Nobody knows for sure except the man himself I imagine.

It isn't long since we were all drawing up teams with no TP in because he was definitely leaving too.

Certainly seems odds on that he's off though.

Except Carmont doesnt play like a 33 year old.....this guy is an great asset to you and for super league in general.

Well, a man that Saddenned said he would have at Saints "in flash" (I think they were the words) has just been released by his club.

Who?

The Cock

Good grief.

Doesn't surprise me though, this is a man who said he would swap our backs for Wakefield's last season

I wouldn't go as far as swapping them for wakefields backs but our backs are poor.

I hope you will reassess your position regarding Meli and Shenton in the centres.

After tonights performances i would agree with you that Saints need a centre , but that would be to cover Shentons side and not Melis.

Shenton was destroyed tonight against Les Cats, while on the other side Meli had a field day.
Poor Gaskell was having to face three on twos constantly due to Shenton backing off in defence when sliding along the line.

thats very true, Meli was causing havoc for cats, the other side defense was poor. Kyle was good in attack, but as i predicted he got run over in defence

Kyle was in my opinion the MOM, his positional play was excellent at fullback, which is a defensive skill and his kick returning and the all round attacking options he created in the threequarters was far superior to what we have seen this year from Wello.

I didnt see any weak defence from Kyle, unless your blaming Kyle for the time he had to stop someone one on one, who was already over the try line. I dont know anyone who would have been able to stop that try.

He did play well he looked like the Kyle from a couple of years back but mom was Roby outstanding in both attack and defence

Interesting decision for Royce when Wello is fit, Kyle has been superb at FB. Real pace and accurate passing when he comes into the line and some of his returns were awesome. Racked up some points at Wakey and a very good Catalan side with Kyle a key factor. Food for thought in 2012 when Hohaia lands at the club.

It will be interesting next year, because one thing that could be seen tonight in attack was that Kyle created acres of space from fullback linking into the line for the three quarters to attack.

Also when Pryce came on, we had him organising the right hand channel and Lomax the left hand channel.
That is a really deadly combo to defend against. Especially with Eastmond then chiming in to offer a further option.

If Lance is going to play in the halves next year then we will need to know if he plays on the right hand side of the field. Otherwise we could end up being too left sided. (just done an internet search and he appears to play more on the right)

Me and dux got shot down on here last week when we was saying that shenton is a weak link in defence. I noticed it at Cas as well.

IMO we have to play lance halfback and link him with Leon. Lance and pryce would be a awesome combination. Both fast, experienced. Pryce likes to direct play and lance likes to take the line on and will cause problems for most super league teams.

That leaves lomax as the guy left out. I would play lomax fullback. I think he'd have the same impact that eastmond is having now. Lomax is fast, would clear his line well and would link in to attack very well.

Our backs this year are pretty poor in attack, none can really beat a man but with lomax at fullback and lance and pryce in the halves we have more of a threat with the ball.

The squad has plenty of talent. Especially in the backs. But it will be our weakest set of props since Millward blew the season playing mobile second row forwards up front. Most worrying of all is the lack of fighting heart and leadership. Talent is one thing. But you need born winners in your side (guys like Joynt, Cunningham and Sculthorpe who could roll their sleeves up when things went bad and carve out a victory by sheer blood-and-guts willpower) to achieve success and it's in this area where we are lacking.

As I said in another thread, McManus deserves all the credit in the world for securing the stadium. But his recruitment ethos is mediocre.

I dont agree about our backs, I think they are poor. Next year we won't have any backs that can beat a man.

I do agree with everything you say about McManus.

Lomax beats people for fun. Gaskell will too when he puts on a stone in weight. Foster's an outstanding winger. Makinson has speed to burn. Shenton just needs time to bed in and Hohaia is a top class player. If those are weak backs then teams around us must have some stormers.

Compare the talent available there to the dried up well that is the prop position. And as I said - no leadership. No beating heart.

I agree with this. I think what forwards we do have lack aggression.

Wello cant beat a man
Ade can't beat a man
Makinson can't beat a man
Shenton can't beat a man
Meli can beat a man
Gaskell can't beat a man ( to say he might when he puts a stone on is madness)
Lomax can beat a man
Lance can beat a man

That's 3 out of 8 of our backs that IMO can't beat a man one on one. To say when Gaskell puts a stone on is a unreal comment, it's like saying if wello gets faster he'll be best fullback in the league.

We don't have a specialist centre that has the ability to beat a man. We don't worry anyone outwide.
A

Pete, you're getting boring with your repetitious slagging off of our backs. Why not support Wigan if we are so rubbish? Or Warrington even?

What a daft comment.

If you don't think our pack is aggressive enough then support wigan or Warrington.

If you didn't think we was good enough to beat Catalan then maybe you should support them.

Last year you didn't nothing but bag potter, why didn't you support someone else?

IMO our backs are predictable, slow, boring and lack skill. Especially our centres and wingers.

Bagging the coach is one thing; bagging a group of players, especially when they include young guys at the start of their careers, is something else entirely.


And you are ignorant.

Wello, ade, shenton are not at the start of their careers.

I'm not bagging them I'm just saying they ain't great backs. In fact they are the worst backs I've seen at saints since super league started. Christ, we've only got one centre at the club.

For the first time in 15 years we've got no special centre, no go to centre and no x factor in the centre. We've got no pace in the centre. We've got no genuine pace in the centre or on the wings. We don't worry any teams with our wide play.

Look at the centres we've had compared to our one centre we have at the club now.

Personally i dont think that next year our backs are that bad, nor our forwards.
Some of our fans have come to expexct far too much from Saints, we have been a top3/4 team for all of my life. No other team can claim this. YES we are in transition but ours has left us 3rd in the league, thats hardly bad is it???