And they'll probably go and beat us twice this year...

People who are disappointed with a lack of a replacement for James Graham (both in terms of hard hitting prop and as a leader of the team) - I think from the outside it is quite easy to point to the James Graham loss and his loss was always going to affect us definitely (nobody is denying it), but I think the problem lies a little deeper than that. At the end of the day Saints this season have got enough territory and ball to win games; I think the main issues are a lack of cohesiveness and not being clinical in the final third.

People who question the addition of Lance - Lance has looked sharp really. In the games where he has played in the halves we have scored 30+ points, but when he hasn't had that influence there then we struggle with Lomax and Gaskell.

Laffranchi use out of position - Laffranchi has been our second best player IMO behind Soliola, so he may well be being played out of position but his performances are suggesting otherwise. Laffranchi just needs some extra support in the front row, so if we can get Perry and LMS helping him and TP out then we will look far better.

Too much reliance on youngsters (all of whom appear to have second season syndrome) - possibly, but there's nothing that can be done about that at this stage. There is always going to be a point where you have to at some stage rely on the youngsters. I think Warrington will be going through something similar soon due to the age of some of your players, but the main difference will be that it won't be in the key positions. It's definitely poor planning and as we don't know what goes on it's hard to proportion any blame to anybody.

The fear that a team without Roby is a losing team - it certainly doesn't help that Roby is injured, but we have enough quality to be able to still win matches. Roby is possibly one of the most influential players in the league and his loss is always going to be felt, but Royce isn't great tactically and it showed here as it shows that he just didn't have a plan B.

I just cling onto the notion that sport is cyclical and within the next 70 years we'll be better than you.

Most of you will be dead, but I'll be on here like Rogues giving your children and grand children hell over our superiority.

Maybe it's just me but I think the decline of Saints has been grossly overstated. Any side losing some of their greatest players ever (Sculthorpe, Long, Cunningham, Pryce, Graham) will always take a long time to get back to those lofty heights; however, at the same time, people can't knock consistently competing at the highest level.

Take the football as an example: this season United could end up winning nothing, Liverpool will end the season with at least one trophy. Will we get Liverpool fans talking about United declining? About how their fans are measuring success incorrectly because they now measure competing as being successful, instead of actually winning? I doubt it, because most Liverpool fans know United have been the second best side in Europe over the past five years and they've been the best side in England over the past five years.

For me, in a sport like RL where a salary cap exists, for a side like St Helens to consistently reach finals and the latter stages of a competition, shows immense consistency and great quality. They may well have struggled in the GF over the years, but I'd rather be declining and competing in GFs than being 'the benchmark' and not playing in the apparent only game that matters.

This season, I haven't seen enough of them to say how bad they've become, but I imagine things will turn around for them eventually, the year is early and I still remember our start under Lowes being turned around into a Challenge Cup win. A side like Saints, however much we like to 'bait' them, shouldn't be ruled out so early.

No bud I went to birchwood, left in 2000

Nathan Brown has signed a 3 year deal at Saints apparently for 2013 onwards.