I dont understand this constant criticism of Wellens and the thought that pretty much any player with a bit of speed can play better at fullback.
There was never any of this criticism 5 years ago even though his game hasnt changed that much over that time.So what has changed in that time since there were always fullbacks who were better attacking than defending?
There is one thing to my mind that has set peoples expectations to be higher than they previously were and that is the ability of Tomkins. The way that he plays at fullback isnt a new thing - but it is by a British player - the bar was set by Slater but before him there were any number of other fullbacks who were doing the same thing - they just werent as good at it - Webb, Hodgson, Greenshields are examples of these.
You can go even further back and look at the two different styles of fullback play players such as Dave Lyon, Alan Tait all played a far more attacking style - but it was always at the expense of their other fullback skills, tackling, positional sense, Radlinski took it a step further by also having an all round game, we even tried Alan Hunte at fullback who looked really good for about 2 games till other teams realised he wasnt a natural fullback.
The point I am trying to make is that not only do you need a player who is fast, evasive with handling skills of a halfback to emulate the way Tomkins and Slater play - but you also need good halfbacks to create that space for them to exploite who also in turn need a dominant pack. It was evident in the most recent defeats for Wigan that without the last 2 the first doesnt show up. It simply will not work just changing the fullback.
The simple fact of the matter is that from the team we have right now we can either
Play Wellens as the best fullback we have at the club
Play Lomax there but we are then left with no halfback with the skill to produce space - we would also weaken our structure as he would need to learn the role
Put Makinson/Swift/any other outside back there who dont have the handling skills and would take a couple of years to fully understand the full backs role (Tomkins made the transition from halfback to fullback with the 1:1 coaching of Radlinski - that sped up the process) and may never be as good as Wellens is right now.
Bring in someone from outside who already has the required attributes the cost and just who would that be seem to be limiting factors to this.
There are anumber of clubs who have changed their option at fullback this year - most of who are not getting the results they would like - Hull, Huddersfield, Cas, Widnes, Bradford. And others who are getting some success - Leeds.
A blinkered view of a particular individual doesnt resolve the problems we may have.