Best game I have seen him play, seemed to relish the opportunity to play in the halves once Gaskell went off.....Just hope he can keep himself fit and get a good run in the team.

Not many Saints fans doubt wheelers talent it's just his injury record is shocking. This season he looks like he's dropped some weight to me (along with a few others) which I think will suit his game more

It's his to steal off gaskell now. Competition for places EXCELLENT

If he stays fit, he is a better half than gaskell.
Must admit felt sorry for gas when I watched the match replay and he looked gutted, especially as wheeler picked up his role so easily.

Thats the way of things, Wheeler has had a year or two more in the first team (when fit) and is highly rated by all the coaches at all levels. He's put a good few games together now and i hope he can kick on and go the rest of the season

He is far better with ball in hand taking on the line, but Gaskell's distribution is far better from what I have seen of the two of them. They both have their own skill sets, and I think it is fantastic to have such a competition for places in the backs that we haven't had for years.

Do you mean his choices or his actual passing? I thought Wheeler's passing left a lot to be desired! He looked like he panicked a bit, throwing two wild passes and one that TP just managed to hold on to as he hurtled (for a big man) towards the line.

His passing, but a run in the team may improve this, it's a little early to make a final judgement.

Agreed.

I really like Wheeler but I also have been very impressed with Gaskell's effort and commitment recently he's been excellent in that regard. Gaskell has a wider skill set then Wheel's I think but may not be able to go through the gap like Wheel's can.

The game on Friday was a no-contest by the time Wheel's moved into the halves so for this reason we must definitely wait before we judge him - Gaskell has performed under pressure and in some big games so for me he's still the man who owns the shirt until Wheel's proves otherwise.

That said - competition is great I just hope we can keep them and keep them fit.

But what of next year with Lance coming......

I though Gaskell was an excellent foil for lomax - a steady hand, with distribution and a long kicking game to guide the team round, whilst letting lomax play the box-o-tricks role.

Wheeler has a lot of plus points but I don't think the halves as a whole will be as well rounded with wheeler in.

People have mentioned that Wheeler looked better when moved into the halves, but I'd say that's more a sign that, despite playing entertaining rugby, the centres probably aren't seeing as much ball as they could.

I think those people (me included) said that without realising that Royce had moved Roby into the halves, which might explain why things kept ticking over as well as they did.

Roby only really moved to a halfback role when Lomax went off, didn't he?

I wanted to imply that I think Wheeler can be as good a centre for us as a 5/8, but we don't seem to get as much ball to that channel as you'd think, given were playing some pretty good rugby.

Wheeler is getting just over 7 carries per game and Shenton just over 9. www.superleague.co.uk/statistics ... eason=2011

Wheeler is getting just over 7 carries per game and Shenton just over 9. www.superleague.co.uk/statistics ... eason=2011

Quote ="BackrowSaint"Wheeler is getting just over 7 carries per game and Shenton just over 9. www.superleague.co.uk/statistics ... eason=2011'" [url=http://www.superleague.co.uk/statistics_player.php?hs1=2011&hp1=4873&hs2=2011&hp2=2919&stat=errors&season=2011Compare that to (randomly selected) Kris Welham and Leroy Cudjoe[/url,who both have over 11. Or [url=http://www.superleague.co.uk/statistics_player.php?hs1=2011&hp1=229&hs2=2011&hp2=2596&stat=errors&season=2011Yeaman and Carmont,[/url with well over 10. Plus, I reckon at least 3 of Shenton's were from dummy half, which isn't really the type of possession we're talking about.

Quote ="BackrowSaint"Wheeler is getting just over 7 carries per game and Shenton just over 9. www.superleague.co.uk/statistics ... eason=2011'" [url=http://www.superleague.co.uk/statistics_player.php?hs1=2011&hp1=4873&hs2=2011&hp2=2919&stat=errors&season=2011Compare that to (randomly selected) Kris Welham and Leroy Cudjoe[/url,who both have over 11. Or [url=http://www.superleague.co.uk/statistics_player.php?hs1=2011&hp1=229&hs2=2011&hp2=2596&stat=errors&season=2011Yeaman and Carmont,[/url with well over 10. Plus, I reckon at least 3 of Shenton's were from dummy half, which isn't really the type of possession we're talking about.

agreed, shenton has started to drift inside looking for work, which is brilliant of him, i just wish he didnt have to

I'm pretty sure it will come, but its odd that,given the entertaining level of rugby and the 4 good results we've had, our centres don't seem to get and awful lot of ball in their proper channel.

To be fair the "entertaining" rugby doesn't have much to do with shifting the ball wide, more quick PTBs and offloading up the middle. Not really any different to how we've played for years now, I don't see a huge difference in style to be honest, although we have a bit more pace to make it count.

Although Roby's obviously still one of our main threats, more seems to be going on from around 1st receiver than last, even if it is still forward orentated.
I hope this doesn't mean we've fallen into the trap of just bullying lesser teams and are due a hiding off the tough run we've got coming up!?

Well, there must be something going out wide because both our wingers scored on Friday; Foster scored twice, didn't he? (I've lost track of our tries!) All our backline scored in fact. When was the last time that happened? (Not sure whether Wheeler was playing at centre when he scored, though, but he was officially centre for that match anyway!)

I think our distribution outwide has been limited in part by our inexperienced halves. They have had to play off Roby as he has the experience. We've been going left for weeks now and I think that's the same issue. Hopefully as the season progresses, presuming we manage to obtain that elusive settled team, we will see our outside backs on both sides becoming more involved.

This season Foster has 7 (Although the Super League site thinks its 6), Wellens and Gardner both on 6 and Meli has 4.

That suggests to me that the ball is going out wide but sweeping moves are perhaps missing out our centres at times.

To be fair, I tend to discount games like at the weekend against a dreadful Wakefield side. Our wingers scored a fair few tries in similar results last season, but we weren't a team that shifted the ball wide much, and we still aren't in my opinion.



Agree with that - but everything we do well is happening up the middle of the park still - we have benefitted hugely from the return of quicker PTB's, which hampered us big time in recent years. Roby is destroying teams with a little more space and time.

Can't wait to see us get something resembling our first choice side out, will be a hell of a line up.

I didn't think Wakey were dreadful, actually. I think Bradford were, but not Wakey. Wakey lacked quality halves and experience, but they worked their butts off. Their goal line defence when the game was well and truly out of their reach was very impressive; they were just fooled in the end. But I get your point. However, even though what you say is probably the best way of viewing things, it still gives an idea of the style we are playing.


At this rate we might just see that at some point next season!

If Wheeler gets a dozen games under his belt he'll be a completely different player. He's been patiently serving his time as a rookie and now only a touch of under-confidence (and rust) is hindering his transformation into a fully developed SL player.

For me the kicking game is going to be the big thing we may miss. Gaskell has had a fabulous kicking game since he joined the team. It's been highly underrated but this guy, gets us out of our own half with every kick being in the opposition 20 or less, no matter where he kicks from. Also he finds the ground more often than most kickers I've seen this year and to be fair more often than any Saints player I've seen. And I include in that Long.

But fair is fair and Gaskell got his chance because of injury and disruption, so the same is true of his own injury, it gives someone else a chance to step up. But we don't need 2 exclusive running half backs, we need one at least to take some control of the kicking game with accuracy and length, which is a hard role to take on.

Would love to see the %'s on kicks going to hand and kicks finding the floor from the half backs in SL as I think Gaskell's would be quite high.