I think the problem is the extremes of points of view on a single victory/defeat.
It seems some can’t wait to jump all over a defeat and say I told you so.

Was the manner of defeat against Wakey unacceptable?. Absolutely
Has it been coming for a while?. Absolutely.
Are there mitigating circumstances for the season as a whole?. Absolutely
Will AP be happy?. Absolutely not.

I’m not a happy clapper.
I have my doubts over our style of play. I think it’s been found out to an extent, and we don’t have the personnel on the field to carry it out at the moment. We need to look at a plan B.
I also have doubts about some of the retention. I believe it could be a year too far for a couple of players we’ve kept on. I can imagine it’s a difficult task to replace like for like though, so do understand it somewhat. On the flip side, we’ve extended Kelly, Griffin and Connor which is huge.
I’m not going to judge the young players on the last few months. They’ve all been overplayed, and have needed taken out the firing line for weeks now. It’s okay bringing a few in at a time in a settled side, but we’ve had to play ours en masse. The experience will stand them in good stead though.

We also don’t seem to have caught up from the Australia trip. We brought injuries back with us, and have been playing catch up ever since. Again, it’s been a big learning curve for the club.
All in all it’s been a really frustrating campaign. What the club have earned over the last two seasons is patience from the fans. We need to kick on, but I’m sure AP is the most aware of that.

Everyone wants the same thing, it’s just that some people seem to take delight in being negative as soon as something goes wrong.

A win on Friday against the bin dippers will make us all a bit happier.

Are we likely to be missing any players from the Wakey game ie Shaul and Westerman? Didn’t they pick up injuries?

Yes but no news on the extent of the injuries. Squad will be interesting tomorrow it now Radford has form for changing it

Maybe maybe not but what you don’t seem to be taking into account is the improvement in other teams. Imho only Leeds have gone backwards. Even Salford have proved tricky opposition this year, even HKR and Widnes have been on occasions able to offer a game. It’s getting tighter out there imho,

I’m not yet convinced that Saints are the real deal.

10 points ahead of Wigan their nearest rival,Pace to burn across the team and very powerful forwards and you dont think they are the real deal this season?

I don't need to take other teams form into account. If that starting 13 id quoted had played together for most of the season, there would be natural improvement in form for them as well.


Saints???? They are streets ahead of the rest of the pack, not only in points, but in performances. They can afford to rest a lot of key players in the 8's knowing they will finish top. They can have all their big hitters rested and raring to go for the cruitial games come the end of september / start of october

Sorry but they are not, we beat them once and had there been a decent ref we'd have done them twice, so your last comment is utter nonsense and I'm not having it. They are nothing like streets ahead, they are the form team nothing more and very beatable.

And we ran St's close in the cup, effectively losing the game because we had 11 players on the pitch when they scored half of their point. It was one game, like yours against them. Over the course of the season, as the table suggests, they are way out in front.


So, it was not utter nonsense.

Care to comment?

Saints have had show ponies written all over them imo and today proved it. When teams step up against them they look exactly what they are, a big standard top 8 team. They are nothing like the dominant teams of the past. Super 8,s is good at showing these teams up, because once the other 7 take it seriously Saints are caught out as they just have been in the cup.

Will they be champs? Maybe but it’s far from certain.

See you hedged your bets there, calling them “show ponies” but maybe champions!

Not really, there hardly crap, so sure they could win it - however a lot of that will depend on the opposition accepting there rolls as also rans and I’m not convinced they will.

As previously mentioned, have a look at that league table and try and convince yourself they are not streets ahead.

That would be the same table that saw Cas at the top of last year, now remind me what happened there?

Seriously you were just wrong why not admit it. Or are Catalan now the ones who are streets ahead? Nothing is as yet decide but it’s clear that Saints are not what you claimed.

To be fair to Vastman he does has a point. St's this year are on top because they have been the most consistent team so far this season no one is arguing that however much of that has been due to a fit and healthy squad. Had we had a fit and healthy squad for most of the season I am pretty sure we would also be up there at the top. Us, Wigan, Warrington, Cas even Leeds have all suffered with a heavy injury list this season with a lot being long term and to crucial players.
So that has made life easier for St's to stay at the top and extend their lead, You mentioned we nearly beat them with a very depleted side which we did but if St's really were an exceptional side we would have been out the game by halftime.

Catalan fully deserved the win yesterday and showed that if you get into St's and physically dominate the middle then they are nothing great. I thought Pervical & Makinson must have been sat in the stands as hardly saw them in the game and Barba was average at best. Yes it may have been a bad day at the office for them but they simply had no answer to Cats and were second best in every aspect not what you'd expect from a team that are supposedly far better than any other team and one that has a wealth of experience in these games.

Whilst I think St's are a good side I don't personally think they are way ahead of any other team I just think they've been fortunate to go through the season relatively unscathed on the injury front a bit like us in 2016 and then ran out of gas at the final hurdle after the CC cup win.

This is exactly what I said to t'other half last night. The downside to no injuries is players starting to burn out this stage in the season which is exactly what happened to us in 2016...well that and a 4 day bender following the CC win

Holbrook can only do so much, time for the players to see if they are capable of battling through these final 10 weeks although a week off for Wembley will help to a certain extent.