Tough job for Price next season to show progress though as we will either have to win one of the competitions or play attractive rugby again.

That was really not my impression, in fact in the second half I felt for large parts Wigan were hanging onto the ropes and if we could have breached their line once they would be there for the taking. That was a huge "IF", obviously.

I expect next season will be the start of a Price in v Price out divide in our fans. As we have overachieved this season, it will create a benchmark of "only the title will do" for some fans and if we start off a bit slow like this year then it will set off the old "I'm not calling for change yet but..."

The main arguments used will be:
- why did we sign Lama Tasi
- why did we give Kevin Brown another year
- why did we not sign a halfback
- the rugby is boring
- the two finals last year don't count because that was with the team TS had built
- fans of a club with ambition like Saints would not tolerate this
- why did we not go for McDermott/Wane when they were available

Two finals was good after last year, but two poor final performances, where we looked clueless tactically at times doesn't reflect well on the coach, and Roberts was a terrible signing. Not sure if Price is the right man long term, next season is a big one.

I don't really know how much progress we made. Superleague is so bad that a team can go from bottom 4 to top 4 within 12 months without improving that much. We had good effort throughout the season but I thought our attacking structures near the opposition line were consistently mediocre.

Austin will be a good signing, cannot be any worse than Roberts anyway, but a new attack coach and getting rid of Brown would help.

Agree with you, with maybe the GF not being a poor performance, but disappointing non the less. We had ample opportunity with field position to have taken both, yet composure and creativity was lacking. Fourth place in the league table is the bench mark of how we did, which didn't look possible after the opening six fixtures. Top four is where my expectations lie, and then see what happens when it's sudden death in the cup and playoffs.
Replacing Brown is key, as we still lack a distributor, and we ought to bring back the philosophy of support play.

Did we not sign him on a 3 year deal 2 yrs ago? Not sure he has extended think it was already 3 yrs.

Quote: Shazbaz "Did we not sign him on a 3 year deal 2 yrs ago? Not sure he has extended think it was already 3 yrs.'" 2 year deal in December 2016. https://www.skysports.com/rugby-league/ ... -year-deal

Quote: Shazbaz "Did we not sign him on a 3 year deal 2 yrs ago? Not sure he has extended think it was already 3 yrs.'" 2 year deal in December 2016. https://www.skysports.com/rugby-league/ ... -year-deal

Basically we payed just the same in the final as we did in the semi final. It worked one week, not the next. The pack was excellent both weeks. Our wingers are the most likely (almost only) place we were going to score.

Price has done half the job for me this year - our defence is so much better than it was.

Next season will be a fail if he doesn't do the same with the attack

Same way Smith approached it.

I don't think we did one one kick to the corners in the Saint's game though.

The pack are the least of our concerns in terms of defence and making field position.

I'd rather us have a chat with Shaun Wane.
Give him a 2019 off then ask him to join Price and Hendon in taking on Shawn Edwards Wigan!

Smith stated he let the players work out the attack and play what’s in front of them. I don’t think that’s Price’s style - it works when you have great attacking players and clever half backs, but we don’t. So Price’s structures approach is probably better for this period of time. What he does needs is a little off-the-cuff magic that Austin will (hopefully) provide, and hopefully another halfback with a bit more game management (and the odd drop goal in him)...

Well I’ll settle for being as successful as Wigan