Season over and a step back compared to 2020, passholders not renewing, an increasingly onerous lease position with the Allams. What next? Can't see AP going round again on the same basis as this year. Difficult to tell how much room for squad change we have but with the likes of Reynolds, Fonua, Taylor, Houghton, Connor, Carlos, Satae under contract I'm guessing not much. Very challenging off season ahead, need to find some positivity from somewhere to inspire and engage the increasingly apathetic fanbase.

Only McIntosh coming in so far but with Faraimo leaving we will hopefully have an overseas hooker coming in. Cannot see too many changes apart from that, unfortunately.

Worry for me is Reynolds, he's out for a minimum of four months so will miss the start of pre-season training and could potentially miss the first few rounds next year.

I wonder whether there's a more radical Plan B. If we've lost a few thousand passholders the current wage bill must be unsustainable.

Not doubting you but where does the information come from regards Reynolds?

just wonder if Reynolds calls it a day if it is another long term injury

Unless some players ask for a release , there's not a lot we can do .

He does a weekly interview on an Aussie radio station which is always worth a listen. He's a funny bloke and speaks well of the club and the fans. Last week talked about the 'banter' with the Rovers fans as well as the injury



rlhttps://twitter.com/BigSportsBrekky/status/1430760418767642624?s

rlhttps://player.whooshkaa.com/episode/895164rl

Can I suggest you learn to either scroll on by or even use that fabulous ignore button. Thank you.

I think AP may have to roll the dice (possibly for the last time) and either pay a transfer fee for someone, pay off a major name to create some cap space (such as Sneyd, Fonua etc) in the hope that that spurs an increasingly apathetic fan base into renewing their passes.

Yes it would be very high risk, but I can see another thousand or two not renewing their passes and that would result in an even worse financial position. Its going to be a very hard sell to get people to pay to watch this crap for another year.

How many more jam tomorrow seasons can we have?

I honestly sometimes think that I’d enjoy my rugby more at a lower level, watching a less talented team that gave its all each week.

The culture and mindset is just a million miles away. Some teams are spending a million a year less than us on the cap.

I wouldn’t blame AP in whatever direction he goes. He’s been let down badly one way or the other down the years.

I will be thinking long and hard about whether I renew or not for next year. Its been awhile since I got excited about going to a game.
I probably will because I'm an overly optimistic idiot but its not a no-brainer anymore.

For whatever reason, I just don't think we have the pulling power to sign the best players. British International players would rather sign for Wigan, St Helens or Warrington or go down under. Hanging on to Jake was quite surprising for us and Jake is only on the fringe of the international team.

The last top drawer British International player we signed was Ellis, and he was at the end of his career when we signed him, we won things by signing that calibre of player. Before that was ones we produced ourselves like Yeaman and Horne.

When the like of Tomkins, Bateman, Widdop, Williams, Hardaker come available, we're not even in with a shot of signing them. They're the types of players that play in grand finals.

Some of the young rising stars and future international players like Jake Truemam, Tom Johnstone, Tom Davies, and young Pryce at Huddersfield and Newman and Oledzki at Leeds, will be looking for new contacts in the near future, I bet we're not in the running to sign them when they do.

You want to compete at the top, then sign top players instead of average Dan squad fillers.

I think it goes beyond who we do or don’t sign. We’ve had some champion players in the recent past, and except for a brief flirtation, we’ve not kicked on.

Teams like Saints have a certain culture that breeds success. They’ve had multiple coaches, players, support staff and the winning culture is there all the time, regardless of the personnel.

McRae called out the culture of the club years ago, and it’s never gone away. AP has been hoodwinked by certain people in the past, and he’s also paying the price for sacking Radford 18 months too late.

I’m just not sure how many times the supporters will keep going to the well. Whatever AP decides, it’s going to have to be radical to turn things around.

This is the big question - what now? Indeed…

It’s frustratingly and extremely disappointingly true that we have gone backwards. We have undoubtedly signed (Sao, Satae, Swift, Reynolds, Mau, Jones, Fonua) and retained (Connor, Carlos, Griffin) quality players in the past few seasons, but for whatever reasons we still haven’t kicked on.

It is sadly true some of our key stalwarts are now showing real signs of being passed their best. It’s not their fault - all players drop in performance as they age - but it’s certainly not good enough for a club of our size and expectations. Big decisions have to be made for the Houghtons, Sneyds, Taylors etc if the club, who have lead the way to Wembley glory and are now leading us in the opposite direction.

I find it very hard to blame Hodgson, despite not always agreeing with his squad selection or sub rotations. But, it’s hard to spare him of at least some flack. He surely should have a big part to play in motivating his team and instilling confidence to execute effort and plays worked on in training. However, I’m happy to give him time - I just hope the club and fans have the same patience.

I feel anxious mostly about what it could mean more broadly for the club. If Pearson goes we really would be in e street. He’s ploughed money into us since taking over and hasn’t seen any return in 4+ years. He surely can’t keep up losing money to a team getting worse, and who’s fans won’t turn up. It could mean real, real bad news. I hope I’m wrong and he’s committed to keep with us.

What now? Hopefully end the season with some sort of effort and roll on the pre season with a couple of half decent players going into next year.

Next year…

Its always next year Tommy
You make some good points but the key for next season will be whether we can offload some of the non performing players still under contract and that the club realise that several of our senior players are not good enough.
Its the only way the club can go forward.
Simply adding a wing and a new front row will not hide our inadequacies at half back or at nine.
We have seen the best of Taylor and i dont think he will ever get back to his form of two years ago but until we get some new blood with pace at half back and at nine this inability to convert possession in the opposition 20 into points will continue
to go into next season without these changes would be suicide in terms of season pass sales