Livett wont be here next season.

When do you play there?

There's no point signing players like Johnson at all if we never play them or give them a chance. He's played once against Wigan, never looked out of place was my MOM and no body has seen him since.

If the lad isn't as good or better than Tasi than he shouldn't even be at the club.

Well said,sir !

Thing is, look at who's playing, currie has come back into the team, is he playing any better or worse than livett was when he was filling in?

Probably about the same.

I'd have been playing Johnson in the left 2nd row after that wigan game. A direct edge runner.

Thats one of the things that you can say about saints pack, all their props and back rowers seem to be direct runners which is what caused us problems this year.

Its something we're missing now.

Im typing this while im walking so apologies for the rant

Well I totally agree with that.

The problem is you can only have 13 players on the pitch at a time. We are probably in the position of having too many decent players covering a few positions (2nd row being a specific area) and relatively few opportunities to play them all (thankfully as it means few injuries). Not having a reserve team means it is almost impossible to impress the coach sufficiently to dislodge the incumbent.

I'm amazed that Johnson has only made the one appearance, given how well he played.
Hope he shows us what he can do, albeit in another team's colours.

Here’s me with my five penneth again! Luis Johnson will play for England or Great Britain or whatever we call ourselves at the time in the next 5 years. A fantastic prospect and I’m amazed he’s not featured in this years Warrington team!

Most of us are amazed as well! Could not have made a more impressive debut and yet hasnt played for the first team since.

Louis Johnson certainly looked to be a dead cert for the first team when we bought him. Last year he started off with 3 games for Rochdale, but then came back and played out the year with the U19's. I guess the alarm bells should have been ringing at that point because if he was performing at a high standard then he should have made an early appearance in the first team, gone out to a struggling SL team, or at the very least remained in the Championship. FWIW whenever I saw him in the U19's he didn't look particularly special and only managed one try in his 20 games. This year he went to Widnes on loan for a month but only played 1 game. Since mid April he has been a regular for Rochdale - I have not seen him play though.

He certainly looks a fine athlete when he walks onto the pitch, and he did well to chase down Gildart in the game against Wigan, but if all aspects of his game were up to a high standard, then why has he not been given a chance of another game with the first team ? If a first year like Thewliss can be given a first team game at FB, then certainly Price could have easily made room for Johnson in the second row, a much easier position to hide a youngster.

So I suspect the answer is that Johnson has simply not done enough to warrant a game. And if we say he should be given a chance, we are betting our judgement against a professional RL coach who will have watched Johnson's performances and dissected his game. Not good odds surely ?

I'm with Winslade's never impressed at u19s level. What have others seen to make them think he deserves a chance for the first team bar one game off the bench at Wigan (he's never played as well as that for the u19s)?