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| My first choice side when everyone is fit and healthy would be
Lomax
Makinson
Percival
Turner
Swift
Burns
Walsh
Walmsley
Roby
Amor
Greenwood
McCarthy-Scarsbrook
Wilkin
Bench
Fages
Vea
Tasi
Thompson
I know some of you will have your own prefences when it comes to team selection and that's normal. I do generally believe Cunningham has strengthened the squad well. The signing in particular of Theo Fages has impressed me and like KC says slashing Roby's minutes on the field is vital so we don't break the player and Fages can learn from Walsh for at least 12 months before he decides to go back to Australia. I don't know much about Peryoux so I really cant pass comment on him until I have seen him in the opening rounds of the season. Jack Owens will prove to be a great signing in my opinion, that lad has some serious potential and at a club like St Helens he can only improve and in time will become one of the best Full Backs in the league, I am genuinely confident of that.
My expectations are that we should be fighting on all fronts for the trophies on offer this year. We were desperately close to getting to two major finals last year. The Cup Semi-Final was of our own doing. We couldn't handle Leeds in the first 50 or so minutes and when we did start to play it was too late. The Semi-Final in the Super League we were truly outstanding from 1st minute to the 80th and one moment of complete brilliance from Kevin Sinfield took the game away from us and we all know what happened next. KC will be a better coach this year for last years experience, he will be more determined than ever to see us succeed this year and I believe with abit of luck, stay away from any serious injuries we could well do something special this year. We have a settled squad of players that will only improve, the vast majority of this squad has won a major trophy and knows how to win big games, In Cunningham and Longy we have two coaches that know how to win big trophies on the playing side and like I said before they will be better coaches from last years experience.
Lets hope for a great 2016
Foz
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| I think top 4 would be a good finish. Maybe decent cup run. I don't think we will win anything
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| Looks like he has joined Sheffield. I like his new haircut. Knocks years off him.
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| My expectations are a top 6 finish and a season of frustration. The signings we've made are very poor. Only Fages has the potential to improve us and I fear that the intended use of him this season will ruin any chance he has of making it at Saints. Instead of using him as a utility player and chopping between 7 and 9 all the time, we should be identifying his intended position and putting him there now full time. Tasi is a poor signing, a very average player at Salford and he'll contribute little this season. Peyroux is an absolute joke signing, a player who was a fringe professional in the NRL and definitely not getting another professional contract. Owens is a mid-table SL player, no more.
Fullback will be an issue for us this season, Lomax looks to still be having issues (What is the truth on him?). Centres are fine, Percival will hopefully grow into one of the league's best centres this year, Turner will hopefully be 'okay'. Both wingers are fine, but not dangerous individually. The halves are a real concern for me, Burns hasn't hit the heights people thought he would and Walsh, for all his quality just hasn't shown up for Saints. I'd have cut both from the squad this year.
In short, solid but not capable of winning a trophy. Add a quality prop and a big backrower and we'd compete.
Top 4 has got to be the aim, but I'm not sure how realistic that is. Leeds, Wigan, Warrington and Huddersfield would all feel confident about being a better side than us and Cas, Catalans and potentially even Hull could be in and around us. It's not going to be easy to get top 4 this season. For all we mock Warrington, they've again reshaped their squad and could be much stronger this season. Wigan don't seem to have improved much but they're so well drilled they would be top 4 with any squad of players. Leeds are potentially due a slip in standards, but their recruitment is far better than our's and they have some outstanding players so hard to see them dropping too much. We need to start the season strongly and get ahead of Warrington and Leeds in particular as they integrate their new players.
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| Quote ="Saddened!"My expectations are a top 6 finish and a season of frustration. The signings we've made are very poor. Only Fages has the potential to improve us and I fear that the intended use of him this season will ruin any chance he has of making it at Saints. Instead of using him as a utility player and chopping between 7 and 9 all the time, we should be identifying his intended position and putting him there now full time. Tasi is a poor signing, a very average player at Salford and he'll contribute little this season. Peyroux is an absolute joke signing, a player who was a fringe professional in the NRL and definitely not getting another professional contract. Owens is a mid-table SL player, no more.
Fullback will be an issue for us this season, Lomax looks to still be having issues (What is the truth on him?). Centres are fine, Percival will hopefully grow into one of the league's best centres this year, Turner will hopefully be 'okay'. Both wingers are fine, but not dangerous individually. The halves are a real concern for me, Burns hasn't hit the heights people thought he would and Walsh, for all his quality just hasn't shown up for Saints. I'd have cut both from the squad this year.
In short, solid but not capable of winning a trophy. Add a quality prop and a big backrower and we'd compete.
Top 4 has got to be the aim, but I'm not sure how realistic that is. Leeds, Wigan, Warrington and Huddersfield would all feel confident about being a better side than us and Cas, Catalans and potentially even Hull could be in and around us. It's not going to be easy to get top 4 this season. For all we mock Warrington, they've again reshaped their squad and could be much stronger this season. Wigan don't seem to have improved much but they're so well drilled they would be top 4 with any squad of players. Leeds are potentially due a slip in standards, but their recruitment is far better than our's and they have some outstanding players so hard to see them dropping too much. We need to start the season strongly and get ahead of Warrington and Leeds in particular as they integrate their new players.'"
