Alarming isn't the word.

1 of many problems sadly

also add

fullback whos at least 12 months past his use by date
lack of an experienced half back to help bring on the young lads
lack of a world class prop
lack of a decent coach

I have been saying it for ages that the biggest mistake that Saints have made in recent years is the
failure to replace Willie Talau with another recognised left centre.

We have had far too many stop gap players playing there at left centre with the club thinking we will get by and unfortunately until we bring someone in who is an experienced player in that position we wil continue to have defensive problems on that side.

I know I keep harping on about it but

Lack of JAMMER

I knew we would miss him, but this shows just how much he did for the team.
Losing one of the best props in the world, and having p1ss poor Perry as a kind of replacement.

Laffranchi actually looks decent to me but not a replacement for Graham.
I think everyone was expecting a fit Perry to fill the void. No chance of that unless he improves dramatically.

imagine if TP had gone too.

The worst part for me was the amount of times a prop like Perry ended up at first receiver, especially on the last tackle, as nobody else even seemed interested in standing there. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

We lack a scrum half to guide us around the pitch, we just look completely lost at times. I like lomax, he's a great player, but he's certainly not (currently at least) a scrum half. Having another kid at 6 also doesn't take any pressure off him.

If we had 1 experienced half we would be fine. Signing a utility type like Lance was never the answer unless we were intending him to replace the Snail at 1

Yet all the props are internationals, the great Anthony Laffranchi is supposed to be world class.

At last someone else has relised we've only had one centre since talau left. We've played anyone there over the past 4 seasons and I've never in all my time knew of a club which only has one centre on its books.

AGREED!


We have never replaced Talau


Id have him back now at 36!

I'm glad that two fellow supporters also recognise what the problem is with regards to a lack of a proper experienced left centre.

Why on earth the club hasn't recognised the same problem I will never know. Having said that I think Saints did orginally intend to sign Soliola to play at left centre hence him wearing number 4 jersey. Sadly its not worked as planned.

Whilst I agree on the Talau thing, left centre was not the issue last night. There was one try that went down the left centre position, the rest of the match it was as tight as the rest of the line.

Last night was about our half backs, we did not use the position and the territory we had to any real effect. It took a barge from Ade and a show and go from TP to score.

We did not break the line to score at all. No bombs, no grubbers, no 2nd phase, no dummy runner, no feckin crossing for gods sake.

We had no cutting edge to break the Hull line.

I can think of several newspaper articles at the time of his signing which suggest otherwise.

He might have been playing second row at Sydney Roosters for a spell but the intention was for him to play at centre and its why he ended up wearing number 4. If you don't beleive me Google in "Saints sign New Zealand Centre Sia Soliola" and find the Guardian newspaper article about his signing and also read Eamonn McManus' comments about him being one of the best centres in the game at 22.!!!

It might not have been a issue last night but is been a issue for the past four seasons and the fact our club can't recognise that teams play with two centres is worrying.

It's been 4/5 years since we actually had two centre play together and we question why we can't win big games and finals.

I've said it for past god knows how many seasons that our recruitment is awful and the clubs "youngsters" is the way forward is a way hiding the fact we are doing it on the cheap again.

When you lose the likes of talau, gidley, long, scully, KC, pryce and graham and not replace them with players of near their ability as we can, the. We've got problems. I know the names mentioned IMO are not replaceable but we've not even gone close with the players we've brought in.

It might not have been a issue last night but is been a issue for the past four seasons and the fact our club can't recognise that teams play with two centres is worrying.

It's been 4/5 years since we actually had two centre play together and we question why we can't win big games and finals.

I've said it for past god knows how many seasons that our recruitment is awful and the clubs "youngsters" is the way forward is a way hiding the fact we are doing it on the cheap again.

When you lose the likes of talau, gidley, long, scully, KC, pryce and graham and not replace them with players of near their ability as we can, the. We've got problems. I know the names mentioned IMO are not replaceable but we've not even gone close with the players we've brought in.