Re: THE worst Saints team .. the decline is complete (I hope : Thu Jul 04, 2013 5:29 am  

saintcj wrote:

Does anyone have anything concrete that saints are looking at chase or is everyone just getting carried away with the rumour?

We are 100% not in for Chase. He's sorted for 2014

Re: THE worst Saints team .. the decline is complete (I hope : Thu Jul 04, 2013 11:31 am  

Northampton_Saint wrote:

And Chase. But what else have the Romans done for us? Eh?

If we handn't been so poor at recruitment for years we wouldnt need to buy half a team in one off season. We've allowed a steady decline and now were paying the price.

Re: THE worst Saints team .. the decline is complete (I hope : Thu Jul 04, 2013 11:36 am  

No1 Saint wrote:

If we handn't been so poor at recruitment for years we wouldnt need to buy half a team in one off season. We've allowed a steady decline and now were paying the price.

That's exactly my point and one I've been making for a long time.

Re: THE worst Saints team .. the decline is complete (I hope : Thu Jul 04, 2013 12:53 pm  

"We need half a team" The knee-jerking.... it burns....

We need a half, preferably 2 (Already got best available one of them for next season? Check!), a prop, preferably 2 (Already got best available one of them for next season? Check!), and some decent coaching (Best available coach that noone complained about at the time who's only had half a season to get his ideas across so far and in whom all hope is by no means lost as yet? Check!)

Oh how we suffer from our terrible unambitious recruiting... Woe is us

"We need half a team" FFS....

Re: THE worst Saints team .. the decline is complete (I hope : Thu Jul 04, 2013 1:53 pm  

Northampton_Saint wrote:

"We need half a team" The knee-jerking.... it burns....

We need a half, preferably 2 (Already got best available one of them for next season? Check!), a prop, preferably 2 (Already got best available one of them for next season? Check!), and some decent coaching (Best available coach that noone complained about at the time who's only had half a season to get his ideas across so far and in whom all hope is by no means lost as yet? Check!)

Oh how we suffer from our terrible unambitious recruiting... Woe is us

"We need half a team" FFS....

In a ideal world we could do with 6 players because half of this team isn't good enough. Obviously your standards have dropped since we have become a mediocre team.

The only players IMO that are the usual class we've come to expect at saints in the super league era are Manu, sia, Walsmsley, Roby and lomax. The rest are either ok or just not good enough.

Re: THE worst Saints team .. the decline is complete (I hope : Thu Jul 04, 2013 2:04 pm  

Northampton_Saint wrote:

"We need half a team" The knee-jerking.... it burns....

We need a half, preferably 2 (Already got best available one of them for next season? Check!), a prop, preferably 2 (Already got best available one of them for next season? Check!), and some decent coaching (Best available coach that noone complained about at the time who's only had half a season to get his ideas across so far and in whom all hope is by no means lost as yet? Check!)

Oh how we suffer from our terrible unambitious recruiting... Woe is us

"We need half a team" FFS....

Well when you've stopped acting like a tool have a think. 2 props, 2 halfbacks and a winger as a minimum is hardly something you want to do all at once really is it?

Brown has left Hudds and they look a strong team and are challenging at the top - Brown takes over Saints and we drop off a cliff ... great stuff or is that a coincidence?

No point trying to convince some people even when facts are all around them. Fact - we keep losing games badly, Fact - we pick players all over the place instead of their settled positions, Fact - we are struggling to even make the top 8 , Fact - we have allowed ourselves to get into a position where we need to recruit a new front row and both halfbacks in one go , Fact - we have resorted to using other teams cast offs to cover in key positions because we have no depth.

Never mind, forget all he facts , you just keep living in happy happy land , soon you'll be able to just print out a copy of the table and turn it upside down then everything will be fine because we'll be near the top.

Re: THE worst Saints team .. the decline is complete (I hope : Thu Jul 04, 2013 2:30 pm  

St pete wrote:

In a ideal world we could do with 6 players because half of this team isn't good enough. Obviously your standards have dropped since we have become a mediocre team.

The only players IMO that are the usual class we've come to expect at saints in the super league era are Manu, sia, Walsmsley, Roby and lomax. The rest are either ok or just not good enough.

I agree that the 5 above are the class that we crave, but you can't get a full squad of players like that in a salary capp.

