Agreed. I actually think that this season is our last one with this core team and the ages they are at. Nothing lasts for ever and I think that from next season onwards we will need some rebuilding and transition will follow.

Wigan will always be there and there's huge wraps on this current Academy team with by all accounts some real potential superstars in there. Warrington will come good at some point especially as they are investing in their Academy at last. Leeds are also going down the project route with some Championship players that if they get some of them right like Walmsley and Batchelor, then they will be much improved too.

As I've said before I'd love to see Welsby over there. Whilst it would weaken us I'd love him to go and kill it over there at some point.

I think it could be a year earlier. You look at the amount of rugby that the likes of Percival and Makinson have played and you'll see them picking up more injuries. Percival in particular has struggled of late and Makinson missed a few last season too.

So it's just a Friendly then ?
Best get an Asterix Ready

Let’s be honest. As much as Welsby and Dodd are fantastic SL players, there are just as many equally as good NRL players running around in reserve grade over there.

We cannot compete with the talent pool over there

Kick off time put back 50 mins due to the heat.

Suits me as I'm at CentreParcs Fri- Monday so won't have to get up as early

Wigan the only club team to ever win in Oz

Strange feeling but getting more and more behind St Helens as the week goes on - mainly because of the sense of certainty amongst Australian pundits that it will be a complete whitewash. It wouldn't be a good look for British RL if the team who's won SL four times running get run over on Saturday. The change in kick off time should help a bit - hope they're able to keep the score close at least.

Plans already in place
If Saints are winning well cut the transmission off

I'm not ashamed to admit I'm behind them.

I like to think I can recognise a quality team when I see one, and I admire quality, and since we lost all the trolls who infested this place when we were struggling under Mo and Whelan, I feel more brotherly towards their fans anyway.

They've got a job and a half on, but as someone else said, it would look dreadful for our game generally if the best side got shellacked by an Aussie team who their pundits would no doubt then claim was undercooked etc, thus rubbing it in even more.

The real downside of a Saints win would be the attention it would draw to their best players.

I'm not sure it's quite the problem it was back in the days of Wigan v Bath, but that only went west for us because up till then RU were totally confident they had the better players and it was a real wake-up call for them. The Aussies don't need that as our top players' agents are constantly marketing them down there anyway. But if Saints make a really good fist of it, it will be harder for the Phil Goulds of this world to write them off as s###e, and easier for their agents to get through the doors of the NRL's top clubs.

I understand the concern about players' heads being turned but it is what it is.

We were going to crash and burn when KC, Newlove, Scully, Joynt, Long etc retired. We're now going to crash and burn when the current lot do.

It isn't so long ago a good proportion of Saints fans were hammering Woolf for picking Jack Welsby!! The reality is the club will continue to invest in its academy and bring good players through, as will Wigan, and the more go over to the NRL and do well and make good money, the better. They deserve it, there will be other local lads coming through that we will enjoy watching.

Bloody hell i would be If it was a choice of a solar flare and certain death or cheering on a St Helens team i would still rather reach for the sun cream and chance it.

I can sit here and say I want them to win but ultimately when the game kicks off I know I won’t. I can’t help that, it’s natural and 99.9% of their fans would feel the same if the shoe was on the other foot.

What I will say is that I want them to do well in the game and push Penrith every inch of the way. I think the whole event, with it being noted in the middle of the pre season trial team lists on Aussie websites is totally disrespectful but that doesn’t surprise me. I’m convinced Saints will want it far more and I do think they’ll go pretty close.

I must admit I'm torn as well.....

I don't know whether I want Saints to lose by a thwacking 40+

Or for Penrith to score the winner as the final hooter is sounding.