2011 - The biff returns? : Wed Nov 03, 2010 4:53 pm  

There's a lot of things I'm looking forward to in 2011. Hopefully a full season out of Eastmond, Magennis with some more game time under his belt, can Wheeler kick on and become the player he's shown glimpses of? How will Meli go if played at centre for the year? What sort of rugby will we be playing under Simmons.

But far, far more than anything else, I'm looking forward to having two props who aren't averse to a bit of fisticuffs.

Teams have taken liberties with our pack since we lost the likes of Nickle, Apollo, Scully etc in my opinion and with no KC, we ran the risk of being a bit "easy" up front.

I reckon Perry and LMS will be happy to put an end to that.

Bring on Wigan first up - wind them up and let them go!

Re: 2011 - The biff returns? : Wed Nov 03, 2010 6:00 pm  

FearTheVee wrote:

There's a lot of things I'm looking forward to in 2011. Hopefully a full season out of Eastmond, Magennis with some more game time under his belt, can Wheeler kick on and become the player he's shown glimpses of? How will Meli go if played at centre for the year? What sort of rugby will we be playing under Simmons.

But far, far more than anything else, I'm looking forward to having two props who aren't averse to a bit of fisticuffs.

Teams have taken liberties with our pack since we lost the likes of Nickle, Apollo, Scully etc in my opinion and with no KC, we ran the risk of being a bit "easy" up front.

I reckon Perry and LMS will be happy to put an end to that.

Bring on Wigan first up - wind them up and let them go!

Bring back the Biff !

Re: 2011 - The biff returns? : Wed Nov 03, 2010 6:29 pm  

FearTheVee wrote:

How will Meli go if played at centre for the year?

According to the squad numbers, he is on the wing, with Gardner on the other wing, Soliola and Shenton as the centres. Dynamic backline there!

Re: 2011 - The biff returns? : Wed Nov 03, 2010 6:37 pm  

But you've still got that wimp Graham.

Re: 2011 - The biff returns? : Wed Nov 03, 2010 6:53 pm  

wigan_rlfc wrote:

But you've still got that wimp Graham.

We can see you , hiding behind that keyboard

Re: 2011 - The biff returns? : Wed Nov 03, 2010 7:17 pm  

What is with Saints fan's wanting to play Meli in the centre's. Yes with ball in hand he's quite a handful, but defensively as illustrated in the GF he's not up to scratch. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't believe he's got any experience of playing centre before his time at Saints, plus he's 31 now soon to be 32 the time for making him into a centre has passed.

Again as I've said before Saints have the best starting frontrow in the league, but that's where the "almighty pack" ends. A poor backrow apart from Puletua who at the minute seems incapable of playing many minutes anyway.

Can't wait for the season start regardless, should be a real humdinger to kick the season off.

Re: 2011 - The biff returns? : Wed Nov 03, 2010 7:20 pm  

Shaun Magennis is out for 3 months with yet another knee injury.

Re: 2011 - The biff returns? : Wed Nov 03, 2010 7:29 pm  

LovesToSpooge wrote:

What is with Saints fan's wanting to play Meli in the centre's. Yes with ball in hand he's quite a handful, but defensively as illustrated in the GF he's not up to scratch.

He's not up to scratch defensively on the wing, either, as has been illustrated in the previous Grand Finals (and almost every match where a high ball or grubber has been sent in his direction). Francis Meli is a defensive liability which IMO negates his strength of being hard to handle 10 inches away from the tryline.

But sadly (for us, not the opposition!) Saints have signed him for another two years. We will have him and Soliola on one edge, moving at about 5mph, and Gardner and Shenton on the other. Well, at least Shenton will never be caught for a forward pass. In fact, he had better start learning to lob, American football style, because Gardner will never keep up with him once he gets some space!

Btw, apparently Meli has played centre for Samoa but I don't know whether he played centre at club level.

Re: 2011 - The biff returns? : Wed Nov 03, 2010 7:30 pm  

Speed Merchant wrote:

Shaun Magennis is out for 3 months with yet another knee injury.

If that is true then he should be dropped. Clearly his knees are just not up to rugby league. He should retire and find another job as all he will do is cripple himself too young.

Re: 2011 - The biff returns? : Wed Nov 03, 2010 7:32 pm  

SaintsFan wrote:

He's not up to scratch defensively on the wing, either, as has been illustrated in the previous Grand Finals (and almost every match where a high ball or grubber has been sent in his direction). Francis Meli is a defensive liability which IMO negates his strength of being hard to handle 10 inches away from the tryline.

But sadly (for us, not the opposition!) Saints have signed him for another two years. We will have him and Soliola on one edge, moving at about 5mph, and Gardner and Shenton on the other. Well, at least Shenton will never be caught for a forward pass. In fact, he had better start learning to lob, American football style, because Gardner will never keep up with him once he gets some space!

Btw, apparently Meli has played centre for Samoa but I don't know whether he played centre at club level.

I'm getting the feeling your not Meli's greatest fan.