Could being the operative word there Zig

Be great if Dodd goes and turns the worst team in the league into contenders, the meltdown over the lump would be priceless

In summary Saints play like a Shaun Wane team from 2014 to 2018. You play “tough” and are very hard to beat.

Every time I hear the Sky team go on about how 'Wigan won't go away' as we're getting beat, I always think that should now be a tag used for Saints. We do go away sometimes and have an off performance. It's not that often but it's a time or two a season. That tag and the old 'entertainers' tag should be flipped pretty much because I don't think either ring that true at the minute for the clubs they've been associated with traditionally by Sky.

I've had a few weeks away from here as sat in Spain logging into my phone to argue with Phuzzy wasn't conducive to a relaxing family break and made me question a few things so I had a few weeks reflection. He's probably a decent bloke if I were to meet him.

However back to the rugby, I fully agree with everything TYG has said. We are awful to watch with a one dimensional attack and Warrington did a proper number on us. Williams ran the show and gave a masterclass in half back play and they went wide early and scorched us for pace.

I still think Wigan will win the comp as they have too many gamechangers and have pace to burn and a better pack than last season. My only surprise is that IMO they have only played two decent sides all season and lost them both and were a Sneyd brainfart away from losing at Salford.

They have had a very nice fixture list so far (even Leigh A was against a Leigh team with lots missing) It will be interesting to see how they go against Catalan and Warrington coming up although you coud argue Wigan will respond well to last week, perhaps Catalan will too who knows.

I actually think that Warrington would give Wigan a really good game if they are on it. They have a lot of pace, some decent forwards and the best 6 in the comp in Williams.

Back to Saints and unless we suddenly change our attack, we won't be winning the GF this season. Defensively we are still outstanding and we will always compete but Lomax is now a shadow of the player he was and for whatever reason Welsby has been very quiet, looking like he doesn't know where he should be at times.

I am going to HKR on Saturday and if we play like we did against Huddersfield and they play like they did against Wigan it will be a long day for me and my eldest lad.

We have a huge rebuilding phase coming up with likely Makinson, Hurrell, Blake and Matautia all leaving at the end of the season, not to mention we have still not replaced Grace.

Add in Dodd. The overseas players can be easily replaced unfortunately there are not many top English players hanging around waiting to be snapped up.

The other problem we have is that we have some outstanding young lads waiting for a chance but are perhaps still not quite ready yet. There is a huge difference physically between Academy and SL and its not like football whereby a 17-18 year old isn't really much different physically to an older player. Its different in RL

There are some big decisions coming up which if we want to continually compete, we need to get right.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a Rowley in charge of Saints in 2025 and, if what you say is true about the young lads at Saints, maybe Snyed might do a trainsitional year with him?

Either way, there's a massive shortage of "proven" HB's in both the NRL & SL. Any realistic signing would be someone with baggage, or a hungry player from the reserves comp.

Saints recruitment will be extremely interesting. You'd imagine it'll have to be mainly from overseas because you look around at the market here and it's threadbare. The English guys you feel Saints may be interested in (Davies, Johnstone, McMeekan etc) have rumoured to have signed elsewhere. Even guys here you might hold an interest in are from overseas (Marsters and Amone), so lots of quota spots will be needed or the chequebook will need to be dusted off.

If I was a Saints fan I'd be hoping Eamon would be on the phone to Holbrook and Woolf asking about up and coming halfbacks/fullbacks who need game time, we know more than anyone that gems like Field who would struggle to break first team over there can rip it up over here

I mentioned Daine Laurie for us when French was rumoured to be leaving. He would be a decent option. The lad who made his debut for Newcastle last week was being touted for Leigh (Armstrong) and he looks another lively option from the highlights I've seen. Tristan Sailor is another they were looking at. Adrian Lam might not have worked miracles here but his eye for a player from Down Under is extremely impressive (Field, French, Ipape, Amone, Asiata) and copying his targets might not be the worst approach. Any of those 3 could go in at fullback and allow Welsby to move in to what I think would be his best position at 6.

Vaughan is the only one ready for me

Your lot said that about Murphy and what a star he was. The fans will get behind young lads, Saints need to be bold and drip feed them into first team rugby this season.

thats where its difficult though and what i think Stu was alluding to. Its all well and good bringing 1 or 2 into a side thats playing well and having 15 seasoned pros to look after them v bringing in 6 or 7 (i know different to drip feeding too )where they are potentially risking their futures due to the physical differences from age 16-18 and not being able to compete physically / getting battered by full time pros

i know sometimes circumstances (injuries) dictate that players are thrown in too early, but i dont think Saints are in that position injury wise that they need to risk wholesale changes this season. They also have a couple of fringe players that it appears Wellens doesnt want to play (Ritson and potentially Bennison). I know Bennison has had games on the wing, but the change last week was quickly reverted by Wellens and he was brought off to put Welsby back at FB.

One of my Saints supporting mates appears to be a real fan of Ritson, posting on FB quite regularly that he should be playing. I'm in the jury out on him as yes he's fast, but i dont think he is a smart rugby player from what i've seen of him, and Wellens probably doesnt trust him to be playing every week. There's no doubt initially it was good piece of business from Saints, getting him on loan but to turn that into a permanent signing IMO was an error or he would be playing every game. He's also not a kid (2icon_cool.gif so should be getting regular 1st team rugby somewhere