is favourite to win the ball.

2008: Meli drops an easy catch at 16-18 for McGuire's crucial try.

2009: Pathetic attempt to dead a grubber kick by McGuire, Smith again benefits when 8-4 to Saints.

2010: Flaps at Sam Tomkins for his try, 6-16 but well in the game after Wigan's good start.

2011: Mugged completely by Burrow, falling for the dummy and leaving Hall wide open for his try at 16-16. Then, with no regard for the ball whatsoever, literally drags Ablett over the line for the match winning try.

I couldn't have summed it up much better. You know, life's all about learning from your mistakes and trying to prevent them happening them again. Neither Saints nor Meli seem willing or capable of doing such. For years Leeds have been targeting the guy and for years its worked - big time. So much so that if a word existed to describe failure at the highest level in Rugby League it would be "Meli".

[i"He's done a Meli."
"What a Meli!"
"The kid made a right Meli of that one ..."[/i

You can forgive a rookie for a couple of mistakes as it's part of their learning curve, but this is a guy with NRL Grand Final experience and 14 NZ caps before he even signed for us. He has proven time and again that he doesn't have it in the head for these high-intensity games, and playing well in the centres for the increasingly meaningless regular season did nothing to change my opinion.

He simply cannot play for us again in a game of that magnitude.

Why should I?

Burrow deserves plenty of credit [ifor making the break[/i, but if Meli doesn't take the dummy he is either clattered and the break stops or he throws out a high-risk pass without looking which would most likely have gone forward and/or into touch.

Think of it this way. Had Meli made the tackle would Brian McDermott or ANY of the Leeds fans have given Burrow the merest shred of credit given that he'd bombed a certain try (and possibly the match itself) by not giving the ball to his support?

Noone's denying that he can be a liability and has cost us big in a few finals, but the fact remains that he overall brings more positives to the table than negatives - we might very well not even have been in the position of getting to the final in the first place without his (usually) top class contributions throughout the season. And while he contributed to Saturday's defeat he was a long, long way away from being the worst offender, and it is a little galling to see him yet again copping the sole "Designated Scapegoat" role. And there is still frankly noone any better to play at #4 for us either on the market or in the squad until Wheeler proves he can stay fit for any length of time. I dread the next time he lets loose a howler in a big final as much as anyone else, but he's still the best bet we've got sadly.

Players have to take responsibility and he was a liability on the wing, as he has been at each of our GFs to date. He took a ridiculous dummy to let one try in and missed tackles when we needed him to be on his game due to the injuries. No, he wasn't the only one - Moore let Rob Burrow through, for instance, and Soliola had a poor game, giving away penalties and diving out of the defensive line, etc - but with Meli it is every bloody GF. And on top of that he was doing f-all in taking the ball forward, again. He wasn't the only one there either. TP was bloody useless (and only completed 19 tackles the whole match - criminal for a so-called prop forward; or indeed a second rower).

I like Meli, I just don't know why.

Actually I thought Meli was comfortably our best player at O/T last year (not saying much though), but granted his O/T record against Leeds is pretty shocking... But it is still a fact that he has by no means been the sole offender in any of those finals - it is also a fact that he is always singled out for even the slightest little error he ever makes and every one, no matter how inconsequential, is always jumped on by voracious hordes of Saints fans coiled like springs waiting to have another go at their personal little pinata. I remember the debacle against Harlequins at the start of the season when he was clearly by far the best Saints player on the pitch, running and tackling hard all night and saving a certain try when noone else in a redvee looked as though they could be d, and yet because he also ran a kick return out (by trying a bit too hard to try and get some yards off it) he was absolutely lambasted by the serial numpties on a certain other Saints-themed discussion board I used to frequent...