I reckon Lyon is the best ever overseas signing in the Super League era, but in all sports when a player comes back for a second term at a club where he's a legend it is usually an anti-climax. I wonder if Saints are in danger of going for the nostalgia route by getting in Keiron Cunningham on the coaching staff and bringing back Lyon.

Nathan Brown would be a good choice for Saints coach, if he's willing to stay in England, you have to take your hat off to him for the job he has done at Huddersfield, top drawer coach. When he was in the NRL with St George Illawarra Dragons I thought the jury was out on Brown, the Dragons were always the nearly men despite having a lot of internationals and Origin players on their roster, but in fairness to Brown he was a very young guy thrown into coaching with no apprenticeship and he's had to learn on the job and fair play to him he seems to be a good quality coach now. I think if he was St Helens coach they would win trophies.

Bit surprised with this Jamie Lyon thing...is he not doing very well in Oz because he isn't good enough ,in which case would he benefit Saints ,& i am a bit surprised that he would want to come with the recent talk of a salary cap increase in Oz.

Jamie Lyon won a Grand Final and is in Manly's first team. He is playing well. They might be willing to let him go as he is 29 and they've got young players like Cherry-Evans who is on a low salary at the moment and his agent has apparently demanded a deal to match Chris Sandow's, which is meant to be eight times more lucrative. They also have other younger players who they want to tie down to contract extensions. So they have a choice, lose a very highly rated Australian international half back (How many of those are there) or lose some other players. Lyon is a player on a good contract who would accept a move if Saints could offer an appropriate deal.

When are these cap increases coming in? They have been talked about for a while, but they don't seem to be vacuuming up the talent like they supposed to and a few clubs are struggling to keep all their current players.

Jamie Lyon is still top drawer, but which of the superb Saints youngsters that just keep rolling off the Saint Helens production line year after year will make way for him....??

Wheeler Lomax Gaskill......? or are you getting rid of your big money buy Shenton..?

anyway its very very funny

i agree coach can only play with the team he's got! btw are you the mark stringer i went to school with (culcheth)

Lyon's still class but not the same speed as he had before he returned to Oz - he'd score and set up tries in SL but not tear other sides apart like he did. He also wouldn't be in a side with Long, Sculthorpe and Cunningham.

I also think that at the top end of SL the current crop of British outside backs is far superior to what was around during Lyon's first stay.

Write saints off at your peril.

Some of the comments on here are laughable at best.

Yeah they are struggling a bit at the moment but to say they are in decline is ridiculous. They have lost two great players over the last year or so and havent replaced them YET.

Be proud

I don't think we are in decline really because if you look at our team on paper it's still a top 4/5 team definitely. Atm we are just lacking confidence and guidance - it's evident in our current position.

I'd say we are in a period of stagnation as opposed to a decline, growth has stunted through poor recruitment meaning that we've had to put young players into key positions - especially the backs. Once the younger players develop and mature (or we make some good signings) I'd say we'll be back challenging for honours.

A fresh approach by new staff maybe just what the team needs.

How many of these 'Saints in decline' claimants had tipped Saints for a huge season?

They were widely tipped in the media as likely to finish in positions 1 or 2.

They have hugely underperformed this year and Simmons has paid the price for that, but with the exception of the (admittedly huge) loss of Graham, you could argue that on paper the team is stronger than the team who only just missed out on being champions last year.

I think this season will be a write off, as Rush and Cunningham don't have the experience to get the side challenging for trophies, but with an experienced coach at the helm (and one who is able to decide upon his best team) they'll be in as good a position as any to challenge for silverware.

I would certainly agree that saints (on their day) can beat any team and probably should, team and personel availabke, be in every competuition to win.

However you raise an interesting point. 3 years ago it was between leeds and sts for first and then two years ago a dramatic win at cas won you second in the league, last year you settled for third and this year people are hoping for 4/5 place. I'd argue that is textbook decline.

If we take trophies, saints haven't won one in... 3 years is it? Seems like decline from the 2005 era.

I don't want to give the impression that I'm taking saints lightly, as much as I joke about them struggling to make the 8, but they haven't improved in years and, on paper, have gotten worse.

It could be transition or maybe other teams have gotten better and saints have made mistakes but they look weaker this year than last and than the one before.

As I said above: we still have a good team on paper; we are just lacking guidance and confidence.