2nd best FB in the league and would walk into our side.

All the rest is absolutely irrelevant imo.

I'm happy with Bevan French.

Each to their own.

For me, he's not even the best FB at the club.

It’s been a huge issue for Bateman this season IMO. He’s looked like he’s come back from Oz with a notion that he shouldn’t be getting treated any differently to bog standard forwards from here but he has a target on him and he needs to learn to deal with that. He’s got better in recent weeks and is doing less whinging to the ref but there’s work to do yet.

Bibby was busy wrapping his legs round a player v Leeds to try and milk a set restart and ended up losing the ball as a result. Every team has players that do it.

I’ve heard that Lachlan Coooooooooote is pairing up with Tom Daley in the off season to do some Synchronised Pairs Diving competitions.

Let's all agree Coote can play but unfortunately for him one of these days he will get hurt in a tackle and every man and his dog is going to ignore him fully expecting one of his Lazarus like recoveries to take place

You mean when Barba wasn’t a Saints player?

Exactly. I agree with NK that it’s creeping in and it’s awful to watch. What I don’t agree with is that Saints are worse than anyone else, which is what is being suggested.

I'll have a little bet that whe the term "Play acting" was used as the subject the OP wasn't thinking of wrapping legs, hands in the tackle etc.

They were talking about feigning injuries, holding necks after every tackle, going down in the line when defending etc etc

Thats play acting, thats cheating, that's embarrassing
And I suspect that's what NK was referring to particularly in the case of Coote and his dying Swan acts.
I bet he's gone down like he's been shot more in the last 12 months than in his previous 12 season !

I haven’t suggested your worse than anyone else on that score at all but there have been high profile incidents in Saints last two games of your players acting up for the ref and trying to get opposition players in trouble. On the play acting front your much of a muchness in fairness. I’d say your in the top few teams in the league but nobody is perfect. My main issue with Saints has been around that All Stars game and the timing of your Covid troubles. I can’t lie, I think you’ve taken the pi*s but again, we don’t agree and that’s fair enough.

And when Tommy Makinson wasn't a Saints player too?

How about Hardaker's misdemeanours being before he ever pulled a Wigan shirt on? Oh! That's right, I forgot. That doesn't count because he isn't a Saints player.

Look mate, Saints and their players are no Saints (pun intended) either and that's fine. At least have the decency to recognise that their constant play acting, surrounding the ref, convenient Covid, ball tampering and offering contracts to wife beating thugs among other things is worthy of its own list if you're making them. I don't think 'just missing a couple of games' covers it, do you?

Saints do seem to be worse for diving/feigning injury right now to be fair. All teams look to milk set restarts though. I'm just wary of getting on my high horse about it because I think everyone else will follow suit.

Hardaker got done for drink driving when he was a Wigan player didn't he?

As for the rest of it, the "constant play acting, surrounding the ref, convenient Covid" is no different to any other team. The ball tampering fair enough, brain explosions from Makinson you can't really explain or justify. And didn't Barba become a "wife beating thug" AFTER he left Saints? Or if he was in trouble for the same thing before he came over then I am wrong.