Paaaaahhhh

A very disappointing way to end the season. Gutting in fact. What’s more disappointing is that all this week (and previously) no one has bothered posting in the build up- but are posting all the dissatisfaction now.
At the start of the season we were tipped to finish out of the playoffs between 8-10th by all and to do nothing of note, so a top three finish, and a challenge cup final that we were within three minutes of clinching I’m sure most would have taken over that given the choice.
Yes it’s disappointing but I think we just overcooked in the middle of the year,and were going well until that defeat away at Cas which seemed to take the wind out of us-we were massively hit with injuries/suspensions at a time when there was a lot of upheaval at the club (wardle/king, players leaving etc) we lost our way.
We have time to regroup. And a full preseason ahead of us to work on some more creative stuff, the idea that Watson doesn’t play creative rugby we know isn’t right- because we know how salford played under Watson.
We don’t yet know the full extent of who is signed for next season- there will be more announcements to come, and just because it’s been said that recruitment is complete doesn’t mean we the fans know all. It just means the club does.
We might not do as well next season, who knows. I’ll still be getting my ticket and going to the games just like I did when they were bottom, and like I did when they were in the lower divisions. I guess we won’t be gaining any glory supporters this year. Hey Ho.

You are deluded hangerman has it right in the post above

I think Sezer would have made the difference for you.

Hangerman and yourself know who we have /have not recruited for next season? Then do tell.

We have yet to formally announce who else is leaving and so far have only announced two signings In naiqama and Rushton.
With Roberts ashall-bott and Butler already having left the club, and senior definitely going, Joe Greenwood, Jack Cogger, Nathan Mason, Jack Ashworth, John luke Kirby OOC and not having been announced as resigned there’s 9 potential players gone and only two in, so even if we resign one or two of those OOC perhaps greenwood, there’s plenty of scope for new names so I repeat you don’t know where we are strengthening. Perhaps you can moan when you know the full extent of our squad next year. If Marsters is a definite signing and wardle is back then that makes our back line look a whole lot different wouldnt you agree?

Ps salford played very well yesterday. Watson did not lose the game yesterday- the players did. At the start of the season our set completion rate was excellent, yesterday it was shocking- we made 14 unforced errors in that game, and gave away 9 penalties. That’s not down to Watson.

On reflection I suppose, it's not so much where you finish on the so-called 'league ladder', as how you finish.
I think deep down we all had an 'inclin' of what could happen against Salford - and it did so with true vengeance.
In my view they even engineered a situation to play us, rather than get roughed up in France and it proved a master stroke. So good luck to Salford, I just wish they had Croft on board next week to sort the Saints out.

As previously pointed out, our season comes to an end with a 3rd place and a cup final, a sign of much progress made in my opinion and more to come no doubt.
As Mr Watson loves to point out, this is all part of a 'process' and since a process is defined as " a series of actions or steps taken to in order to achieve a particular end" strap yourself in for the next step - it will all be worth it in the end.

The problem is that everyone seems to now have cottoned on to our 'process' and it just isn't very effective anymore and we don't have the players to play any differently. Yes i will change my mind if i see new half backs and backs for next year (I would be amazed if Wardle remains for long given how Watson has publicly castigated him) but at the moment there doesn't seem to be an admission that Fages + Russell is most certainly not the way to go in the halves.

Would you rather Watson did a Powell and castigate players publicly and say they aren’t good enough? The main thing that improved to bring us to that challenge cup final in the first place was our belief. If he’d said yeah well Russel is what we are going with but I’d prefer x it’s hardly going to inspire the players (or fans) is it? Have you ever noticed the times he’s castigated players (sezer, edwards,) it’s been about their attitude- never about their ability. And I don’t recall him castigating wardle either, he just said he wanted game time and we couldn’t guarantee it, the only castigation was to wire on the breaking down of the deal. If you’ve seen somewhere where he’s said something negative about wardle then I’ve missed it so I will apologise.
Do you think our players have been playing to that process as we were mid season in the last few weeks?- fully completed sets, no missed tackles, no silly penalties, quick line speed, dominating ruck, i don’t think we have- if we were doing those things we might know whether it was effective or not. Only the latter can really be fully influenced by the opposition, the rest is in the hands of the players!

Excellent post - Watson needs to give his head a wobble - he was creative when a player - now he has to abandon `the process` as it is so predictable.

I wrote about this in a previous post. In the interview where he is asked about Wardle's future he compares him to King saying 'King is currently at international level, and Wardle is aspiring to be at that level' Well if that isn't a put down i don't know what is, Wardle IS the current international centre and King is not even in contention.

There have been warning signs for some time, our inability to convert chances in opposition 20, the number of tries scored by our forwards compared to our backs, how other sides are beating us with footwork through the middle of the park and pace out wide. What i am most concerned about is that there doesn't seem to be any movement to at least correct this for next year. If we don't sign a new half back, and at least two outside backs (more than Naiqama) we won't be troubling anyone next year.

Mmm wardle is aspiring to be where king has been- maybe not the best way of saying it I agree but actually not far wrong-
but given that would you have dropped leutele? would you have split up the Leroy / Jerry partnership that was up to that point working so well?
You are getting upset the day after our final game when we actually have no idea who we are signing. We still have the World Cup to come and there could be someone that catches the eye there too! We have potentially 9 players leaving and only 2 announced. Why don’t you save the angst until you know more rather than berating the club over speculation. If we are still in this situation come the start of the season then I may join you in the worry. But I think I’ll wait until I know a bit more.
RT might let something slip at the meeting on Wednesday- perhaps you should come along and express your views.

I live up near Newcastle these days so that isn't an option! Still watch every game on giants TV and went to magic this year! You are probably right that it's an overreaction, but us Hudds fans put up with mediocrity far too easily and i think it has in the past been true of the club as a whole. Watson has made a rod for his own back by talking about being the 'new saints' and 'challenging every year for trophies' so now he is going to be held to a higher standard. He obviously has the full backing of Ken, and my worries are that with those resources available we don't have the backline to do anything like he is stating.

As for dropping leutele no i would not have dropped leutele i would have dropped Cudjoe for the CC final, yes he has been playing well , but he is the past, and has had his chances before. I said so before the game and i stand by it now. You have to look to the future, we chose him over Wardle and Wardle understandably took umbridge, He had just been selected for England and wasn't given a starting birth by his own club for the CC final, how would you feel about that?

The situation with Wardle has turned into something of a fiasco for the club.
Probably blame on both sides here, plus the customary agent, and the whole thing seems to be in limbo.
I'd like to think that we are just holding out for a decent fee and then we all move on.
In different circumstances this would be the time to confirm new signings and build hope and expectation for next year, but understandably that will be delayed now.
As for Mr Watson?
Hopefully one of the steps of his beloved 'process' is to analyse his own performance and reduce both dogma and hyperbole in future. Create a space for Leroy in the backroom staff and look forward to another exciting season for us all.

Conpletely agree. Massive step in the right direction this year. We paid the price of the CC run with our end of season form. I thought we look knackered for the last 2 months. We're not at the level yet to be competing for both, not many SL teams are, possibly only Wigan and Saints.

A great learning year for our young players we really have a great set of young forwards.

We'll really miss Ricky next year. Although if he was marquee money I'd rather that go on a half back.

Interested to see what happens on the recruitment front over the coming months. I'd imagine most of our players will be getting a rest over the international period.

Next year will be tough, Warrington, Leeds, Hull, KR and Leigh (in Toulouse place) will all be better than this year. Let's hope we have another good run and get a trip out to another final

*Sentences written preceding unfortunate events* ^^^