Don't you think it's a little unfair that Gaskell won't be first choice?

IMO he earned his right to start after a good season last year.

I can't see gaskell be happy Sat on the bench at the start of the season for me he as to start at six because come up against the top teams in the league without a kicking game and we will get battered he gives us a far better option on the last the anyone else in the team plus he give us a good thirty metres on penaltys which no one else does plus he is the best half back at the club

I do, and I think that is the view of the majority of speccies too. However, the best thing he can do, is to keep performing like he did last night, and prove that he is an absolutely vital cog in a successful Saints wheel. Whilst he is doing that, Lomax, Hohaia, Makinson, Foster, Wellens, Gardner, Meli all eaqually have points to prove, because the inclusion of Gaskell will mean a reshuffle elsewhere, and at least one of them losing their place. Chuck into that mix a fit Wheeler, and Royce really does have some big decisions to make. The chock stone in all this is the Hohaia contract, which sees an aging overseas player, on a sizeable wedge of salary cap, squeezing out some of our best and brightest talent. He is under the greatest pressure to perform, if he doesn't, then we have a major white elephant on our hands.

I definitely agree on Gaskell. He's our most natural and rounded half back with a really strong kicking game. Put Hohaia or Lomax alongside him with the other at full back and you have a strong combination. Makinson has earned his spot in th side but where you play him (full back or wing) is another question.

Did Hohaia go to hooker and Roby to loose forward when Gaskell came on?

No, he played at full back with Gardner going off and Makinson to the wing. We did a fair bit of rotation so he may have played at hooker at some point, but I didn't notice it. He did run out of dummy half a few times and cause problems though so I see that being an option at some stage in the season.

I liked the look of lance at fullback, he looked more at home there and Gaskell looked more at home at 6 so wello IMO has a real fight on his hands with lance and makinson possibly going to fullback.

Jane foster looks to have carried his poor form at the back end of last year in to the year, hes a accident waiting to happen and total liability under any high kick. He's going to have a busy time under the high ball this year.

Gaskell actually came on in the centre for Meli to start with before moving to stand off and changing the game.

Gaskell is a must for us at halfback!

The good thing is that we have a couple of months to work out our best team before we start getting to the really important matches. The other good thing is that we are choosing from a position of strength, we have great options in the backs, we aren't scratching about trying to find a combination that may work, given a bit of luck. We also have players like Lomax, Gaskell, Makinson, Shenton, Wheeler, Ashe and possibly Jane(!) who will be our backline for the next decade. If they do gel we can focus our attention, and overseas quote on filling the slightly more problematic prop position. All in all, we are in a far stronger position than 12 months ago when we were scouring the world for any half back to fill the yawning gaps at 6 and 7.

True.

Ashe looked good again last night.

How did Flanagan play last night?

Forgot he was playing

Wow, as well as that!

Its only his first hit out with his new club so no panic yet

At the moment it actually seams a simple task for royce as the players are making the choice for him. It would be trickier to fit everyone in if they all played well or were all appauling.

FB lance -Wellens is injured and as so will have to bid his time and earn his spot back

Gardner /Foster - These are the two weaker wingers so its up to one of them to grab a spot. If both turn out to be dodgy Royce also has the option of moving meli over and putting wheeler in that centre once shenton is better. Not to mention Ashe could offer up a wing option.

So at the moment two years for foster and an extention for gardner seams to have been a very good idea.

Makinson is clearly a first choice on the sheet so gets a wing spot.

Shenton when fit will move wheeler. but wheeler could move meli too.

Lomaskell to continue. If lomax is injured. Moved lance forwards and wellens to FB. ifGaskell is injured Wheeler gets his chance as he has a kicking game too.

Simples

Or back on planet Saints, we will pick up a handbag full of injuries, and will be digging through the under 20s to find anyone capable of pulling on a jersey!

That was part of the point though in the backs we have alot of depth. with four options for fb. five at half back before we need to resort to wilkin. five wingers before we start needing the likes of wheeler or gaskell to do a job there. our weakest position is probably centre. But thats the case across the league.

second rowers we have a plentiful supply of.

So there should be no issue getting a kicker in the halfbacks.

prop depth will depend on if la frank can do a job there. if megennis can do a role. other wise we look a little shalloow there with no big work horse like graham.

He was ill, according to Twitter.

After last night I'd probably go with a backline of this, when all fit:

6. Lance Hohaia
2. Ade Gardner
3. Michael Shenton
17. Gary Wheeler
21. Tommy Makinson

20. Lee Gaskell
7. Jonny Lomax


I now think Gaskell has to play after seeing the kicking game of Jonny and Lance. Lance looks a real attacking threat and should be included at Full Back whilst Jonny needs time to be allowed to progress. Makinson simply has to be in the team somewhere and for me he will slot in nicely on the wing at the moment. Wheeler showed some slight hints at what he can do yesterday, nearly broke through a couple of times and should eb given a chance to expand on that with some game time. I'd give the other centre spot to Shenton and Meli would miss out for me as I don't think he offers as much all round as the other two. Then its the Jamie / Ade debate and for me Ade is a far safer option, I don't think I can remember him making a glaring error in years. Makinson and Lomax can both kick goals so Jamie shouldn't be kept in on that point alone.

Gardner a safer option than Foster? In what aspect?

I'd bin Gardner myself, he isn't better than Foster in any aspect of his game, but is 30 rather than 20.

Gardner has survived this long because we've never had a youth player come through that's been good enough to oust him, in Foster, Makinson and Ashe we've now got 3.

I think Gardner is safer than Foster both in defence and under pressure from kicks. Foster is turning into Meli when it comes to dealing with kicks. However, Foster has youth on his side and time to learn, I suppose it depends on whether you want to be sure that a blunder won't be made or if you wan't Foster to try and learn from experience.

If you want to be sure that a blunder won't be made, I'm not sure Gardner is your man

Fair point, but I'd rather bet on him than Foster.

Not much between ade and foster. Both struggle to beat a man, both average with ball in and both dodgy in defence and under kicks.

They both can finish very well near the line.

I think Jamie is in danger of believing his own hype and more concerned with how he looks instead of playing rugby. I highly rated him over the last season and half but the back end of last year hed become a liability.

I think people have forgotten that Ade was in good form and had a new lease of life under Royce prior to his season ending injury. His defence was good on Friday and he ran the ball up strongly.
Seems as though we have quite a few 3 into 2 selection problems at half back and wing, our biggest problem short term is lack of quality of centres. Think I would put Sia in at centre for part of the games, to add some "punch".