We don't have a thread on here that doesn't mention the problems we've had with injury.
Some of the players (Cunningham being the main giveaway) look more podgy than the 2007 version, when we slimmed down to help cope with an effort from the RFL to speed up the ruck.
Now the question is, have we been unlucky this year, or is it due to poor conditioning. If its the latter, is this likely to change next year with a change of head coach and KC taking a role in the training? Has the injury crisis coincided with Apollo leaving? If so, get him back!
What do you guys feel?

Being a nutritionist, i'd like to think i know what i'm talking about, and i haven't ever seen a bunch of players look generally so 'unfit' and have poor body composition like a lot of the Saints players do.

I personally think the conditioning of the players is quite below par.

Who does the conditioning at Saints these days?

they're looking quite unfit as a bunch, several of the players look like they have a bit of a gut, and when they do get injuries, they seem to be out for ages. It has to be a fitness and conditioning problem

I remeber scully lamenting some of his injury woes and partially blaming being too heavy, which was putting too much strain on his joints and skeleton. How accurate this was, i'm not sure.

well it makes sense, but im no sports scientist! Take Wigan or Wire for example, their squads are as old or older than ours, but have they had the same number of either serious or niggly injuries? breaks and ligaments damage will always happen, but i cant recall so many muscle tears/strains as has happened to us this year, mostly to the younger players too!

Which is soo frustrating! So much work has gone into the development of some really talented lads in the form of Eastmond, Wheeler and Lomax, but I doubt they've made a full seasons worth of game between them.

I want to hope we've just had a run of bad luck, but I fear that's not the case.

The new coach should have a complete clearout, The squad appear to lack both motivation and the ability to turn on the gas when required. Its the same old plod on down the middle and force themselves over when near the line.
Injuries have played a large part of team selection over the season, leaving Eastmund on in the 2 matches when he was quite clearly struggling beggars belief.
We have top class quality players who need the correct fitness tecnique, plus the game plan to achieve success, sadly neither are apparent at the moment.

Does Anyone!!!!!

The big question for me is whether Rolls Royce will have as much of an impact on fitness as yon-mon had at Wigan this season. According to form, they were given a very tough NRL style pre-season and some thought they would burn out with the number of games over here. This wasn't the case though so maybe some clubs will adopt a similar style.

I dont think it helps with fitness when historically half the starting players have been playing in internationals till the end of November.
Its no coincidence i think that Leeds and Saints who in previous years have contributed the Bulk of the England squad have been hit hardest by Injuries.
Similarly Wire who have rarely had anyone playing rep football hardly had any long term injuries this year. I think they were helped by the fact that last year they didnt make the playoffs, So plaers bodies had a long recovery period.

Hopefully the long break for most of our squad will freshen them up and allow the club to have a longer and more intense training regime.

It will certainly be interesting to see how Wigan and Hudds get on next season considering they have a significant number of players in the international setup.

I posted this on Redvee in regards to a few areas I feel we need to improve next year:

I don't think there's a great deal between Saints and Wigan personally. At the end of the day, Wigan turned up and put in their ultimate performance of the year whilst we put in possibly our worst. 22-10 definitely flattered us.

As for the future, we've got a very strong pack and with that pack we'll be very competitive against most sides. We will be competing for trophies based on the pack alone. You can't win trophies if you have good backs and rubbish forwards but you possibly can the other way around. So in that respect we've got it right. But we are criminally short in the backs. Add in Eastmond and Pryce and we're alot better than we were on Saturday nin terms of structure and having that ability to break up a game, but the three quarter line still lacks real speed. Compare the movement of our team to Wigan's on Saturday and you'll see a big difference in the halves and backline of both respective teams. That's why an injection of pace at Centre or on the wing would massively help. Shenton is a good player and based on this season, he'll be an improvement on Gidley, without a doubt. If Eastmond and Pryce can get ball out wide to Shenton he'll create chances for Foster (who I presume will play wing next season).

We need to improve our defensive technique a bit. I don't think we're as aggressive and hurtful as we used to be and our line speed in the Grand Final just didn't compare to Wigan's. Wigan have set the bar this season defensively and Simmons has to look at that and build a similar model. We're capable of defending like that, we did in 2006 and 2007 under Anderson so the players can do it.

The fitness and conditioning is another area that we seem to have relaxed on too. The players are still superfit, but some teams are definitely stronger in that area and our injuries are alarming. Some injuries are bad luck, but I think some can be prevented easily. Warrington have barely had an injury this year and that's because they invested in a good fitness and conditioning coach. Maybe our new facilities and new coaching regime will help us improve in this area.

Bring back Apollo!

I spoke to AP prior to one of our Home matches... I think it was Catalan possibly?

Anyway I said "When you coming back AP our conditionings gone down the drain since you left"

To which he replied "You don't need me, you'll be fine when the new guy comes in with his staff"

Not sure if he was saying Potters are rubbish or Simmons are just better?

I'm hoping with our new facilities and new coaching staff next year we'll see a dramatic improvement in this area.