Could say the same about any coach when they’re approached by a club. I’d like to think the club are making those enquiries.

We’ve still got some international standard players in our squad that could attract a high calibre of coaches, at least if the last England squad is to be used as any sort of reference. Would be intriguing to know the opinion of an elite level coach to know if the damage Powell has done so far is reversible.

For a bit of clarity, Holbrook had the best squad in super league by far for the two seasons he was here…

He was knocked of out the challenge cup twice, and super league playoffs once, by Steve Price.

All I’m saying is, it’s easy to rustle up a name when things aren’t going so well, but I’m not sure many of the names mentioned would actually have made much difference at the start of 2022. Maguire maybe, but the Wigan culture was much better when he joined and he only needed to make a few tweaks.

If you bring in a name who’s already got a reputation for winning major trophies, that in itself commands respect. That can cause a shift in attitudes of the players, knowing they’re being led by an individual who had already achieved what the players want to.

2017 was a bit of a rollercoaster. When Holbrook came in, certainly no one thought he had the best SL squad by some margin. Most Saints fans had written the season off (I had booked my honeymoon over the playoffs, thus was my expectation for the year) following KC, and there was a lot of talk of a big clear out going into 2018 (similar to the levels Warrington are currently seeing).

However that isn’t what happened, and I would confidently go so far as to say had Ryan Morgan not needlessly Sheparded a Cas player off the ball, we would have gone on and won the GF that year. If that had happened, I think we would have seen a very different set of results over the course of Holbrooks tenure.

Confidence is a funny thing, but going into 2018, Saints still had the chokers moniker. 2017 compounded that. Whilst we had won the thing in 2014, everyone convinced themselves that was only because of Flowers stupidity, and Saints hadn’t really ever learnt to win a final since the infamous 5 in a row.

Holbrooks entire time with us was about breaking that psychology. He arguably got a little lucky in that we played Salford in the 2019 GF, who were just as cagey and as nervous as we were, but he ultimately, finally got the “big game” monkey off our backs, and really set it up for Woolf to continue the run.

Whether we would have gone 3 in a row under Holbrook, I have no idea. Woolf has definitely added a huge amount of steel and mental fortitude to us (ironically demonstrated in our last two games perfectly) and there’s no doubt mentally we’re a far stronger team than when Woolf took over, but we also shouldn’t rewrite history and say Holbrook inherited everything from KC.

Yes

No

Yes - clearly hope not

NO -

Relegation - No

Powell - No he's not for me, he just an also ran of a coach. In our current situation I too would be enquiring as to Maguires availability given the sprinkling of antipodeans due to arrive.

Personally I believe there is a 14 club league coming.

I think you could be right but not until 2024 at the earliest if recent statements from the RFL's CEO are to be believed.

I wonder if our executive leadership are evaluating a contigency 'Plan B' in the background or in "blind faith" mode.

Executive leadership. 2 words I haven’t associated with our club for at least 5/6 years now sadly.

My money is on the blind faith mode.