No they was not. You predicted we would get nowhere near Old Trafford. You also spouted many bizarre things over the season (Wakefields backs being better than Saints etc.....)

A backrower taking up a (valuable) quota spot in the current squad signs a new deal and is described by Tony Colquitt as a "consumate professional"........that speaks volumes for me.

Is that the type of player we need in that position?

No they weren't - you said we'd fall behind Hull/Hull KR/Hudds/Wakey/Wire/Leeds etc etc.

As it happens we only finished behind Wigan and were the league's top try scorers despite getting dry humped by injuries all season, including being a half-back free zone for the play-offs.

Not necessarily. I groan at the thought of having Meli causing disasters in defence for two bloody years (one year would have been bad enough) but we can't dispose of all of our experienced players in one shot. Flannery getting one is sufficient given that next season another batch of players come to the end of their contracts, arguably our best batch of players. Wello getting two years is fine by me as he has been superb this season and his effectiveness is not undermined by his lack of pace, assuming he maintains his form.

To give the club the benefit of the doubt, what they might be thinking of is blending in more young players over the next season or two because our new coach is well known apparently for working with young players and so this might just be the club trying to manage what are significant manpower changes over the next couple of seasons. That's just a guess though.

Im slightly surprised by the length of contract that Meli has got, i thought he would maybe get a 1 year deal.

I do like Flannery as a player, but he has had a very quiet season towards the end of it.

Wello has been very good this season and deserves his contract extension.

As someone has mentioned though, feels a bit deflating though, as it means we may not be bringing in any more signings, which would have been a little bit exciting to say the least.

Wellens has his moments and although they are getting fewer and far between, he is too big a character to lose and probably brings as much to the backroom as much as he does on the field.

Flannery I compare to Phil Bailey and I am stunned he has got a new contract, Meli again has his moments but seems to struggle and be targeted in the big games.

As a Wigan fan I am not quaking in my boots at this news, but the key to Saints season will by the coach appointment rather than the player recruitment.

Wello's overall form this year has been very good i think, but he's 30 now, so I'm suprised both he and Meli got more than the standard 1 year given the clubs recent track record.
Meli, despite his floor is still a genuinely dangerous player (for both teams on the pitch ) which is something we don't have an awful lot of.
Flannery, as I say, good player in his own right.
I don't dispute any of them resigning as individuals and I'd share your concern if they were all to leave at once, but the collective resigning of all 3 and the length of Wellens and Meli's contract does suprise me slighly.
I know we don't know how much they've been offered, but I reckon all three (especially Wello) would have attracted attention from other clubs (especially Bradford andSalford, who seem to be working hard on recruitment), which leads me to beleive that they won't be exactly on peanuts.
I guess, as I speccy, hope skews your veiw. Many of us hope that Lomax will develop this year into a dangerous successor to Wello, hope that Wheeler can get an injury free run into the centres, hope that Frodsham can finally come out the shadows and develop into a SL player and would hope that we could have attracted a classy centre from the NRL instead of resigning a pretty good utlity player in Flannery. The problem the board have is making things work in the real world, I suppose.

Just seen on Sky that Saints have give Flannery a 1 year deal and Meli and Wellens on 2 year deals.
I thought Saints policy on over 30's was one year deals only.

Bizarre isn't it. They wouldn't give 2 year deals to Sean Long or Lee Gilmour but Francis Meli gets one.

Exactly this is my point.
Meli has been half decent this season but I would have rather had Gilmour playing centre as I would imagine this is where Meli will be playing.

Maybe he will be shunted into the pack!

It isn't bizarre at all.

Long wasn't given a 2 year deal because Kyle Eastmond was going to play 7 and we needed to tie him to a new contract.

Lee Gilmour wasn't given a 2 year deal because we had Soliola/TP/Wilkin/Flannery/Clough/Dixon/Ashurst/Maggenis as back rowers and his wage was deemed better spent elsewhere.

Francis Meli has been given a 2 year deal because he scored 21 tries in 20 SL appearances in 2010 and we don't have any other wingers to replace him with.

The blind faith people have in the board is surprising. The squad development recently has been lacking.

Its confirmed. www.saintsrlfc.com/news/2869 Would of rather let Meli go myself. Is our quota full for next year now then?

Its confirmed. www.saintsrlfc.com/news/2869 Would of rather let Meli go myself. Is our quota full for next year now then?