I think the best 17 should be the side with the players that are best suited to defeating the opposition, this can vary from match to match.
In some games you may be playing against a side thats a bit lightweight so you could go for size and bully them across the park.
Another week and you may play a team like Wire or Leeds who have a decent pack but also plenty of pace and good field kickers. Therefore you need to incorporate more speed in your backline along with a strong kick game.
Furthermore we know this is Melis last season coming up and possibly also Wello's, therefore there has to be rotation at fullback and wing to manage the transition for 2014.
However I suspect the backline will probably look like this for most games
Wellens
Makinson
Turner
Meli
Foster
Meli and Turner give us good pace and power on the first tackle option following a kick return. This then can put the defending team on the backfoot, allowing Roby or whoever goes into dummy half to either scoot or bring the forwards into play on the next play.
We need to move Wello out in some of the lesser home games and for these i would look to playing Swift at Fullback. The perfect modern fullback is fast, elusive and has a good rugby brain. Swift we have already seen is fast and agile. He also is a standoff by trade so should have the footballing brain as well. The one thing we dont know is how he handles the positional and pressure side of fullback. This we need to find out by giving him matches against the likes of Salford and Widnes at home.
Josh Jones would not be out in the wilderness, but i think he was overused a bit last year, as for me it was noticeable that he faded a bit later on in the season. Its a real tough ask for a teenager to play nearly 20 games against men. So this year i would look to possibly bring him in for 10- 15 games. Possibly interchanging with Meli from the bench. Josh is actually an ideal bench sub as he can cover second row and standoff as well. Who knows maybe Josh will also be seen at loose forward in the future.
Wheeler. Got all the talent, but he really needs to stay clear of injury, otherwise i think Saints will waive the white flag with him. Defo got the talent to start in the centres or halves, but can you afford to risk it, knowing there is a good chance he will get an injury. Think he will get 10 or so games next season, but would like him to play a full injury free season so we could see if he can make that step to star player status.
The halves is another toughy. Basically we can go for Lomax, Gaskell, Wheeler and Hohoia.
I think Lomax is a bang on certainty. I'd be tempted to pair him with Wheeler.
What of Gaskell and Hohoia. I think Lance could be used as interchange hooker and perhaps in some games will be used as starting hooker with Roby getting a breather or being played at Loose forward.
Gaskell. I can see Brown using him in some games in a quasi loose forward role, similar to that in which he had Kevin Brown operating.
What is sure is i think he will be given more game time than this year, as he needs to be brought on.
I dont think its worth talking about the pack as they will get rotated to help them get over knocks and also stay fresh.
One things for sure the pack will be big and mobile and have plenty of depth.
