If I was trolling, I'd have posted it on the Saints board.

Just genuinely interested as to what fans of any club's views are on the subject. They have some good youngsters in their ranks but dont think any are of the quality of the players that have recently departed the club or will potentially be departing in the near future, at the start of their careers.

No they are not in decline.

Credit to Mick Potter.

I'm getting just about sick of this question now. It's like Saints don't have an academy, have no good players coming through thier system.

Saints can lose the likes of Cunningham, but then there's Roby in his place. Lose Long, but then comes Eastmond, then lose Eastmond (allegedly) up pops Wheeler. Clubs lose players, its inevitable, some of you may not believe it but one day Sam Tomkins will leave Wigan!



Players leave and that always provides oppurtunity for a new young prospect to take his place, and with the club in question being St Helens, I imagine whoever it is will be a very good player.

Not as long as they have Roby and Graham, if I were them I wouldn't bother trying to sign Long as a quick fix to replace Eastmond I'd sign either Holdsworth or Smith from Salford as long term.

If I were them I wouldn't bother with any of the 3 and let Lomax, Wheeler and Gaskell fight it our for that scrum half spot.

Longs too old and injury prone and the other 2 aren't good enough imo. I think Holdsworths a good player but I get the feeling he's a big fish in a small pond man tbh.

I'd like them to replace Eastmond with Ray French to be brutally honest

True enough.

As for them being in overall decline I agree with you that whilst they have Roby and Graham they will always be in and around that top 4. They are 2 very special players with the drive and passion to push their teamates on.

Losing Eastmond is a massive blow to Saints and rugbyleague but losing Graham to the NRL would really hit St Helens hard. He is the heartbeat of the side and would literally be irreplaceable by any other player in the world.

Graham's sensational for them but I think on Saturday James Roby proved who the real hearbeat of that side is. They've got some decent go forward players and will have another one when Perry gets fit but take Roby out and they would struggle to maintain their place at the top. His re-signing is a massive step towards ensuring that won't happen.

The fact he is playing (and not tooooooo shabby) with injections in his back highlights this.

Both are as important as each other imo and if they lose either the one left on their own( Roby more then likely) will just have too much to do unless they bring in an unbelievable replacement.