Re: St.Helens : Sat Oct 02, 2021 8:12 pm  

MadDogg wrote:

Saints have simply made some really good decisions off the field with their playing recruitment, coaching recruitment and scouting of academy talent. I also get the impression their strength and conditioning is superior to other clubs as well.

I think the playing and coaching staff at four of the six clubs in SL who are spending the full cap (Wigan, Leeds, Warrington and Hull) all need to take a long hard look at themselves in all honesty. The return on investment is appalling. Not just with results but the standard. The lack of innovation, adventure and creativity in attack is really sad to watch and even the more basic skills have seemed to deteriorate in recent years.

We have not been the same conditioning and strength since Bitcom left.

Re: St.Helens : Sat Oct 02, 2021 8:13 pm  

dany1979 wrote:

As much as I give Saints great credit, yes…luck is involved.

You can’t discount the amount of games that Wigan actually played, then throw in injuries to people like Manfredi, Burgess, French, Field, Tommy L, Hardaker etc

Would Saints be in the same position with injuries to key players and having to fulfill all their fixtures?

That can’t be discounted.

Yes it can.

Go back to when Wigan signed Burgess on the virtual terrace when I posted as Steph. I said there and then it was a shocking signing because his hip was gone. It was common knowledge that he couldn’t even train, let alone play. If I knew that based on Aussie message boards why didn’t Wigan know that?

Secondly, of the other names mentioned, how many injuries were to do with unavoidable instances during games or training?

I bet the majority was training because everyone knows your training set up is not befit of a club of your Calibre

Re: St.Helens : Sat Oct 02, 2021 8:49 pm  

It feels Saints have benefited from a poor comp but you can’t take anything away from them, they’ve bottled 2018 and the 2018/2019 Challenge Cup (probably being a bit harsh) but they’ve learnt from that and could win 3 in a row. I can’t quite remember a side being so dominant over 4 years for a long time?
That being said we’ve been poor under Lam and nearly won it last year and in probably the worst season since we nearly got relegated have finished 4th which shows the current standard. No reason to think we couldn’t turn it around but with next years half back combination I find it hard to believe we will.

Re: St.Helens : Sat Oct 02, 2021 8:54 pm  

Ashton Bears wrote: We have not been the same conditioning and strength since Bitcom left. I had wondered if something changed in the Wigan strength and conditioning team this year, that may explain a lot. There are teams that like to cry foul for injury crisis year after year, but burn the university intern at the stake for using the term “sports science” (think Castleford). Some injuries are inevitable and have to be managed, but there’s definitely a difference between “luck” and “investing in strength and conditioning to effectively minimise risk”. I’m sure Saints success in this area is a factor of both (as we have definitely had our fair share of injuries, with Fages/ Bentley out long term etc). I was recently reading about how Tom Trbojevic changed the way he trained and went from injury prone to probably the top player in the NRL last year (https://www.nrl.com/news/2021/09/09/why ... ers-train/). It’s certainly something I think more clubs over here should be investing in. It will be interesting to see if/how Konrad Hurrell changes with Saints conditioning…

Ashton Bears wrote: We have not been the same conditioning and strength since Bitcom left. I had wondered if something changed in the Wigan strength and conditioning team this year, that may explain a lot. There are teams that like to cry foul for injury crisis year after year, but burn the university intern at the stake for using the term “sports science” (think Castleford). Some injuries are inevitable and have to be managed, but there’s definitely a difference between “luck” and “investing in strength and conditioning to effectively minimise risk”. I’m sure Saints success in this area is a factor of both (as we have definitely had our fair share of injuries, with Fages/ Bentley out long term etc). I was recently reading about how Tom Trbojevic changed the way he trained and went from injury prone to probably the top player in the NRL last year (https://www.nrl.com/news/2021/09/09/why ... ers-train/). It’s certainly something I think more clubs over here should be investing in. It will be interesting to see if/how Konrad Hurrell changes with Saints conditioning…

Re: St.Helens : Sun Oct 03, 2021 12:17 am  

TheWarringtonWolve69 wrote:

Yes it can.

Go back to when Wigan signed Burgess on the virtual terrace when I posted as Steph. I said there and then it was a shocking signing because his hip was gone. It was common knowledge that he couldn’t even train, let alone play. If I knew that based on Aussie message boards why didn’t Wigan know that?

Secondly, of the other names mentioned, how many injuries were to do with unavoidable instances during games or training?

I bet the majority was training because everyone knows your training set up is not befit of a club of your Calibre

It's getting to something when the biggest troll on here is admitting to changing his name whilst trolling. No surprise that it is a Saints supporter.