I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt last year due to all the injuries and graham/eastmond/pryce stuff going on but I always thought he was rubbish coach. The injuries last season covered over the cracks of just how poor he is.

I'm honestly really worried that his time at saints and mainly his recruitment will set us back years! With our quota spots full for the for a good few years and the fact we can't go out and buy quality British players is a real worry.

Next years coach has a hell of a Job on his hands as we need two props and a scrum half urgently. Next we will also need to replace wello, Meli and flannery.

That's aprox six players needed with no overseas spots available.

Unless you agree to let current overseas players leave.

I'd release all apart from sia.

And replace them with who?

Ade was one of our best players today. And as you well know, Foster has more than one handling error to his name so far this season. He was directly responsible for two other Catalans tries in that game alone. Another of our best players was Hohaia, whom you have also randomly slagged off in this thread.

I feel sorry for Lomax. He had an absolute mare today, and Gaskell wasn't great either. Without Roby in the side our lack of direction was painfully evident, with wrong options being taken all over the place. I'm not convinced that moving Hohaia to half back will change anything, either. I'd be tempted to go with Gaskell at 7 and Wheeler at 6 next week, and play Lomax and Hohaia at 1 and 9. Wellens was good today when we were coming out of our half, but he kills too many attacking moves when we're in enemy territory.

On the brighter side, our pack was much better. We were aggressive in the middle, and with the exception of two lapses (Lomax shooting out of the line in the build up for George's first try, Shenton likewise for his second) our defensive line was much more composed.

Having been today I thought that Gaskels punt game was very good. Time and time again he put in huge dowtown kicks that had Hudds returning the ball from near their try line. Problem was we would then give away a silly penalty. Soliola was twice guilty of this.

Late in the game the lack of experience in the halves did tell a bit, as i noticed that Lomax game fell apart abit. Twice he put in poor kicks and once he threw a forward pass. Credit to this though could be down to Hudds, who mercilessly targeted him in defence all day. I dare say with 10 mins to go he was out on his feet.

Its all part of the learning experience and in the long run it will make them better players, as they will learn to overcome adversity.

I just hope the fans dont start to turn on them and blame them for the teams failings.

With the new TV deal in Australia it's highly unlikely top tier players (and those in the tier immediately below) will choose to join SL clubs. The remainder will be past-prime veterans (who have plenty of experience but may also be seeking an easy payday) and average/slightly above average club men.

Out of curiosity, are you basing your opinion that Simmons is the worst coach we have had in years simply on his recruitment and how we are playing, or do you know something we don't?

Pretty much agree with the bit about trying Gaskell and Wheeler together as they are the two most natural half backs. Both also have kicking games.
Whereas at present only Gaskell can kick.

When fully fit i would play Hohoia at hooker, as i think he looked very crafty in that position today. I would move Roby to loose forward where his dynamism would cause problems.

Fullback would be Lomax.

Time and time again in attack Saints had shifted the ball well and had the Hudds backline stretched, but then had to slow down to wait for Wello to link in the line on the arc. This then killed the move and allowed Shudds to get back in position.
It was painful to watch because in other respects Wello had a decent game. He has never been the quickest of fullbacks but he was quick enough to cause a team problems, now though he is positively pedestrian, and its glaring out at you.

Leadership is a difficult thing to replace... Hope Roby is ok...

Both

Time for Wilkin to stand up and be counted, he's got the ability to be captain, time to show it

Haven't people been saying that about Wilkin for what seems like 6 years now?

I don't think it's that sort of leadership that was lacking today. It was more a case of not having a cool headed ball player in the side. FWIW I thought Wilkin, along with the rest of the pack, was good today.

Talking on phone before with someone from saints. He said he'd like to see lomax to fullback, Gaskell at stand off with lance at 7.

He said that roby on crutches and strapped from calf to thigh.

He went on to say that laffranchci was outstanding today.