Spent force : Sat May 12, 2012 8:27 pm  

You have just got to face it; the once mighty saints are no longer. At 1. Wellens lack of pace is is really being shown up, he is now missing tackles that were run of the mill to him two years ago and he is certainly slowing the line down when he links up. At 2 & 5 been the weak link when Saints were the top side. At 3 & 4 Shenton is just not good enough and Wheeler needs to put some time in; probably the worst three quarter line in the top half of the league. At 6 Lance Oh No is turning out to be an embarrassment of a signing. Whatever he is it is certainly not a stand off. At 7 I believe a star in the making. At 8 Perry has turned out to be a poor signing and has never really been match fit during his time at the Saints. At 9. We are blessed with the best in the game. At Ten an average prop. At 11 Soliola is playing at his full potential at the present, I would hope there is more to come. At 12 Wilkin Tries hard. At 13 Flannery is to be blunt past it. On the bench Lafranchie (spelling) puts in a good shift if only he was a true prop and a stone bigger. The rest apart from T P are an average lot. This in my opinion adds up to an average side that will win nothing.

Re: Spent force : Sat May 12, 2012 8:38 pm  

Really?

Re: Spent force : Sat May 12, 2012 8:39 pm  

I'm surprised we are even in the 8, never mind only 5 points behind top spot

Re: Spent force : Sat May 12, 2012 8:45 pm  

...and let the loony typical Saints fan kneejerking begin.... We're a #7, 1 or 2 props and decent tactics/coaching away from being a genuine trophy force again. Any 2 of those 3 happening would be good enough even.

Re: Spent force : Sat May 12, 2012 8:46 pm  

More of a long transition, our chairman has had to battle on all fronts. Deliverying the new stadium was the top prioirity, signing the best players around was secondary and he had to change policy and look at youth. The problem with this is that we are competing in a period when there are quite a few teams who have well established experienced players in the key pivotable positions.
We had a long period of dominance and competiveness which no other team has been able to replicate, when you look at most of superleague years a LARGE percentage of those years, Saints were always in a final.
Its the clubs need to revaluate team policy now that we are up and running in the new stadium and to make sure our "Spent Force" is a temporary one.

Re: Spent force : Sat May 12, 2012 9:06 pm  

Sport is cyclical. Wigan had a long period as our inferiors and had to take their medicine. It was great for us and very tough indeed for them.

We're back on their coat-tails now, but our time in the sun will come again as their team breaks up. You've got to try and make the most of these disappointing days and remember them for when we have our day again - will make it all the sweeter.

Re: Spent force : Sat May 12, 2012 9:29 pm  

Northampton_Saint wrote:

...and let the loony typical Saints fan kneejerking begin.... We're a #7, 1 or 2 props and decent tactics/coaching away from being a genuine trophy force again. Any 2 of those 3 happening would be good enough even.

Oh dear me I forgot smallhampton will not have a bad word said about his beloved Shenton. Well tough; he is garbage.

Re: Spent force : Sat May 12, 2012 9:32 pm  

redex113 wrote:

Oh dear me I forgot smallhampton will not have a bad word said about his beloved Shenton. Well tough; he is garbage.

You sir, are a prat.

Re: Spent force : Sat May 12, 2012 9:36 pm  

Northampton_Saint wrote:

You sir, are a prat.

To be fair, he hasn't been very good has he? Garbage is a bit strong, but nothing like we all hoped for

Re: Spent force : Sat May 12, 2012 10:04 pm  

Saint Simon wrote:

To be fair, he hasn't been very good has he? Garbage is a bit strong, but nothing like we all hoped for

He hasn't been helped, though, by the fact that we never pass the ball to the right. He and his winger (be it Ade or Tommy) must spend half their lives getting frostbite.

Shenton improved as the season went on last year and he was great in the Grand Final. But I really don't think he is over his injury. That elbow has an incredible amount of strapping on it. I hadn't seen it up close until today, at Wigan. It might have been better if he'd had an operation rather than just rehab.