So you think that fact that we aren't signing every great player around is down to the board? Have you heard of the salary cap? Do you really think our board don't understand the need to keep improving/rebuilding etc? If it's all so blindingly simple and obvious to you I wonder why you're not in charge...

Bratfot are you on Crack?

I'll give you that they have stronger backs (although I think we have a spark they don't in Eastmond and Pryce can be brilliant on his day), but our forwards are very strong. Graham, Puletua, Cunningham, Roby, Moore, Soliola and Wilkin are all very good players and Fa'asavalu can be good on his day.

Every year people write Saints off, but with strong defence like ours, we'll be in the top 4 without a doubt.

As for Warrington, they seem a bit overhyped as usual, but I do think they'll be a strong side this year. I don't think they're ready to win Super League yet, but they may have another good run in the Cup if they get some good draws and avoid Saints or Leeds.

It's quite clear that the board has either:

1) - Cut the spending on player salaries in order to save much needed funds for the new ground (I'd have no problem with that if they admitted it)
2) - Overspent on underperforming players (We've got a wafer thin squad so the maths don't add up when you consider who has left the club)

We finished second and made the GF last season. Fine, we did. But did no one else see the turgid struggle each game had become by the end of the season? Every ounce of attacking flair was gone and without Long it'll be worse this coming season. People say we're stronger but I can't see how. Long was arguably our best player still, organising everything we did and Gilly was a massively underrated player who had a fantastic last couple of seasons for us. Eastmond is totally unproven and any games he misses have to have huge question marks over them, because of goal kicking if nothing else. Last season also saw Warrington, Wigan, Bradford, Hull and Catalans, all usually strong sides in SL struggle massively. Warrington have a new coach and several massive improvements player-wise, Wigan have a proper coach for the first time in years, Hull have signed some superb players and have a few exciting young prospects and Catalans would expect to be better. Hull KR will also be strong. If the majority of those sides do make the strides they should do over the close season we're in for one hell of a struggle.

In previous years we've been so good and the rest so bad that there has usually been us and one other side (Bradford and lately Leeds) who competed for first place. Then there was a group of two or three sides we were prone to struggling against (Hull KR, Wakefield etc) and 7 or 8 easy beats that we would beat easily. What has happened with the salary cap/our decline has been that the group of two or three sides we found it tough against, particularly away, has become 7 or 8 teams and suddenly there is only Celtic, Quins and Salford we'd expect to beat.

think you've been living up the hype in warrington saddened.

I was at Wakefield yesterday and for those who like fast open rugby it was exciting and close.
However, IMO it was a poor game, the majority of tries came from penalties conceded by the defending side gifting field position to the opposition. I can't remember one really hard tackle.

However, my son in law plays Union for Leigh and on Saturday they were training at LSV and Wigan were training on the all weather pitch.
He was very complimentary on the physical size and shape that Wigan were in, as he himself is 6 foot 4" and almost 18 stone, so I was interested to hear his observations.
Apparently everything was being done at real pace and with great accuracy.

I'll reserve my judgment on how teams will go until I have seen then in action. I expect us to go o.k. but would just like a player who could provide that killer pass that can win the close games.

a great draw in the cup like warrington we beat kr in the 1/4 final form team wigan in the semi and hudd in the final whom i believe beat you in the other semi so behave yourself

Be honest, how do you think you would have got on had Leeds made the final, or Saints? Cup draws that avoid the two best sides are pretty rare, by default the top 2 usually has at least 1 member in the final.

You also played Featherstione and York when you were up the sh*t creek early doors.

gone into my sig! even with our massive injury crisis and carrying longy when he was pap most of the year we barely missed out on 1st! this year we have an actual centre, and a young star in Kyle. Top 3 minimum for us

hudd beat you,you beat leeds we beat hudd thats the way it goes we were the best team in that particular comp fact

Eastmond is still unproven. The proof of the pudding is now, with Long gone, can Kyle direct the team around the park? I remember an old guy I used to sit near at Saints who said a top quality scrum half could have a major influence on a game without ever touching the ball or making a tackle. Does Kyle have those sort of attributes or is he all about his pace and footwork, which will be closely watched next year?

The internationals thing is all well and good, but how many genuinely top class players do Saints currently have? Wello is a shadow of his former self, same with Leon and even KC. Jammer is our 'best' player, followed probably by Eastmond, which is ridiculous given he's about 15 games into his career.

Losing Hock is a loss no doubt, but we actually picked up some form after the Hock scandal and the Celtic loss last season, he can be a liability as much as a benefit as you probably know

Whatever the reason for the pickup in form, we didnt look as though we missed him a great deal, until maybe the Saints semi where a bit more quality in our 13 could have turned that game IMO

Looking at the squads on paper I think Catalans could easily make the top four aswell as the usual suspects of Leeds Saints Wigan and Warrington, Bradford have no chance theyll be fighting for a place in the 8