I'm a woman. Comes with the territory. I don't generally leave the arena early either.

The majority (on here) are measured in their criticisms of the club. Posters who constantly rant, moan and name call can be expected to be questioned.

I'm sorry, but what part of your post claiming that AP left the ground with 20 minutes to go did anyone 'misquote'. Because this...



...is pretty difficult to misinterpret. It's a straight claim that AP left the match with 20 minutes to go.

Yep, that's how it goes. Mostly it is fair, too (as it is in this thread). Unfortunately however, it does occasionally stray beyond that IMO, and the board becomes less pleasant because of it. At times there is an element of attacking posters because people don't like what they're saying (and it always escalates when we're not doing well). I was under the impression that this forum isn't for the exclusive use of those predisposed to looking for the positives, nor the opposite. I thought it was just somewhere for people to say/discuss what they think, not what people want to read.

Name-calling is always an invitation for criticism though, and deservedly so.

I would hope for a change of coach after the Widnes game unless we beat both them and Saints.

I suspect it would be easier to attract new players if we had a respected coach.

The ironic thing is the culture had started to change under his first 2 years tenure with the introduction of Gentle and McRae. Unfortunately, some of the advice of McRae proved flawed, and his scouting and contracting of players appears to have been cavalier. Pearson looks to have thrown the baby out with the bathwater as a result, and reverted to reliance on the same people who have dwelled inherently within our club infrastructure for years and were a constitutional part of it's culture as a result.

Ergo, the cancer was not cauterised, merely in remission, and we are where we are today. All my opinion, of course.

Think you nailed it.

Things can indeed change very quickly. A bit of luck, a bit of confidence and all this negativity might seem like a huge overreaction by the middle of summer. Sometimes staying the course isn't stubbornness, it's patience.
A pedantic point but the new system will mean 1 or 2 extra home games, rather than 3. 11 before the split and 3 or 4 after, where it was previously 13. Still, it all helps. Pressure for a cap rise might start to grow though - a modest one is probably overdue, even in these low inflation times.

Agree on the last point. Competitiveness may be increasing (for most teams ) but the quality of players and particularly imports has gone backwards. Comparing Saints of 2006 to the squad that won the title last year is interesting.

Part of the problem I think is our identity. Wigan are for the want of a better word "warriors", or at least formidable/physical bruising competitors/borderline cheats (at the ruck anyway). Leeds are the modern day champions, never know when they're beaten, supplementing an endless homegrown pipeline with a sprinkling of top quality like Cuthbertson. Saints are the entertainers/comeback kings. We are the "sleeping giants" or put more crudely, the eternal disappointments.

How do you break out of that? When the chips are invariably down, the top clubs will dig deep and recall who they are and what they do, but so will we. Ellis has mentioned it before. Part of this is recruitment-led. In the pack for instance we go for professionals like Ellis and Mini, nice guys like Paea and Feka, Castleford pretty boys like Watts and Westerman (bit of licence there but you get my drift). We need a couple of borderline mental rough-as-s forwards who'll niggle and scrap all day long. Was discussing this with Mr B yesterday and since Shayne McMenemy can't remember anyone pushing the limits. Our "spark" in this department these days is limited to the competitiveness of Jordan Rankin who's probably leaving. I do think we need to be looking for some "mongrel" in the off season. And we need obviously a coach who commands respect.