I think Tasi can be a decent signing and if his attitude is right he will be a definite upgrade on mose. He will give us meters, aggression and play longer mins than mose so imo it's a upgrade.
Theo has potential and impressed last season when Salford had no halves so I think he improves the squad.
Peyroux has been awful every time I've seen him play. He's big and soft. His defence is on par with Turner and his attack consists of a silly skip and jump before he hits the line so Based on this he will be a hit with saints fans as he smiles and Samoan.
Jack Owens is a funny one. Certainly has potential and looks decent but we have Lomax, SMD, Bailey in our first team squad and the likes of swifty, Tommy and theo who cover fullback spot. If he's on rubbish wage then I'm happy but I know his salary at widnes and I'm sure he's not took less money.
We need lomax back to his best and need to keep Walsh(if he's got bottle back), Walmsley, Vea and Roby fit most of the year or we will be toothless in attack again.
I'd go
Lomax
Tommy
Turner
Percy
Swift
Burns
Walsh
Walmsley
Roby
Amor
Vea
LMS
Wilkin
Fages
Tasi
Greenwood
Sav
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| I've said for years that Saints won't move forward as a club until they cut their losses and release Jonny Lomax.
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| Quote ="Pacific"I've said for years that Saints won't move forward as a club until they cut their losses and release Jonny Lomax.'"
Seeing as it was only little over 18 months ago that he got a season ending injury away at Catalans, exactly how many "years" ago did you start thinking we should cut our losses?
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| Quote ="Pacific"I've said for years that Saints won't move forward as a club until they cut their losses and release Jonny Lomax.'"
Seriously? Even before he got injured and was at times a one man attack for us. He was our go to man with ball. Safe as houses under the kick and very rare missed a tackle.
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| A top 4 finish is a good finish and I am confident we can achieve that. I suspect the position you finish in the top 4 is less important than how you get there.
The problem for us in 2015 was the Leeds Rhinos and given that they will not be the same team in 2016 immediately improves our chances regardless of how we perform.
I would personally like to get to the cup final. That has been what I have wanted at the start of every season for the last few years.
Looking at our signing Fages is a massive boost, he will either keep Walsh honest or replace him completely. The only small problem with that is Fages is not the best kicker. Tasi for Mose is a loss as a lot of our tries came off Mose runs in 2015 and Tasi looks more of a worker. Jones for Peyroux is also a down grade but I suspect that Ashworth will be Jones true replacement and could easily turn into a better player in the long run. Owens looks a good player and will provide us with cover at our trouble position of Fullback as well as better cover than Dawson on the wing.
Looking at the rest of the competition there is no reason why this can't be our season.
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| Am expecting a top 4 finish and a challenge cup appearance, there is not any teams out there with outstanding quality players so I suppose strength in depth might work in our favour for 2016. I'm still non the wiser what the coach is going to do with Turner, if Peyroux is getting centre spot then we've got the other side of the coin.....Peyroux can defend but can't attack, Turner can attack but can't defend.
I'm expecting Walsh to get us organised this year, lots of pressure on Burns, we potentially have decent strength in the of backs for injuries or off form scenarios.
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| Quote ="Judder Man"Am expecting a top 4 finish and a challenge cup appearance, there is not any teams out there with outstanding quality players so I suppose strength in depth might work in our favour for 2016. I'm still non the wiser what the coach is going to do with Turner, if Peyroux is getting centre spot then we've got the other side of the coin.....Peyroux can defend but can't attack, Turner can attack but can't defend.
I'm expecting Walsh to get us organised this year, lots of pressure on Burns, we potentially have decent strength in the of backs for injuries or off form scenarios.'"
Peyroux good in defence? Have you seen this guy play ? He's awful in defence and is worse than Turner defensively
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| Top 2 finish easily along with Leeds. Wigan have no pack and their backs are average with the exception of Tomkins. Warrington have just signed a bunch of journeymen. The other teams in SL arent worth debating
Regards
King James
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| Quote ="Lebron James"Top 2 finish easily along with Leeds. Wigan have no pack and their backs are average with the exception of Tomkins. Warrington have just signed a bunch of journeymen. The other teams in SL arent worth debating
Regards
King clown '"
Warrington have recruited very well and will certainly improve this year. Wigan finished above us last year as did huds so to completely disregard other teams is laughable
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| Quote ="Lebron James"
Wigan have no pack and their backs are average with the exception of Tomkins. '"
With the kind of injury Tomkins is recovering from its questionable if he ever comes back the same player.
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| Quote ="St pete"Warrington have recruited very well and will certainly improve this year. Wigan finished above us last year as did huds so to completely disregard other teams is laughable'"
I think we only finished below Wigan and Huddersfield because of our cup hangover. It took a while for the team to get over not being able to beat Leeds, we looked like the second best team in the comp last year and this year we should look like the best.
