Only a friendly but that was closed to our starting 13 that will play against Rovers, it's our style of playing that needs changing if we do we could well this season, if we continue to play the power game then we will struggle as we don't have the pack, certainly not with the players who won't start the season.

Nothing to worry about yet, as Saints are the favourites to win the league IMO.

If Dawson gets picked before Moludi I'd be handing in a transfer request, it's not even close between the pair.

MDJ will start against Rovers for sure, Radford seems to have praised him more than anybody else during preseason to get the fans primed for him to be a starter. I agree with you about Miloudi though he was 1 of the few bright lights of last season whenever given a chance.

I wonder if Radford has ever thought about plahing Albert Kelly at fullback. Most teams play with an extra pivot at fb to create more chances but you have Shaul there who isnt that type of player, i honestly think Kelly at fb he could be another Barba.

Spot on Dave.

Man for man I wasn't overly worried and didn't think they were head and shoulders above us (MDJ aside who was defensively awful). We held them out for the 1st 20 mins but neither did we trouble them offensively.
The difference for me was in the coaching and style of play.
Saints are fast when that ball goes through the hands, look to support the ball carrier and have a scrum half who took the line on, engaged defenders and created gaps for the support.
We on the other hand looked like we picked up from where we left the last season. Wingers scooting from within our own 20, 1 man drives, last play an up and under or kick to the corner and slow passing.
Now it might not be all doom and gloom and I won't approach the season with that attitude just yet but with even our personnel employing a Saints/Wigan style of play we'd improve immeasurably in my opinion.
I also for 1 will be disgusted if MDJ starts ahead of Miloudi in the 1st game. Miloudi always gives 100% and you always expect the unexpected when he's on the ball and I like that.

Is it 2 more losses to equal the worst ever losing run in our entire history?

The problem for Pearson is that the season could well be in the bin before it's started. Too much reliance already on the first 15 or so players. Five of them missing before a ball is kicked = a heavy defeat at Rovers and..

Our pre season has been poor
In old money it’s a C-
Does not bode well
Please tell me WHAT has changed ?
3-4 mediocre signings and same mistakes

We should look red hot in pre season
That’s the whole frigging point

We hammered Rovers pre season in 2016 if I remember correctly and then how did we go that year ?

What are you basing our poor pre season on, which friendlies did you attend and how many training sessions have you seen?

Youngsters did well against Donny and we played well against Wakey.

Pre season form and results mean very little.

FWIW even if you do lose to us week 1, it won’t be a hammering. Our spine isn’t working at all yet, half backs two games together and we still don’t know our best fullback, add in a slower dummy half then usual it’s still a bit rusty.

I don’t think you can use pre season as a barometer for success, just take it for what it is a warm up. I understand the concerns about style of play but you won’t be playing Saints every week will you. I sometimes think it’s worth in pre season having a test but not a big challenge so you can build some confidence as well as fitness, to avoid the scenario here.

You know what, i’d forgotten about that. The Hudds game the week before was enough to confirm our season was over before a ball had been played in anger, and that was just confirmation. It really was 23 games to prepare for the middle 8s right from the off. Which went well. I do still wonder how much Chester was to blame and how much was Peacock.

Anyway, back to the point in hand - it seems likely that Saints in 2019 will be quite a lot better than Rovers in 2016.

We’ve won our pre-season friendlies. But they were against Championship teams, albeit good Championship teams. Preseason has to be spectacularly bad or good to be much of an indicator. Hudds probably felt somewhat confident after brushing us off in January 2016, but they finished the main season bottom and only avoided the MPG thanks to an iffy drop goal.

I think the trouble we have is that we don’t start the season with any grace period.
Patience was pretty thin at the end of last season, even taking into account the injuries we contended with.
I was hoping we’d have tweaked our style of play, but from reports from people who were there, it doesn’t seem to be the case. That will be a huge disappointment if it’s not been addressed and could be Radfords undoing.
Even Hull aside I don’t think I’ve ever been so underwhelmed for the start of a rugby season.

could be even worse Jake as its quite likely we will lose the first 3 maybe even four games.
I dont think the likes of Bowden,Green and Westerman returning to the team end of February will be enough to save Radfords job.

Its not just Saints who play this style.
You will also see the ball moved fast accross the backline or a long ball to the full back rather than just one man taking the ball up like we do.This also takes a lot of work away from the forwards so they are a lot fresher.
Castleford were the masters of this,Warrington do it well and Wigan with their new coach and Hardaker now at full back will also adopt this type of play using the speed of their backs.
Powell apart give me an Australian coach any day.We are desperate for a change of style and for me now its obvious Radford cannot deliver that.
We have a major player clear out for season 2020 and need an Australian coach in place to attract some top overseas players to the club.
Its so disappointing to see just how far away we are from the top clubs.
Its even more embarrassing to have the coach big up a very average player like Matty Dawson so fans are not surprised to see him in the first team at HKR.
We have seen far more both in defence and attack from a rookie in Ratu, and Miloudi when played on the left wing has always been a handful.
No point looking good in training when you cant produce it in a competitive game.
The Saints fans were laughing at us signing Dawson

A lot of Saints fans sat around me were asking why on earth we'd signed him and what did Radford see in him, neither of which I could answer.
They said he'd not improved since they'd binned him off and questioned even if he was good enough for Leigh.
Definitely a player we didn't need, a Colbon type signing if ever there was 1.

I dont think it matters how we start the season it'll be the same thing come the end of it, with the arm chair coaches wanting Radford out. We could win the first 10 lose 1 and everyone would want him gone. Short memories some people, you don't win what he has in the game and be clueless. Some mis management on contracts over the past season but I reckon that will be rectified come 2020 and the squad we have now are nowhere near as bad as people make out.