Quote: hull2524 "with 7/8 players sat in the stand, 2/3 not fully fit, loads of young kids in, abdull first match back after broken leg, how the heck do you want us to play, if it was that easy great but it isn't, I expect us to play the game with plenty of effort and guts and play to the best of our ability, with everything thrown at us I think that's what we did, I really don't know what some expect, to be 5th with all the injuries we have had is pretty good imo,'"
According to a post earlier in this thread you had: Shaul (Barba), Talanoa (Swift), Griffin (Morgan), Sneyd (Richardson), Bowden (Douglas), Manu (Peyroux) and Westerman (Wilkin) out. Saints equivalents are in brackets (some are debatable the Smith/ Richardson one in particular but it is easily replaced). Would give a team of:
Lomax
Makinson Costello Percival Grace
Fages Smith
Walmsley Roby Thompson
Taia Knowles
LMS
ASmith Ashworth Amor Lees
Though more likely we would see Bentley and Brown in there somewhere too (though I’ve not given any debuts in the team above). To me that looks like a team capable of playing the way we do now? Perhaps not as effectively, and the bench doesn’t pack as much of a punch (I think we would rapidly make sure we only have Thompson and Walmlsey on at the same time in emergencies), but the structures would be in place.
Structures at Saints (and Wigan, don’t know about elsewhere) are enforced throughout the age groups, so bringing in young players should never impact the way we play.