Not a backtrack at all, I think we will win but will take a while before we are back playing good rugby.

I think we've lacked confidence this year and this week I've seen Saints lads upbeat and looking like they looking forward to this game.

They have been looking forward to every game and have always been upbeat. They particularly like playing against Leeds or haven't you been listening/watching for the last six years?

We began to lose confidence after the Catalans match. Up to that point we looked like we were missing Jammer big time but other than that we looked better than we did at the same time last year.

Just because they are the same players does not mean that they will play the same under a new regime - no matter how temporary that may be

Look you can change tactic if you like but your comment was about this coaching set up taking us backwards. not the players . I'm not a Royce man and I'm not a cunningham man I'm a Saints man. I'mnot bitter because I did not think Royce was the messiah neither was potter or any saints coach. If in six to eight games time this set up proves a nightmare then i'll be more than happy to call for the transition to a new coach to move quicker. But in the end Royces time was up. Even Royce could recognised that.

I didn't say they were taking us backwards. Well, not unless they play Meli on the wing. THAT would be taking us backwards.

I've no idea what this coaching set up can do. With just one season of experience at this level between them, and then only as an assistant, it is impossible to judge what they can do. If the rumours are correct that some senior players are helping them out then that doesn't exactly instil confidence but then again I didn't have much in the way of confidence in them anyway. How can I? They have just one season as assistant coach between them. Everybody would have a total fit if we recruited that level of experience to Saints the normal way.

If senior players are helping then at least we will have a gameplan the players believe in. If they believe in it, they will execute it better. We might actually see some good rugby today. And before you start, that doesn't mean I think that we will win. I will settle for a good performance, which I think is more important at this stage, to enable players to regain confidence in their abilities.

Actually come to think of it I do think we will win.

That doesn't mean it's the right one though or that we have the players to execute it.

But, if you think about, any coach should get[i some [/isupport from his senior players. Longy mentioned how the senior players worked on a change of strategy with Daniel Anderson. How often do you see an injured senior player sitting by a coach on sky and them chatting away?
Its may be to a bigger degree for us at this point, but the hopeful side of me says we have got a lot of experience in the squad and if their all called upon in this hour of need, it could galvanise the player group and focus them on whatever new tricks they're trying to perfect.
Fingers crossed.

Coaches discussing things with senior players is par for the course. Coaches freely admit to it. All ours have. But that's not what we are talking about here. Longy's suggestion was made when Anderson first came over, when he didn't know the players. It would be perfectly natural for players to suggest ideas. And Anderson recognised coaching potential in Longy.

This is about senior players discussing game plans and such like. The players are too close to the coaching team. Coaches should sort out game plans and the like; they should be separate from the players and able to make objective decisions about whether any ideas are correct going forward. I am concerned that the coaching team is just too close to the players for there to be objective decisions made. If Meli ends up on the wing, for example, that will simply confirm my concerns as in no way should Meli be ever seen on the wing again. However, that might just be messageboard gossip.

It's the same principle, just to a bigger degree. We have an inexperienced caretaker set up, so it's good they have experienced pros like Laffranchi to support them.
What they will need to guard against, which is perhaps what you're touching on, is that they have the conviction and judgement to pick the right bits of advice to use.

Edit
That last bit doesn't read very well, but I can't seem to edit posts on an iPhone. I'm sure you get my point.

Exactly. I'd add objectivity and experience to that too.

Well, keep your fingers crossed and we'll see what tonight brings.

After watching under 20's game Gaskell ripped them pieces kicking game class

What was the score?

48-10

Great result for Saints.

Well you look like an idiot now don't you. The 100% utter tripe you have been posting over this past week has been beyond annoying, from there being nothing wrong with our coaching to Lomax being unable to kick, utter utter tripe. As usual you have been proven wrong but I have no doubt you'll come back with some profound and ridiculous argument to try and suggest you was right.

I told you the was a real buzz about the team this week when I was with them. They was up for this all week.

What a win. Well made up!

Why? For stating a very obvious reality? Coaches should be objective and not be too close to the players. Things could get tricky for the Coaching Collective when we have a couple of off games.







What happened on Sunday could have happened with Royce in charge because the fans were seriously not happy. That happened last year too, after the loss to Harlequins and what happened? We played Leeds the following weekend and turned our season around. However, nobody will ever know what might have happened had Mr Big not stepped in.


Except I didn't say that. I said I had never seen him successfully kick from the touchline because I hadn't. Now I have. He missed the next one instead.




I haven't been proven wrong. I haven't been proven right. Only time would have told whether I was right or wrong. McManus intervened.

you don't mind making yourself look stupid do you?

Simon. You're supposed to be a mod. As a mod I would expect you to stand detached from bitching. But you always seem to join in. That undermines my confidence in you as a mod.

Now. Replace 'mod' with 'coach' or in fact any leadership role and you might just manage to get my point.

Your slowly losing your mind.

I can accept you was a big Royce fan but he failed and something needed doing ASAP to rescue our season.

I actully started thinking of you during the saints v Leeds on Sunday, I was thinking if you'd be happy we was taking Leeds apart the way we was or you was sad because Royce couldn't get his team up for it.

Something needed to be done, yes, but he hadn't failed. We were only seven games into the season. Failure would have been to end up with no GF or CC appearance.


The players would have gotten up for Leeds regardless of who was in charge. They always do.