Saints to retain the title, with us finishing mid-table in our rookie coach's first season in a hot-seat.

Is the coffee ladies always pessimistic outlook catching faster than a dose of the clap in a house of ill repute?
Mid table with our squad would frankly be a disaster, but the owner will be fine as he accepts mid table mediocrity and worse from his coaches in their first two seasons.
This continual negativity by some posters and making out we are in a far worse situation player wise is tedious, we have a great squad, a half that knows the way to the try line and is loving that he won't get the crud as he's had in Australia the last year of his life so will be more settled. We've got 3 top NZ players that are well and truly settled and with a new coach I expect them to shine even more.
And were we actually going to have any more cap, usually when we have fewer in than out it's due to backloaded contracts to prevent us going over the cap.

I hope he doesn't give it to Reynolds in all honesty.

agree, and with your comments about Mrs B and her constant negativity, it will be time for her to start spouting about finances and accounts soon.

Houghton is not a captain, Taylor does all the press stuff but I think he is overrated as a forward, works hard, but not much else. Connor would be an option if he didn't already have an ego bigger than Jupiter... who else?

So Houghton is not a captain, you cannot recall the last time we had a true captain (er, Gareth Ellis?), Taylor is overrated and Connor has an ego problem but you knock Mrs B for being negative.

You really never change, do you?

Good post Chris hard to disagree with any of that.

I know we all want to see a Ratu replacement and possibly someone with experiance and leadership to replace Ellis's presence. What I will say though is under Last we seemed to change our mentality and stop looking for excuses such as Ellis not being on the field, or quitting when errors and decisions went against us, it was the biggest leap forward I saw whereas the players seemed to really start concentrating on their own games and taking accountability instead of bickering and pointing the finger. Listening to Brett this should continue and improve.

Il also say I think Cators emerging as a real presence and leader in the way he plays, I think he's inspiring his teammates in the way Ellis used too by leading from the front, long may it continue. Future captain material?

I think we're stronger with Connor at fullback so don't really see Shauls absence as a huge negative, I'd be interested if anyone can find Connors try assists from Fullback, I know I saw 7 in two games back end of the season, I'd hazard a guess that's more in two games than shaul made all season.

Reynolds should shine, I think he has a better mentality than Kelly in that when the going gets tough he l compete harder. Whereas Kelly at times was guilty of going missing when errors/decisions went against us, injury wise from what I read he had trouble with his hamstrings but seemed to be fine after surgery but just couldn't get passed benji marshalls form, fingers crossed we have luck with injuries .

I agree about Jones, we barely saw him so will we miss him? Something tells me Manu Mau will have a big season, showed some good form last few games of last season. Along with Lane improving a lot too.

While I'd love to see us make a couple more signings, I like the way Brett's not signing for the sake of it like we've been guilty of in the past, seems he's being very shrewd in recruitment and will only sign quality when it becomes available, I'm hoping this approach will help take us to the next level. Let's see if any clubs need wages off their books and a couple of good additions pop up.

... and only in excess of £2m in debt.

Bumpy will be one of the first to shout for heads if things don't pan out.
He's got form.
Like everybody, I hope Reynolds can move us up a level but its by far from a done deal how effective he'll be after NRL underperforming. Passion is great but its got to be a whole lot more than that.
Pretty sure the new coach and player(s) will get plenty of time from the likes of me and Mrs B.
It'll be others, with history, that take part first, in the rush to judgement.

Mrs B. Isn't it time you realised that a woman with reasoned and intelligent views should have no place on a man's Rugby League forum. I can see a time when women will actually start playing the game. Crazy world we live in.

Casual misogyny has long been a defining feature of some posters. I'm sure I'll survive. The harsh reality is history, an inexperienced coach and known gaps in the squad support the fact Skybet has us as 7th favourite for the LLS. I'm going to hope for more as ever, enjoy the highs and anticipation and count our blessings that at this point we still have a club to support.
.

Sneyd as captain

Hard to disagree, but, I have been thinking, in modern sport, what does the captain actually do, is it purely a 'ceremonial' idea?

ZZZZZZZZZZZZ, I call for improvements and address issues that constantly raise their heads that coaches don't address, just like other fans want. When a coach is seen to be out of control, no ideas and we are making the same old mistakes season in season out yet spending to the cap and in some seasons beyond such that we have back loaded contracts and a weaker squad the following year then yes, i and many others will call for something to be done, the question is why would you constantly back mediocrity?
I've already commented with positivity that Hodgson has said what he intends, we shall see how that pans out, if we finish mid table I'll be very disappointed, wouldn't you with the squad we have?
If we go backwards at a rate of knots as we did under Radford in his first two years (and should have been sacked on the back of that) I'd be calling for a change of the coach absolutely
Sentimentality is why we are where we are, players handed contracts they never deserved, Radford was ridiculously guilty of that, an owner who rather than admit he was wrong regards his choice of coach continued to back him despite Radford shgowing he was well out of hisr depth most of the time, squandered a fantastic set of youngsters in favour of paying big salaries for players from outside the club at every avenue and failed to develop those youngsters on an epic scale.

Yeah, we won the CC twice, that's great and we did it with admitted by most the best squad we'd seen since the early/mid 80s, but it papers over the other failings and the longer term damage done by Radford including the overall finances.

But you keep banging the drum for mediocre playing and coaching standards, I'll support the coach and the players but they have to hold up their end to show us that they are doing the ob that they're been very well paid for.

Yes and no, sometimes you want someone who can lead by example on the field and off it, someone who is a good communicator to the players, can motivate when the chips are down but keep a cool head and not go into a rant/lose control if things go wrong.
does that person have to be called the 'captain', absolutely not, but someone who can interact with the officials in a reasoned manner and talk to them such that it helps rather than hinders would be useful.
Who that is currently I couldn't honestly say, I wouldn't mind if being Tuimavave actually, he's been such a solid player for us since he arrived and seems to a good character/no previous baggage regards refs.