Re: Francis Meli : Fri Mar 22, 2013 10:49 am  

snowdog wrote:

I trust the coaches at the club keep an eye on the junior players and decide when they are ready for their first team debut.I very much doubt Meli has kept any youngster out of the first team,unless you mean Foster!

Well, you have just said you trust the coaches to keep an eye on the junior players so that suggests you have no idea yourself who might be looking good for the wing spot.

Re: Francis Meli : Fri Mar 22, 2013 10:52 am  

SaintsFan wrote:

Wasn't that the game in which Robes was sinbinned? If so then that would be the reason why they ran us close: we couldn't operate without Robes.

Dread to think what we are going to be like for the next 10 weeks!

This period without robes could be good for us, we'll have to develop a plan B! Mind you we did ok in the second half against wakey

Re: Francis Meli : Fri Mar 22, 2013 11:30 am  

Dux wrote:

Just to add some perspective to this discussion, Meli has made fewer mistakes this season than plenty of SL wingers, including Josh Charnley, Ryan Hall and Jamie Foster. He's also on a perfectly respectable 8 missed tackles.

Last season he only made 14 handling errors all year, compared to 31 by Hall, 30 by Cockayne, 29 by Ah Van, 27 by Chris Riley, Damien Blanch and Kieran Dixon, 26 by Josh Griffin, 25 by Josh Charnley, 23 by Joel Monaghan, 22 by BJB, 20 by Tom Briscoe, 16 by Luke George and 15 by Jermaine McGilvary. His mistake count was equal with Pat Richards, who missed a lot of games and whom many people would say is the safest winger in SL.

I realise the stats don't tell the entire story, but this is surely an indication that the notion that Meli consistently gives away points with mistakes is one based on prejudice rather than disinterested observation.

<fingers in ears> Lalalalalala, I'm not listening, lalalalalala, Meli is useless, lalalalalala, good riddance, lalalalala, he's not in good form he makes too many mistakes, lalalalala.

Re: Francis Meli : Fri Mar 22, 2013 11:32 am  

TheVee wrote:

Name a winger that doesn't make mistakes, then Name me 3 wingers in Super League that would be willing to come to Saints that can match Meli's abilities. Everyone is entitled to an opinion but seriously your lack of rugby knowledge is really annoying. He is prone to a couple of mistakes but he more than makes up for them and has done for the last 8 years!

Who needs telly?

Re: Francis Meli : Fri Mar 22, 2013 12:21 pm  

SaintsFan wrote:

Well, you have just said you trust the coaches to keep an eye on the junior players so that suggests you have no idea yourself who might be looking good for the wing spot.

Swift,Percival? I know one thing,theres no one better than Meli or else they would be playing

Re: Francis Meli : Fri Mar 22, 2013 12:34 pm  

snowdog wrote:

Swift,Percival? I know one thing,theres no one better than Meli or else they would be playing

Don't be silly there's a conspiracy to keep Meli in the team and Gaskell out of it don't you know??

Re: Francis Meli : Fri Mar 22, 2013 12:47 pm  

Saint Simon wrote:

Don't be silly there's a conspiracy to keep Meli in the team and Gaskell out of it don't you know??

Sorry mate,don't come on here that often.Thanks

Reading through some previous posts though you could have a valid point!

Re: Francis Meli : Fri Mar 22, 2013 1:10 pm  

SaintsFan wrote:

You're right, stats don't tell the entire story.

They certainly don't.
For instance, I would suggest that while Meli isn't as skilled as many of the mentioned wingers at taking kicks, the fact that he is so dangerous once he's got the ball is enough to put the opposition off from kicking the ball to him. If we were able to field a more effective winger on the other side of the pitch, perhaps Meli's error count would go up as more kicks would go to him.

Re: Francis Meli : Fri Mar 22, 2013 1:15 pm  

I'm actually surprised by the lack of errors from Meli, shown on those stats.

I do think it's a case of Meli making mistakes when he's in isolation or under the high ball.

Camera is focused on him and it just sticks in the memory more than say 10 or 12 knock on's with the line begging, from say a Ryan Hall.

Stats do bear out that he is not as costly as we would think, it's just the exposure of his mistakes seams more intense than others.

Top stats though can't really argue with them!!

Re: Francis Meli : Fri Mar 22, 2013 1:49 pm  

Saint Simon wrote:

This period without robes could be good for us, we'll have to develop a plan B! Mind you we did ok in the second half against wakey

Sincerely hope we will be able to. I don't want us to end up losing another coach so quickly!