hi just wondering what do you think are starting line up will be for next season, mine would be

1. wellens
2. lomax
3. shenton
4. flannary
5. gardner
6. pryce
7. eastmond
8. perry
9. roby
10. graham
11. soliola
12. wilkin
13. clough

14. moore
15. hargreaves
16. LMS (ashurst if he doesnt sign)
17. puletua

Bryn hasn't got a contract either has he? What about Wello and Cloughy too?

But if Meli goes as his non inclusion hints at, I'd be mega disappointed if he wasn't replaced.

saddened yes hargreaves, clough nad flannary are out of contract but i imagine they will kepp them especialy clough and flanno as cloughy has been one of our bst forwards for years and flanno has been great this season

From the players whose contracts are up, I'd like to see Meli, Flannary, Clough and Wellens all re-signed for next year. All have played very well this season.

personally i would let meli go as i simply dont rate him and never have, i would renew wellens, flannary, hargreaves and clough, get clough on a long term contract

yet you give bryn one sorry but meli been one of our best players this season and we wouldnt replace him if he went

well i feel that we hav e cover for meli in lomax, foster and armstrong, where as with hargreaves if he goes and we dont get LMS we would only have emmitt as cover

Last I heard was that Bryn had been told he could look for a new club. Don't know whether there is any truth in it or not but I heard it from someone who is usually spot on with his news.

If we did let meli go we would need to replace him with same style player as meli, we lack big powerfull tackle breakers.

That williams at manly would be ideal.

Flanno has signed up for another year has he not. I would imagine Meli will take a further year if offered one.

Your forward pack looks excellent.

The backs? Not so good.

Oh god no, i want a winger with pace, not another big slow lump to barge over from 10 metres out.

Our lack of pace is IMO why we have lost 3 grand finals on the trot.

We wont win a big cup final until the backline has a sufficient amount of pace to attack from anywhere on the pitch.

Thats why Leeds have won 3 GF's on the bounce, and why wire are challenge cup holders and finalists again. They possess pace.

The old cliche about forwards getting you to finals but backs winning them,has always rang true. By having a big side Saints will always be up the competing. However just like the Bulls of old, as soon as you then come up against a team with a bit of pace about it, as well as a decent amount of size then you are done for.

This years cup semi final was another example of Saints being defeated through Leeds pace.

I disagree. Leeds do have pace, yes, but I'd say it wasn't that which defeated us. We didn't have halfbacks and it showed, especially in some of the decisions Wilkin made; we made some stupid errors at crucial times and just when it mattered most, when we hung on like our lives depended upon it against Wire and the Pies, we slipped up on our marker defence and our ball and all tackling. That's what defeated us, not Leeds' pace.

I disagree, whilst our lack of halfbacks did contribute to our defeat, Wilkin made two howlers in those kicks at the end, bar that he was average rather than woeful. Both of those came on their try line, Melis bad pass at the end happened on their line. Leeds pace took them 100m in 6 tackles, we weren't capable of doing that to them in the same situation.

Leeds pace has told in all the GF we've played, with them being able to start their sets far further up the pitch than we were due to a far faster kick return.

Wellens
Foster
Shenton
Wheeler
Lomax
Pryce
Estmond

I'd say that is a pretty speedy backline imo.

Perry
Roby
Graham
Soliola
Puletua
Wilkin

That is a world class pack imo

What about the young lad dan brotherton? we signed
Heard people saying he's a quick lad theres our bit of pace as long as hes not just another kevin penny

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T-Rex must be the biggest winger in either code, he's HUGE!

Your logic defies the facts that Warrington have not beaten us since 2001 and other than the 3 GF defeats and the recent semi loss we have beaten Leeds comfortably on a number of occaisions in the league, cup and playoffs.

Poor decision making by certain individuals cost us the GF last year and semi this year, not an overall lack of pace in the backs.

"Poor decision making by certain individuals cost us the GF last year"

which is one of the reasons we should not keep meli, he does this far to often to stay at saints

I thought it was more of a jibb at Ian Smith (the VR IIRC)

Bentham was the VR at the last year's GF.

Top draw pack. could be the best in sl on paper. same with halfbacks. I think you'll miss gidley
but you have shown that your younger players can do a good job.

Saints have been regarded has having the slowest backline for years, speed is an asset but not as important as "speed of mind". Wellens as an example regarded as the slowest back in superleague, yet can get to the cover tackle or attacking line better than anybody.
Think we are still top of the Superleague try count 150+, not bad for a slow backline.

Our backline hasn't been that slow this year.

For most of the season it's contained a couple of Eastmond, Pryce, Lomax, Wheeler and Foster. Whilst they aren't going to compete with Penny over 100m, all have injected much needed pace. Eastmond's move to the middle has freed up room for Pryce which has been the most important move of all.