It's an interesting time for the club. I think we've somehow managed to hang onto the coat tails of the good teams during our transition phase. We've not done what Bradford and Wigan did and fallen so far from our perch that it would take years to recover from, but I think the rebuilding work that has been done has been very average. Far too much reliance on overhyped young players who are never going to turn us into a champion side again. Playing at Widnes and not having Leon Pryce hasn't helped, but then again it's not looking like we'll have him next season either.
To realistically be challenging next season we need a fullback, a winger, a centre, two props and a back rower. We aren't going to sign any of them I don't think. Although we're battled valliantly against the injuries this season, it's only highlighted just how weak our squad is. We've not managed to put out a strong bench all season. There aren't enough senior players at the club and it will only get worse next season as our one man pack is gone. Replace his robotic 150m and 30 tackles stint with a prop who'll do 50m and 15 tackles like most do and it's not hard to see us slipping another couple of places down the league.
I think we need to look at Wigan as a guide to how we should move forward. Individually they are not a great side. Bar Tomkins there really isn't a great deal of show stopping individual quality, Warrington and Huddersfield have far more of that. But they are a great team, 110% aggression and effort and tactical discipline. We've always gone for classy play and trying to out attack the opposition, but modern day rugby league and the salary cap have left that as an impossible task and we just dont have the quality anymore. As of next season the only really 5* players we will have will be Roby and possibly Laffranchi if he adapts well. Gone are the days of us having 8 or 9 star players.
It's a bit of a worry as to who makes the squad development decisions at Saints. Whoever it is isn't doing a great job. The youth system is also a big problem, it's producing talented enough players, but they're all sparrow legged runts. Look at Charnley as an example of the average Wigan player. His arms are the size of our junior back rower's legs. The days of us getting to finals every year are gone IMO, I just hope the lean period doesn't turn into a Warrington-esque lean period.