Feel free to point out any inaccuracies in what I've posted.

I am a big fan of both Yeamo and Welham, they both came from the same amateur club

Yeamo is on top form again and should be included this year imo....Welham has to improve in defence, once he achieves this he should undoubtedly be looking at international honours....Defence is just as important as offence, personally I actually put defence higher than offence in my ratings of any player, hence I think young Hougton is the bee's knee's.

Not trying to make excuses, but Dobson defends 1 in from Welham. This obviously doesn't make life easy for him. If he defended outside Newton I dont think you'd see as many missed tackles. However, to be international quality defence is one area for development.

In partial mitigation, a good number of Welham's missed tackles are down to him rushing out the line to kill an overlap - if he gets enough on a hit to prevent the pass and slow the opposition down for cover to get across, it is a brilliant piece of play, even if it is technically a missed tackle.

And he is under orders to do so.

And is also something that has been pointed out on here numerous times, I don't expect anyone to come with anything other than "his defence is rubbish" type comments though.

He doesn't even have to lay a hand on the player he's targeting to have done his job, as long as he makes them come back in field where the cover is then it's mission accomplished.

I do think he could improve some of his positional play at times but he's certainly not a weak link in defence.

I agre defence is high on the list but a quick question, would you have a player like soliola or michael monaghan in the team (if they were English) both are very high on the list of missed tackles.
Yeaman is the 4th highest error maker in SL, would he get in. Rangi chase is in the top of both these lists too. Yet he'd sail in.
Look at penalties conceded and the buchanen, westwood and o'louchlin are all in the top 5 offenders yet are shoe ins. Surely giving away pens is in some ways worse than missing a tackle.
Stats can be used anyway you want to use theem.

the only problem with shooting out of the line (whether under orders or not) is when you miss it usually results in an overlap and a try, which makes Welham look bad. his one on one tackling is generally pretty good, and he does get a few big hits in too, but i will agree with some of the above comments that its his defence which is keeping him out of the international scene.

Few rounds to go but when did the last leagues leading tryscorer for the season not play for his country?

One of JMs poorer tactics, was in vogue 30 years ago but has never been part of a successful side, shows lack of confidence in your defensive set up...

Perhaps if Welham started thinking for himself he might get somewhere, at 24 if he doesnt make the breakthrough soon he will have missed the boat...the likes of Watkins, Briscoe, Charnley ,Jones-Bishop, Evans ,Arundle , Wardle, Reed if he decides on England and others look like potential international three quarters., some are certainties..., all much younger than Welham...

Personally i think he could be a top class left winger...his defence would never be an issue, his ordinary passing wouldnt be an issue.,great finisher, good with the ball in the air etc.., be interesting to see how the new coach sees things....