Have lost a massive amount of weight in the off season. Ran into most of them the last couple of weeks and there is a massive difference in body shape. The likes of Wilkin and Wheeler have totally different frames.

Hard work in training pays off!!

If Wheeler loses any weight, he is in danger of becoming even more invisible.

I think the younger players + wilkin will benefit most from the new fitness regime. However it wasn't all bad last year, roby was as good if not better than in the year he won mos

I'm sorry but you've lost me there... who is this Wheeler?

Out of order.

A player Wigan forced you to pay over the odds for.

Or maybe not, but only time will time will tell.

Good to hear. If they were fat and feigning injury I would hate them slightly more.

The key is getting them at their optimum playing weight.

That doesnt necessarily mean losing weight. In some players they may perform better with a few pounds put on.

Its upto the fitness guys to work out whats best for a player, taking into account their position and role within the team for the forthcoming season

Certainly Roby seemed to be at optimum weight last year.
While the extra timber on Wilkin reduced his speed and mobility.

From looking at Wilkins slmiline physique, i reckon he will be used a lot wider out this year. Fulfilling the wide running backrower role.

I personally think that this season with correct planning we could have an excellent balance within the pack of size and pace. Being able to go big, or fast depending on the opposition.

Wheeler needed to lose weight. He looked a right pudding last season.

I don't see why Saint's players losing weight during preseason should be considered a good thing. When Maguire joined Wigan he stated that our players weren't big enough or fast enough for his liking, so he went about increasing both. Now for the Saints fans out there who think their players are to big, I never noticed that they ever looked physically bigger than their opposition, certainly not when playing Wigan this year. If anything it was slightly the other way around.

I think the key is, or certainly has been at Wigan is tailoring training around individuals rather than as a collective group. We all have our strength and weaknesses, so by tailoring training around that to overcome the varying deficiencies within a group of players. For example you can't artificially manufacture pace. If player hasn't got any to begin with their unlikely to develop much more through training. All you can do is make sure that they perform somewhere close to their potential.

We were lucky at Wigan that Maguire's earliest background is in fitness and conditioning, so that coupled with Mark Bitcon who we recruited at the start of 2010 has given us a real boost. I haven't heard anything about Saint's recruiting a new head of strength and conditioning, so I'm guessing you'll be going with the same guy you've had since Apollo left. Which leaves me wondering whether Royce has a background similar to Madge in fitness and conditioning?

If I were part of the Saints coaching setup my number one aim however would be to eliminate the amount of injury's that players seem to suffer at the club. All clubs from time to time go through a bad patch injury wise, but Saints over these last few years have really been hit hard by it. Making me thing it's more than just bad luck.

You are confusing 'bigger' with 'fatter'. We are talking about fat, not muscle or even frame size. There were a number of our players who looked like teletubbies last season, which only serves to slow them down and undermines their fitness.


Absolutely. But pace will increase if they don't have to cart flab around the pitch.


Many Saints fans came to the same conclusion.

Alas, it seems not.

Zip them up when you're done.