Re: Soliola Interview : Fri Dec 03, 2010 1:42 pm  

St pete wrote:

Totally agree mate. I told you tony p was a better prop

Tony P won me over as a prop last season, I must say. If we didn't have Soliola I'd probably still want him in the back row, but now that we have that option let's get him up front.

The Offside Monkey wrote:

Keep Meli away from the centres. Sooner or later, he's going to start making a right hash of it.

This much is probably true - he is a bit of an accident waiting to happen. But, in fairness, that's true wherever we play him. The theory that he'll do least damage out on the wing can be called into question by his grand final howlers against Leeds (I personally don't think he was at fault this year v Wigan - I think we were compressing way too quickly in the middle and leaving our threequarters exposed, on both sides).

Either way, if he's fit, Wheeler gets the centre spot IMO. But obviously that's a big 'if'.

Re: Soliola Interview : Fri Dec 03, 2010 1:53 pm  

Could we not put Meli somewhere in the pack? He'll still have his powerful running but won't have exposure to massive howlers, he can tackle when he gets near people so that shouldn't be a problem. Flannery can comfortably cover centre from what i've seen, doesn't offer much pace but will do a solid enough job. Wheeler can also play there if fit. Meli seems to have lost a lot of his pace too, so either way i think we'll have a slow centre.

Re: Soliola Interview : Fri Dec 03, 2010 1:54 pm  

Dux wrote:

Tony P won me over as a prop last season, I must say. If we didn't have Soliola I'd probably still want him in the back row, but now that we have that option let's get him up front.

This much is probably true - he is a bit of an accident waiting to happen. But, in fairness, that's true wherever we play him. The theory that he'll do least damage out on the wing can be called into question by his grand final howlers against Leeds (I personally don't think he was at fault this year v Wigan - I think we were compressing way too quickly in the middle and leaving our threequarters exposed, on both sides).

Either way, if he's fit, Wheeler gets the centre spot IMO. But obviously that's a big 'if'.

I understand what your saying, meli is a accident waiting to happen and by playing him centre keeps him away from his cock ups with kicks but it's pretty poor on saints behalf keeping a player that mistakes cost us in big games every year.

Ive said for the last two seasons that tony p is better at prop We get more out of him at prop, he gets the ball in his hands more and is tough to put down.

I think saints next year in Graham, Tony p, Perry and LMS will have the best front row in super league with clough acting as prop/secondrow.

It's a shame we didn't retain jake emmitt to make up as our 5th prop as i feel he would have become 1st choice prop over the next two seasons at saints.

Re: Soliola Interview : Fri Dec 03, 2010 1:59 pm  

BackrowSaint wrote:

Could we not put Meli somewhere in the pack? He'll still have his powerful running but won't have exposure to massive howlers, he can tackle when he gets near people so that shouldn't be a problem. Flannery can comfortably cover centre from what i've seen, doesn't offer much pace but will do a solid enough job. Wheeler can also play there if fit. Meli seems to have lost a lot of his pace too, so either way i think we'll have a slow centre.

Meli would do a job in the backrow but i don't think he's fit enough to play there fulltime. IMO we should have let meli go but now he's here he should stick on the wing as thats his postion.

Flannery has played his best rugby the centre for us IMO but he also lacks that defensive know how in the centre, he tends to get drawn in pretty easy which is ok against most centres but the good ones will leave him.

Meli and flannery will never make good fulltime centres but will do a job. With a bit of luck wheeler will show us just how good he can be.

When was the last time we had two out and out centres playing together at saints?

Re: Soliola Interview : Fri Dec 03, 2010 2:01 pm  

BackrowSaint wrote:

Could we not put Meli somewhere in the pack? He'll still have his powerful running but won't have exposure to massive howlers, he can tackle when he gets near people so that shouldn't be a problem. Flannery can comfortably cover centre from what i've seen, doesn't offer much pace but will do a solid enough job. Wheeler can also play there if fit. Meli seems to have lost a lot of his pace too, so either way i think we'll have a slow centre.

I'd be happy to see it tried, although I don't think he's slowed down all that much myself. I'd definitely pick Wheeler in the centres before Flannery though.

St Pete wrote:

but it's pretty poor on saints behalf keeping a player that mistakes cost us in big games every year.

Indeed. It's a shame, as he does offer a lot going forward. He's just one of those players that makes you wince when the action goes his way.

St Pete wrote:

I think saints next year in Graham, Tony p, Perry and LMS will have the best front row in super league with clough acting as prop/secondrow

Yep, it's quite a fearsome set of props, that. Emmit looks like a good prop to me too, but with the salary cap I don't think we could justify keeping him, to be fair. He'll do well at Cas.

Re: Soliola Interview : Fri Dec 03, 2010 2:02 pm  

St pete wrote:

When was the last time we had two out and out centres playing together at saints?

Offt the top of my head I would have to go with Gidders and Talau, can't think of anybody else.

Re: Soliola Interview : Fri Dec 03, 2010 2:08 pm  

BackrowSaint wrote:

Offt the top of my head I would have to go with Gidders and Talau, can't think of anybody else.

Your prob correct. was that about 3yr ago ?

It's strange how we only ever seem to play with one centre and have anyone filling in the other centre spot.

Re: Soliola Interview : Fri Dec 03, 2010 2:19 pm  

St pete wrote:

Your prob correct. was that about 3yr ago ?

It's strange how we only ever seem to play with one centre and have anyone filling in the other centre spot.

He went to salford for the start of 2009, so 2 years now.

I agree, we only seem to want one centre, i don't know if there's some long term plan for our centres or its just being neglected. I think it's silly leaving us with only one centre though as it is a key position.

Re: Soliola Interview : Fri Dec 03, 2010 3:56 pm  

Dux wrote:

Tony P won me over as a prop last season, I must say. If we didn't have Soliola I'd probably still want him in the back row, but now that we have that option let's get him up front.

I think what we wanted from Tony skewed our veiw of him.
We were used to having a strong front row with a lighter back row. Leeds had Ali Lau running round out wide causing havoc. We wanted that and Tony was the man to provide it.
However, in the past 2 years his ability to play prop (very well) has proved more valuable to the squad than his ability to play back row.

Now, we may have a bit more back up in the prop dept now, but Tony's 2 years older, so he may find prop a bit more natural.

Re Meli - I echo Dux's sentiment that Wheeler's the guy for centre if he's fit. To be honest, I'd think about using Meli as an impact 2nd rower on the bench, who can then cover wing or centre.