How good was it to see a Saints back galloping free tonight? Percival had a fantastic game tonight, some superb centre play to put the kid over in the corner and a constant threat to Widnes. He's got that effortless class elite players always seem to have, he doesn't need to do anything really, drift out, change angle slightly and he's away. Makinson for me was the difference tonight. We'd have lost that game over the past few seasons as we wouldn't have scored enough points. He made three stunning contributions tonight, the try saving tackle, the break for Fleming's try and his solo effort. He's solid under the high ball, can tackle and has pace. If he could work on chiming into the line he'd be an outstanding fullback.

What to say about the rest of them? I thought Savelio was again superb when he was on the field, LMS played well and Mose lead a much improved showing from the props tonight.

Percival and Watkins will be England's centres for a long while.

I,m glad Percy is back, the team has better balance when he is in the back line, very natural gifted player, he should get much better service with Walsh and Burns controlling things.

With Mose when St Petes away then Mose will play!!!

Completely agree with everything you've said here Saddended.

Percival and Makinson gave us that star quality in the backs to win that game last night. Percival was incredible. His 1st game in 7 weeks and he showed Josh Jones how a Centre should play. He's a complete natural and when his body fills out in a few years he will be up there with the best.

Spot on about Makinson too, he was superb and those 3 moments you mention won us the game. I'm glad you noticed his weakness at full back about him chiming into the line. He runs laterally far too much when chiming in rather than arcing his run like a natural full back will do. Understandable given it's not his natural position but if he could work on that and learn the trade he has the pace to be a real threat in that position because the rest of his game is very solid all round and he has pace to burn.

The only thing I'd add is Jon Wilkin's performance. I thought he was excellent last night and looks much better in back row where he's not relied upon to be our creative player. He can still throw a pass on the edge but running off Burns and Walsh he was hitting some really strong lines and making good yards with the ball.

He played fullback a lot in his junior days and his try for the 2011 GF was from chiming into the line beautifully. I rather think he has 'unlearned' how to be a fullback because he has spent the last three years learning how to be a winger.

I think you need to watch that try again haha. He took the ball at 1st receiver and kicked through. Nothing even close to "chiming into the line."

Well, I definitely remember him chiming in, and on both sides of the field too.

HOwever, since the 2011 GF was one I wanted to forget, I will happily own up to conflating more than one move by him in the course of the game, albeit entirely by accident.

Fully agree with this. I mentioned that he will be looking forward to defending as a middle again before the match and he relished it, I imagine his tackle stats were high. He isn't cut out for defending on the edges and teams were starting to notice it, especially Leeds. He was superb last night both in his running and his defense around the ruck.

The other player who was superb was Kevin Brown. Had he had his head screwed on as a young lad at Wigan, he could have been up there with the best.

Think he was actually a centre the majority of the time, although he's never seen senior action in that position.

Thats correct I'm pretty sure his debut was also at centre, Foster was also a centre but because of lack of size debut was on the wing. The thing with Makinson though is that he is now a mature player and could quickly adapt to any of the outside backs, fans would have to be patient though and not expect him to be up and running after a couple of games, at full back you would need over 8 to 10 games to get productive in that position. My preference though is Makinson on the wing or maybe Fleming will develop quickly to be an alternative option for KC to think about.

Makinson, whilst inconspicuous, is proficient, determined and - most importantly - he [ugets the job done[/u.

A bit like a Mafia hitman.

I'm only going off what I've read from interviews with him. He has said he played both and he also said, originally certainly, that he preferred fullback.

If he was a star in the under19s (his try scoring ratio was very high, I remeber) then they probably moved him where they'd get the most use. He definitely wasn't a winger, though.

Percival just brought a touch of class and shows what we need on the other side too.

Makinson had a great game. I had my doubts about him being full back but he's showed a glimpse last night that he can do well in that position.

Yes, he said he had never played on the wing before doing so at first grade. I think the job he has made of it shows he has both talent and application, which is also why I think he should be left at fullback to grow into the role. He is showing very good signs there.

I must say I was very against moving Makinson to fullback initially, but he has impressed me and is showing real signs of being able to fully adopt and grow in the role. He is a truly talented player.

I wouldn't at this point move him back even after Wellens is fit.

Maybe we've moved T-Mak to FB because we know Lomax is done? Perhaps KC feels Tommy can learn his trade at FB in the next few months before the real part of the season kicks in?

I'm sure your right. There is no way that Saints will sign a Fullback at this stage of the season. It gives Tommy the chance to settle in and perhaps then we can look at a big winger that KC was on about for next season.

We have tried to bring a fullback in this year.

Tommy was a centre originally. I like Tommy and called for him to play fullback when Lomax got injured but for me he's a great player to cover fullback but Imo isn't a fullback.

His defence At fullback is top class and was unsung hero in the grand final for that game saving tackle he made wbich Imo was worldclass. He's safe under the high ball and his work ethic and attitude is second to none but I don't think he's good enough on kick returns at the moment and hasn't the natural ability to to chime into the line like a top fullback.

Maybe a extended run might improve this part of his game but I've always thought his kick returns isn't crash hot at fullback.

So for me, I'm happy to have him as cover but I prefer tommy on the wing where he's a deadly finisher. Take them one handed tries away last year and we might have finished a little lower in the league.

I really can't think of a better kick return than to score a try with one. But hey-ho, I suppose some people are never happy!

Some people didn't see it because they are on holiday and one run doesnt mean your good at kick returns, even Leon Felton made a break once but hey-ho, if one run makes you happy that's cool.

His kick returns is equally likely to be exposed as a winger as opposed a fullback, and not a reason to keep him in one position over the other.

His ability to chime into the line is relatively weak, but that comes with time and practice as with any pivot. An extended run can see it as a viable option.

If we brought in (for example) Lineham from Hull, taking pressure off Makinson in kick returns and early drives in sets, would it not be a workable solution?

He was moved to fullback because there was no one else.

If you watch Sam tomkins in his last season in super league, it was very rare he'd do a kick return, he was using Charnley and Richards when possible and ive noticed a lot of NRL teams also have their fullback pass to their big wingers when possible for kick returns, so yes if we brought Lineham on manu from NZ warriors for another example then that would work.

However, the will be times when these type of wingers won't be available and Tommy is usually dead with the ball on kick returns.

Imo Tommy has become a good super league winger. His finishing is something Imo we need on the wing so I'm not convinced Tommy is the fullback solution long term but 100% the best option we have at the moment.

I know saints have searched the planet for a big fast strong winger so Id imagine both Brown and KC have the similar thought to me that our kick returns ain't good enough from the back three.

Are we in for Lineham? He looks like he could be a monster given time.