No long range tries anymore though, are there? We are no threat at all from a 20 metre restart and that's why some times are just happy to grind us down and even kick it dead. When did you last see a Saints 3/4 go the length of the field? Last I can remember is Meli in the cup final. Before that I bet it was Lyon in 2006.

And God forbid we give an intercept away or drop it on the floor, cos it's try time nearly every time. Look at the Carvell try and tell me we don't have a problem with pace in the entire squad!!!

We need an Albert/Sullivan/Hunte type of winger who can go the length. And in reality a lot more than just one speedy player.

If we just had a full back with such speed that would help. Pryce and Eastmond can go some.... Long of course is no race horse anymore. But our centres have zero pace, well we onlyhave one centre, and our wingers we all know are out paced by MANY sl wingers out there. Love to see us with speed again, a man pegging it down the wing knoign if he slips past the mon in front thats it, he is IN !

How about the Jonny Lomax break against Cas at Knowsley Road earlier on this season. Took the Cas winger on the outside, beat him for pace, off loaded to Eastmond who went on to score. Great try - and great pace from both players. The integration of Lomax, Eastmond, Wheeler into the team will provide much more speed than the current first team squad, and I assume (injuries permitting of course), that they will all play a greater part in the make up of next seasons squad.

Absolutely

Yeah but they are all wee bairns. Kyle Eastmond is so small he gets injured by an awkward pass and the others aren't faring much better as they've all spent a lot of the year out of the squad injured. The only 'kid' with any sort of solidity is Dean.

Dean is older, he's bound to be physically more mature than the likes of Wheeler and Eastmond.

the problem with lomax is wello. It is a very brave man who would drop wello for a young lad, even one as good and as fast as lomax. In the next few years lomax must move to fullback and wheeler to 6 or centre where will the current players go?

Never mind the next [ifew[/i years, Wellens being replaced at fullback is essential next year.

Wheeler to centre is an easy replacement, he'd be playing there this year bar being injured. Soliola into 2nd row.

i'm completely split over wello, his positioning is world class and he still beats the first man generally, but his pace is woeful, if an opposition player breaks the line we are done. Lomax certainly has the pace, and a degree of the rest, but he is a long way off the rest of wello's game. Our lack of pace is our biggest defensive problem, but wello is still one of the best full backs in the country. Its our real biggest dilema

Did people bleat on about Wello's pace before the world cup? I don't remember it myself.

Wello is fabulous and must stay. What he needs is a coach who will maximise his strengths rather than embarrass him by exposing his weakness (lack of pace is the only one I can think of).

i dont really see how this is potters fault, he was never fast, but he is slowing down every year and it is starting to cost us games, not just tries

I'm led to believe by those who know the way of the game that coaches will determine things like where a player plays defensively, etc. That's the kind of thing I was alluding to. But I wasn't thinking of Potter specifically, just a coach generally (since Wello could be around beyond Potter).

I agree that his positioning is world class, it's had to be to cover his lack of pace. He's slowing down as every other player nearing their 30's has and will do, unfortunately for him though, his positioning is no longer enough.

Lomax won't be anywhere near Wellens now, and won't be for years. Wellens has been there and done it and has 10 years experience. Lomax has about 5 games. This is the reason I'd prefer to move Wellens whilst having Lomax at full back, he can pass on his knowledge. Wellens also appears to me to be one of those people that will turn into a decent coach if he wants to, he's had to work at his game.



Plenty of people have been saying that Wellens has been slowing down to the detriment of his game for at least 12 months. The World Cup was when it became [iobvious[/i.

Utterly ridiculous in an attempt to have a go at Potter.

The only way to stop embarrassing him by exposing his weaknesses is by removing him from the full back position

Indeed. Maybe Anderson would have had him playing full back differently?

Whatever Anderson did with him, I don't remember reading/hearing the whinges and moans about Wello's pace. Everyone knew he was slow, but this negative obsession with the poor guy certainly isn't something I remember being around.

the only place wello could go is back row, do you agree? I'd have wheeler at centre, pryce at 6, wello back row, lomax at fb.

That's because there wasn't to this extent, but that's what happens with a gradual degrading of physical performance, people don't notice it until it's obviously become a problem.

He's also a player who people will blame almost anything or anyone else for his errors as he's a local lad done good.

Anyway, everyone knows that all the tries we conceded last year were down to Meli.

I think you'll find I was concerned about his pace years ago and advocated giving Hardman a try.

Yup, bulk him up a bit and he'd be fine IMO. He's got good hands, can tackle, is a strong runner and has a good rugby brain.

I'd pick him before Flannery every time.

Not having speedy backs is a bit of a red-herring. What's CRUCIAL is having a dominant pack with five props (four of which need to be good), and a powerful back row.

Sure, you might get burned for the odd 90m try, but they're not all that likely if you are smashing them at the gain line.

Props mean pots. I can't put it any simpler than that.

Hardman would only ever have been a stop gap. His pace was akin to Wello's at the time.

He had the potential to be a solid fullback for a SL side, he reminded me very much of Wello in his play, but when a young lad is only equalling the ageing player he is being advocated to replace in terms of pace, it isn't going to end well.

But it hasn't been gradual has it, if we are to go by the hysteria over his pace. It's happened since the world cup. In fact, it happened suddenly, AT the world cup! He degraded at a mighty fast pace for someone so slow!

Wellens is not just a local lad done good. He is an excellent fullback and all his other gifts are well worth keeping him, regardless of his lack of pace, which needs to be managed properly. He'll be gone soon enough and I'm sure he would be more than glad to assist a local lad in learning the ropes if that is the way we are going to go with his position. But he is not ready yet to call it a day IMO. He just needs his confidence back.

At the time Hardman was a good youngster with a fair bit of potential. If he'd reached it I think he'd have been as good as - possibly better than Wellens. But he didn't (a bit like Danny Arnold), which means he's scoring tries for fun in the NL.

But the point is this: In the modern game (NRL) the fullback is the one person opponents struggle to deal with because he can inject himself into the line wherever he pleases. Whilst solid defence is essential, the FB is the most attacking player in the side. And if he's fast he's lethal.