I do agree that there are more threats outside the big 4...
Huddersfield are a good bet for finishing top as they have the potential to be the most consistent team. They need to get over their big game phobia to do anything beyond the regular season.
Hull FC could have the best pack in the league after having a very poor one. If Radford has anything about him the KC could become a fortress again in 2016.
Castleford were the form team at the end of 2015 and only missed out because they started slowly (3 losses to start the year) without that they are a play off quality team.
Catalan are always dangerous and they only have to travel a bit better to get a top 4 place after the round robin stage. Then 4 more home games and a shot at a top 2 finish and a home semi. Finishing 4th instead of 5th after the first stage is massive for them.
I do disagree about Wire, a few interesting signings, Sandow looked like he was on holiday last year. If they play to their potential they could be a good team but it is hard to see that happening.
I suspect that the top 8 will be the same as last year unless Salford pull themselves together and Wire/Hull FC really fall apart.
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| Quote ="Noel Cleal"I think we only finished below Wigan and Huddersfield because of our cup hangover. It took a while for the team to get over not being able to beat Leeds, we looked like the second best team in the comp last year and this year we should look like the best.
I do agree that there are more threats outside the big 4...
Huddersfield are a good bet for finishing top as they have the potential to be the most consistent team. They need to get over their big game phobia to do anything beyond the regular season.
Hull FC could have the best pack in the league after having a very poor one. If Radford has anything about him the KC could become a fortress again in 2016.
Castleford were the form team at the end of 2015 and only missed out because they started slowly (3 losses to start the year) without that they are a play off quality team.
Catalan are always dangerous and they only have to travel a bot better to get a top 4 place after the round robin stage. Then 4 more home games and a shot at a top 2 finish and a home semi. Finishing 4th instead of 5th after the first stage is massive for them.
I do disagree about Wire, a few interesting signings, Sandow looked like he was on holiday last year. If they play to their potential they could be a good team but it is hard to see that happening.
I suspect that the top 8 will be the same as last year unless Salford pull themselves together and Wire/Hull FC really fall apart.'"
Let's hope we don't have cup hangover this year
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| Quote ="St pete"Let's hope we don't have cup hangover this year'"
Agreed, and we think we can beat Leeds
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| Quote ="Noel Cleal"Agreed, and we think we can beat Leeds'"
I think we will struggle to make top 4 this unless we improve in the halves massively. We was so easy to defend against last year and come big games you need big players to make things happen. Walsh and Burns was poor last year and a lot will depend on them this year.
If Walmsley or Roby miss games we will struggle big time as we lack go foward. I'm hoping tasi will provide us with some as we depend on big Alex and Robes. Some of our stats for meters gained last year from the likes of mose, amor, Richards etc was poor.
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| I hope KC isn't thinking of playing percy on wing this year. I know he's been training as winger in practice. I know we have swifty and Tommy injured but don't we have wingers in reserve ? I like players playing in their proper positions.
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| Quote ="St pete"I hope KC isn't thinking of playing percy on wing this year. I know he's been training as winger in practice. I know we have swifty and Tommy injured but don't we have wingers in reserve ? I like players playing in their proper positions.'"
He's been training there as Makinson and Swift haven't been fully fit. Percival will be our 1st choice centre, without a doubt, as long as we have 2 fit wingers for the start of the season.
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| Quote ="The Yellow Giraffe"He's been training there as Makinson and Swift haven't been fully fit. Percival will be our 1st choice centre, without a doubt, as long as we have 2 fit wingers for the start of the season.'"
Why wouldn't you want to play and train with the best centre at the Club playing in the centre? Why not use Dawson and Bailey/wellington/Grace on the wing and training ?
Percy should be centre no matter what. I just can't believe KC hasn't been puting percy there as that's how players gel and learn new plays in pre season training and practice games, yet we have our best centre getting cold on the wing.
Tbh I'm gobsmacked
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| Quote ="St pete"Why wouldn't you want to play and train with the best centre at the Club playing in the centre? Why not use Dawson and Bailey/wellington/Grace on the wing and training ?
Percy should be centre no matter what. I just can't believe KC hasn't been puting percy there as that's how players gel and learn new plays in pre season training and practice games, yet we have our best centre getting cold on the wing.
Tbh I'm gobsmacked'"
I agree with you in that I think he should have kept Percy at centre and played Wellington on the wing for example.
However there's no danger that this is some sort of long term plan to change his position.
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| Quote ="The Yellow Giraffe"I agree with you in that I think he should have kept Percy at centre and played Wellington on the wing for example.
However there's no danger that this is some sort of long term plan to change his position.'"
But it's this sort of crazy stuff that worries me. He messed players around last year and didn't work. Percy is a out and out centre.
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| Quote ="St pete"But it's this sort of crazy stuff that worries me. He messed players around last year and didn't work. Percy is a out and out centre.'"
He is. But it's not a normal position to be in to have both of our first choice wingers missing during pre-season. I wouldn't worry mate.
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