Add to it the following players that i'm certainly glad to have aboard

Jordan Turner, Josh Jones, Mark Percival and Luke Thompson

Good players incoming

Walsh & Masoe

A couple of players who can surely do better
Wheeler & LMS

Some decent potentail for the future
Swift and Greenwood

And some solid pros
Makinson and Flash

Thats the core of a very decent squad, but I think the next couple of moves will determine whether it turns to a squad to compete with the best, or mearly an upper mid table squad (outside the top 4, but in the playoffs).
Resigning Wellens, Boof and Gardner and not finding an alternative future for Lance is, imo is going to land us solidly in the "almost good enough" catagory.

Replace those 4 (and Meli and TP) with a decent mix of exciting young talent (perhaps the likes of Brierly from he Championship) and a couple of hardened pros (perhaps from the NRL if we've space) ans we could have a genuinely competetive squad.

I think the most imprtant thing we find is a couple of hardened leaders. Players who'll be first to take the hit and give it back twice as hard, like Fozzy or Graham used to do and players who you want there when the poop hits the fan. The sort of guy that'll belt a player for trying to rough up one of his young team mates.

Scully was giving it the big I am recently, saying he could still manage it without a problem. If that's the case, he should be getting his boots on now. He's exactly what we're lacking -a determined, hardened, ruthless character who'll take everything you can throw at him and still come at you.

Re: THE worst Saints team .. the decline is complete (I hope : Thu Jul 04, 2013 2:43 pm  

Offside Monkey wrote:

I agree that the 5 above are the class that we crave, but you can't get a full squad of players like that in a salary capp.

Add to it the following players that i'm certainly glad to have aboard

Jordan Turner, Josh Jones, Mark Percival and Luke Thompson

Good players incoming

Walsh & Masoe

A couple of players who can surely do better
Wheeler & LMS

Some decent potentail for the future
Swift and Greenwood

And some solid pros
Makinson and Flash

Thats the core of a very decent squad, but I think the next couple of moves will determine whether it turns to a squad to compete with the best, or mearly an upper mid table squad (outside the top 4, but in the playoffs).
Resigning Wellens, Boof and Gardner and not finding an alternative future for Lance is, imo is going to land us solidly in the "almost good enough" catagory.

Replace those 4 (and Meli and TP) with a decent mix of exciting young talent (perhaps the likes of Brierly from he Championship) and a couple of hardened pros (perhaps from the NRL if we've space) ans we could have a genuinely competetive squad.

I think the most imprtant thing we find is a couple of hardened leaders. Players who'll be first to take the hit and give it back twice as hard, like Fozzy or Graham used to do and players who you want there when the poop hits the fan. The sort of guy that'll belt a player for trying to rough up one of his young team mates.

Scully was giving it the big I am recently, saying he could still manage it without a problem. If that's the case, he should be getting his boots on now. He's exactly what we're lacking -a determined, hardened, ruthless character who'll take everything you can throw at him and still come at you.

We 100% need two props and a stand as well as Maose and Walsh. That's a must, if we are to have any chance of getting to a grand final.

If we want to be a top class team again that can challenge on all fronts, then IMO we also need two wingers and a centre.

Re: THE worst Saints team .. the decline is complete (I hope : Thu Jul 04, 2013 2:50 pm  

Offside Monkey wrote:

I think the most imprtant thing we find is a couple of hardened leaders.

We need a leader of some sort . Wello is just an arm waver and Roby seems too quiet. Is Walsh a leader? I'd hope so being a proper 7 ..

Re: THE worst Saints team .. the decline is complete (I hope : Thu Jul 04, 2013 3:04 pm  

No1 Saint wrote:

Brown has left Hudds and they look a strong team and are challenging at the top - Brown takes over Saints and we drop off a cliff ... great stuff or is that a coincidence?

I hate this overly simplistic view that I keep reading, that conveniently ignores the part where Brown took over a side that finished 10th the previous year and built them into the team you see today.

He also took the team through its teething pains - you can bet that there is a desire in the squad to avoid living through a mid season slump again - that motivation for the players may come as much from the pain of suffering it before as it does from a change of coach. Similar to the old having to lose a final before winning one, perhaps the young and/or inexperienced Hudds players had to slip away from a strong position before knowing what it takes to stay there - this was not a club with a recent culture of anything resembling success.

I'm not saying Brown is the answer, but to suggest he's a dud based on how Hudds are going this year is daft. Indeed - I suspect Anderson will at best replicate Brown's 2010 season of 3rd and CC Final.

That's not to say you can't judge him on a very poor season with Saints - you can IMO - but this comparison with Hudds (a young side on the up) and Saints (an old side on the slide coping with a glut of injuries) is a bit daft I reckon.