Whilst the genesis of our troubles can be traced back to the decision to rely on kids two/three years before they were physically mature the nail in the coffin was allowing the Eastmond saga to drag on six-to-eight months longer than it should.

We should NEVER have been in a position where we were starting last season without knowing whether Eastmond would stay. McManus should have set an absolute deadline at the mid-point of the season before (sign or leave). That way we had time to look for a replacement scrum half. Even if it were only a short-term solution.

Unfortunately, the mistake was complicated by Lomax who admittedly did ok and convinced us we needed no such replacement. What we [ididn't realise[/i is part of his success against other teams can be attributable to unfamiliarity rather than his inherent ability as a scrum half. Teams failed to pick him up precisely because they had no history on which to base a defensive strategy. After a season they had all the data they needed and now he's finding himself shut down and lacking the creative ability to think out of the box.

I think McManus has done a terrific job at saints with building the stadium and cutting the bank debt but his last two choices of coach have been terrible. I thought potter was bad until we got this current idiot.

On the recruitment side, we went to long not bringing players in (think we went two years without a single signing) when we was losing the likes of newlove, talau, gidley, long, Cunningham, scully etc.

I think we was unlucky last year with the three signings of shenton, LMS and perry as they seemed very good signings at the time but perry got injured, shenton has been average and LMS has been crap.

Its this years recruitment that will be tough to recover from. We've took to overseas spots up with players that have been asked to play out of postion and it's not worked. I know Royce wanted these three players and is good mates with two of them.

This years recruitment is crazy and entirly down to Royce Simmons and I'm shocked Macmanus allowed him to sign laffranchci and lance to play out of postion.

We are desperate to halfback and props but no quota spots available so god knows how we will get out this mess!

You referred to recently though, and recently Wire have won two Challenge Cups and a League Leaders Shield whereas we have won zip.

Also, our Chief Exec before he moved on stated quite clearly in the press that we had not spent up to the salary cap this season.

And in addition, there is leeway now for clubs with international players who were brought in from their academy system to spend more than the regulation salary cap so there is some flexibility for Wigan, Wire and Leeds. It applies to us too but only for James Roby this season.

But Warrington didn't win trophies with a dud side AND THEN sign better players. They had already begun and effect followed cause. And they have CONTINUED to recruit well ever since.



Well, that's meaningless without knowing how far below the salary cap we were. In any case, we couldn't use money to recruit overseas stars because we had hit out quota. And McManus has repeatedly - season after season - claimed we are up to or around the cap. If that was true - and I have no evidence to doubt him - we were getting poor value for money. Clearly some players were being lollied way above their pay grade.



I don't see that as being an important issue at this moment. It may be in the future. But it's not giving Wigan and Warrington a colossal advantage over us.

Its not a nice situation to disect, as Saints are in a rut (nothing more, mind).

People can point fingers at the players, but, whilst they may not be a team of world beaters, they are capable of a lot more than thy're currently showing.

Foster's a good example. I was never his biggest fan, but I was very positive about what he could bring to us. He wasn't the fastest or biggest, but he complimented his place kicking by being quite error free. Remember when Stevo gave him MoM after he caught that high ball in the last minute of the derby? For an extended period he looked like a very safe pair of hands, now he looks like he couldn't catch the clap in a toxteth brothel.

Johnny Lomax - young player of the year 2011, looks utterly lost.
Michael Shenton - deserved England centre at cas, hardly gets the ball.
LMS - promising talent gone AWOL.
Josh Perry - Former Aussie prop, struggles with form and fitness.
Laffranchi - Former international with a reknowned proffesional attitude
Tony P - Named in Penrith ALL TIME 17, has been massive for us in the past, only turns in 10 mins a game.
Francis Meli - Like him or loathe him, he's a massive attacking asset, hardly getting a sniff at the moment.

I could go on, but for all these players to be performing below par then there's something fundamentally wrong with the workings of the squad, which is the coach's responsibility, whether its tactics, man management or something else.

There didn't look like a lack of desire or will from the players when they were defending the line late in the game on Saturday, but they're spending half the game wandering around not knowing where they should be or what's coming next.

Mr Big is accountable completely for the appointment of Simmons (which was a gamble many of us highlighted).

Blaming him for recruitment is useless unless you're going to consider fully the availability of players matched with our own financial circumstances and apportion some of the blame with the coaches during those times you're assessing. You can't say "He should have recruited this or this" if those players weren't available, had no interest in coming to Saints or would not have been worth the investment. That's a complex argument right there and requires far more than soundbite analysis.