Did Saints top the table then , or did I miss something somewhere


The Last couple of years yes Saints were the Best Team as they topped the table and then we beat them in a one off final , but we all know the rules before we start the season and the CHAMPIONS are the team that wins the Grand Final and for the last three years that has been Leeds
So dont really get what your saying

Possibly!

squad strength is not the players

how can it be?
i felt we were a player or two short but the players rolled up there sleeves and were supurb.
i still say smith is not a centre,square peg in round hole is the term i used, but he made a good fist of the job.
an extra prop would have menat rotation and rest which is what we have for next year. i would expect more rotation next season with the likes of ambler here.

Doh!
Use of irony gone over your head I guess.
I did think the smiley face maybe would be a bit of a clue.
I'll spell it out for you next time.

thats funny because i remember you saying ''as for toopi, just f*ck off''

after the wigan game at easter in 07.

Your posts from Easter this year are here for all to see. I don't need to dredge them up again. Not to mention the stuff you said during the title winning 2007 season.

Like I said, I like the new attitude and I hope you maintain it if things get a little wobbly next season.

You complained about the squad strength. Did you do that because you felt:
(a) the players in the squad were good enough to win
(b) the players in the squad weren't good enough.
?

Clearly we weren't a player or too short, and neither were pegs and holes a significant problem either.

suggest you do drag them up then. looked at my preview where i said at the moment we "look like a disjointed shambles" which we did. i suppose i could lie and not give an honest opinion but then i would be labelled a .

and who brought up the topic of should bluey be sacked if he didn't win the GF?

what part don't you understand?
shall i speak slower?

i felt we were a couple of players short,not in quality,but in squad size. we were never able to really rest or rotate much.smith made a good fist of playing centre but was never a specialist there.

Stick to the honest opinions. There'd be little point reading if everyone posted the same stuff

Type at whatever speed you like Tad. You might want to think it through a little first though. I thought my questioning might have helped you there.

All the players who played in the 2009 GF were at the club for the 2007 & 2008 GF, I'm sure there will be some who still don't think the squad is good enough.

It seems to me that the temptation which most fans fall into is to compare the weakest player of their own team with the best of all the rest of the league. On that basis it is easy to say that the team could be stronger.

Under a salary cap it is virtually impossible to assemble a team where each of the squad is also the best player in their position in the entire competion.

The last couple of coaches have done a good job at getting the entire team to play together and to improve the level of the "weaker" players whilst keeping up the high standards of the "star" players.

I completely agree. I still feel a lot of posters don't fully understand the implications of the salary cap - particularly the "hard cap" that has been in place the last couple of years.
The 2010 squad we have been able to put together must be a remarkable piece of financial work.

Fair enough, if you so wish.

Will take me a while as I go away for a week or so tonight but I'll get round to it, including the bile you posting during the 2007 season.

What we did have was a coach who knew what was required to defend the title - something the likes of yourself, Danny and Gareth were seriously questioning during last season.

For me last year provided the worst standard of rugby across the whole of SL I can remember - we didn't play anything like as well as we did in 2008 let alone 2004 so we probably were a centre short the problem was the standard had fallen so much it didn't matter

Yep, keeping the vast majority of the squad together while adding some quality in Eastwood and strength in depth with Coady, Pitts, Ambler, Amor etc is impressive. Hetherington deserves a lot of praise, something he doesn't usually get from a lot of fans who often just complain about the price of tickets/replica shirts.

I did question the way the team were coached during points of the season yes.

Was it really a poor standard of rugby, or was it more likely that the increased standards of our opponents made it appear we were playing worse than we had in past years?

Agree with all of that pal

May I be the first to acknowledge the debt we owe to Bluey and the lads, who despite the obvious lack of a forward and right centre, produced an an epic winning season. Have a good Christmas lads, next season is looking good!

you dared to question the coach? expect that post to be dragged up at some point and remember, you shouldn't have an opinion.

Go get 'em Tad.
Did anyone ever tell you that you shouldn't have an opinion?

there is no way of proving either, though i would say for long parts of the season we werent pushed at all,

If you think back 5 years ago, Bradford, Saints, Hull, Wigan, Warrington were all more than capable sides, the past three years its been Leeds and Saints then daylight

im not sure we could have won the 2004 GF without a recognised centre or with the pack we had.

And if this club is truly one of champions the question we need to ask is not is the squad good enough, but is the squad as good as it could be, last season i dont think it was

however next year i think man for man, our squad is the best it has been since 04, and if we can deal with the (very very very difficult) issue of keeping three times winners fully fit, motivated and psychologically at the top of their game we should win this league at a canter

See my post a few posts up the thread about the implications of a hard salary cap finally being in place.

No