Whilst the bit in bold is a little harsh, that's kind of the point which I was trying to make when I asked you to compare the 1996 Saints team (which did the double) with the Leeds (or Saints) team of last year.

The difference in class is there for all to see and, given that now, on any given week you would be hard pressed to get seven correct predictions with any team capable of beating any other team on any given day, the standard of SL MUST have improved since 1996. QED.

The point I was making was that I'd be extremely sceptical of an argument that Saints had a small number of great players and the remainder of what would appear to be a big squad were NL1 standard. I haven't yet seen a squad list and am trying to keep an open mind but it just doesn't sound plausible.

All of them good enough to get into the Saints team of Now individually without making you significantly weaker.

8 Backs & 3 forwards!

Where does that leave the Wipe the floor argument now ????

PS

Don't start with the Fitter/Stronger B0ll0x as that would mean that NO players of Yeteryear would ever be better than the players of now and that in 20 years time you can look back and say Every player of Now was Crap!

Supposing you are right (even though you have included a 19 year old KC, Hammond and a player who is widely derided by Wiganers as "rubbish"icon_wink.gif, then what about the other 6 who take the field each week and what about the rest of the squad?

If you can't see that the Saints squad of 1996 is significantly weaker than the Saints squad of last year then it's utterly pointless debating this issue further with you.

Tbh, I think Sullivans defensive flaws would be exploited far more now than they were then. And Hammond wouldn't get anywhere near for me.

Hmmm. The pro-CC people are being clever here, or at least trying to be. First they pick a year far enough in the past that we've probably now forgotten about much of the detail, but one in which their team was the stand-out side. They then attack the quality of their own squad, which makes them seem very reasonable and fair-minded and its difficult (as a Wigan fan) to resist the temptation to join in.

However, this thread - as has been stated repeatedly - isn't about Wigan or Saints but the SDL, so instead of joining the baying hordes of Saints fans attacking their own side I did a little research on a couple of the (allegedly) "NL1 standard" players listed above that I definitely did recall from the mid-90s at Saints, Pickavance and Matautia.

I was interested to see that "The Saints Heritage Society" (I'm tempted to note that "Saints Heritage" is an oxymoron, but will try not to provoke our friends from Merseyside!) don't agree with this assessment.

In fact they are both given great write-ups on their website choice centre behind Newlove and Gibbs, a better centre pairing by far than any currently playing in SDL.

Trying to be as fair as possible, I even looked up Paul (NOT BALOO) Anderson, who I admit I didn't remember at all. I was expecting him to be a dismal failure. I was surprised, based on comments in this thread, to see that he appears to have been a quality young player who didn't quite make it in the end but was a decent SL player in the mid-90s. It seems that a real disservice has been done to this player by fans of the St Helens club. I must mention in the interests of fairness that he did go on to play for Leigh, presumably seeking first team football, but Paul appears to have been a talented young player, certainly in the mid 90s. Paul (NOT BALOO) Anderson was - according to Saints Heritage Society - St Helens' "Young Player of the Year" in 1996 - the year in question - and a "valuable interchange player" in 1997 and 1998.

Oh dear. Another pro-CC argument disintegrates under scrutiny....

You think that a player that you say was classed as talented in 1996, but wouldn't even get a look in today, is supporting your stance?

Simple question, is the second team significantly stronger than the first:

1 S Prescott
2 D Arnold
3 S Gibbs
4 P Newlove
5 A Sullivan
6 K Hammond
7 B Goulding
8 A Perelini
9 K Cunningham
10 A Fogerty
11 C Joynt
12 S Booth
13 D Busby

14 A Northey
15 I Pickavance
16 V Matatutia
17 T Martyn

or

1 P Wellens
2 A Gardner
3 J Lyon
4 W Talau
5 F Meli
6 L Pryce
7 S Long
8 J Graham
9 K Cunningham
10 J Cayless
11 L Gilmour
12 J Wilkin
13 P Sculthorpe

14 P Anderson
15 M Bennett
16 J Roby
17 M Faasavalu

The 1996 pack would get absolutely mullered by the SDL communist capped 2006 pack, and there are players like Vinnie Anderson, Nick Fozzard, Jason Hooper and Paul Clough who don't make the best 17.

You could do a similar exercise with most teams, with the exception of freefalling Wigan (which is the reason why these Super League is rubbish threads always seem to appear on THIS board), and get similar results. The best team is better now. The mid table teams are better now. The worst teams are better now.

Matautia was rubbish. Surely you remember him?!



Pickavance?! Are you seriously comparing him to the props of Graham/Cayless/Fozzard/Baloo in 2006?



Young player of the year?! He played 2 games out of 30 in 1996! Maybe young player of the year in the reserves/academy or whatever it was then, but certainly not the first team with a 19 year old KC playing every week.

CBA going back over old posts but I remember Rogues posting the teams for the 95 WC Semi England/Wales and comparing it to today's options available for GB!

Forwards??? I'd agree we have a similar number if not slightly better options now.

Backs!!! Light years in difference!