www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A54111485 comments please

www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A54111485 comments please

Nah, talking out of his Arris.

No way, i cant wait for each weekend, i hate the end of matches, it means another week before another one!

The problem is in the ruck area where the game has slowed right down. This has effected the Saints team more than any other team as Saints rely on fast open play and quick forward play to keep momentum.
Saints for most games this season are very much in an arm wrestle now with teams smart enough to stop momentum.
This results in boring games by "Saints Standards", also the ref standards have dropped further this season which means even closer games with some occaisonally controversial decisions.
This slowing the game down will do nothing for the international side, as the aussies have changed there game to faster open rugby......which means we are going to get murdered in the next internationals.

I do, Super League is a bore fest this season. As ever we went chasing the NRL believing somehow that slow, messy play the balls meant higher quality.

The NRL is better because the playing stock is better in every possible way.

Super League is less entertaining this year than ever before.

We arent boring as such, though i do miss the days of us being able to score trys from further than 40 yards out.

We really need to look at bringing some genuine pace into the team so we can start scoring those long range trys again.

AsI said on the other thread , where are the crafty half backs / hookers who could unlock a defence with a superb pass?

We're producing Highams, Robys, McIlorums, Moores, Lees, etc who are basically failed halfbacks.

Where are the Andy Gregs, Edwards, Dermotts, Schofields, Jacksons etc who could open up defences with a superb pass.

We've become obsessed with speed of the play the ball over skill.

I feel you are being harsh on Scott Moore there. He has been pencilled in as a hooker now and he's as good as any of those hooker you mentioned in terms of ability. The half backs aren't doing too badly with plenty of 'could be's' rolling off the production line in Tomkins, Eastmond, Myler etc.

Lee Jackson was one of the players that invented the running hooker role.
Martyn Dermott was nothing more than a bloke who could pass nicely from dummy half.
Edwards stood on the shoulders of Giants

The home games against Salford, Quins and Celtic this season have been moments this year where I have regretted buying a season ticket and would have rather spent the evening in the pub. They were three unbelievably boring games of rugby.

Strugglign to think of an exciting game to be honest. Bradford at home was exciting due to us getting battered, then hitting the straps and showing the world were the best, then falling off the horse again and pushing on to lose the game. Leeds away in teh CC was a cracker, nervous time and a game of games. Castleford was a game where we cut free and everythign we touched turned to gold. Of late I cant recall anything of WOW, its been dross RL, boring as hell, and I mean real real real boring as hell stuff.

So far its been a bore of a season, yes were top by 2 points and in teh semi final, but we bored our way to those positions...zzzzzzzzzzzz

Sign up some speed, feck me we need an Uncle Albert or a Tony Sullivan or a Alan Hunte or a Paul Newlove...we need pace to burn and excite us again.

Kevin Penny?

Could it be that as midpoint has past, the little knocks are being felt that little bit more creating a safety first approach? Surely it is better to play a little conservatively, than full throttle and risk even more injuries?

I agree 100%, jsut saying its boring to watch...big time dull as shyt pal.

Most boring season i can remember.

I dont look forward to Friday nights like i use, in fact ive missed more games than i have attended this year. Waste of 2 season tickets.

Only game i was looking forward to before the playoffs was the Wigan game, and i cant go to that as i will be in the airport

It is the speed of the play the ball. You don't need a creative passing half back to win games. You need good go forward, and then it doesn't take much to get through a back pedalling broken defence.

Saints used to always struggle when the opposition slowed the game right down. It takes a different level of skill and game plan to break a team down that way.

It is one of the reasons we suffer internationally in the past, when the interpretation has been more NRL than Super League.

Probably a more exciting prospect pal, play the bandits or browse the duty free shops

Even the shyt they put on SLY TV is boring, hardly seen a decent bit of RL all year, maybe I am just an auld moaning git

The guy is bang on to say the games have been boring and the opposition are boring. What he fails to say is the reason that our games are boring is not solely because the opposition are boring, it's because we are bloody boring to watch full stop, as is the modern day game of Rugby League.

Boring. Defences are better, players are bigger and slower, and we are top again - finding it hard to stay interested to be honest. I ask myself the question when I am I going to feel like I did when we beat Wigan 41-26 in 1996 again, and I can't see it being any time soon!

Join the club

I think we probably are a less aesthetically pleasing team these days - but the blame shouldn't be pinned on tactics, or the rules of the game for that matter. We're less flashy because we have chosen - for a variety of reasons, some good and some bad - to replace flashy - flair - players (your Martyns, Newloves, Sculthorpes - and, because the original flashy variant is now a thing of the past - Long) with effective ones - guys who achieve the same results [u[iminus the failed attempts[/i[/u.

For example - no one in his right mind would ever say Leon Pryce is a better [irugby player[/i than Tommy Martyn. Martyn was capable of trickery on a rugby pitch that Leon flat out can't comprehend. But with Martyn, as is the case with all flair players, there was a price to be paid - which was one play in every 5 to 10 blown (knocked on, ball fails to hit the target etc. etc.)

With Leon there are no such drawbacks. He hits the coaches mark with metronomic regularity - but with far less of the flair. Ditto James Roby, Paul Clough, Willie Talau (don't confuse blown plays through lack of ability with the above) etc.

Of course, there are some who'll argue that Leon Pryce IS a better rugby player than Tommy Martyn ever was for precisely the reason I've stated above. I guess your position relative to the fence is determined by whether you think professionalism is King and chance has no place on a rugby pitch inside your control.

And I suppose that this is the crux of the matter.

In this day and age, the game has become about percentages. Coaches would rather a guaranteed safety of field position and solid defence rather than see their players take a risk now and again to force a try.

In essence, the flair and the 'off the cuff' approach that was once more visible at Saints than anywhere, has now been coached out of the players in favour of the more robotic, professional approach with six drives/scoots and a kick more or less the only tactic for some teams.

It may be more efficient, when the coaches look at their statistics, but it sure as hell isn't anywhere near as entertaining for the paying public and it's only a matter of time before the crowds that have been flocking in get wise to it and find something else to do.

One thing is for sure, I have never heard so many fans (of all clubs) complaining about the lack of entertainment Rugby League now provides. That was one thing that us fans NEVER accused our game of since probably the inttroduction of the six tackle rule.

Games are a little slow at times, but I put this partially down to strict salary cap and quota rules meaning that coaches are being forced more than ever to make the most of the talent at their disposal and the best way to do that with lower end player is to concetrate on cutting out errors, which means less adventurous play and slowing the opposition down.

You might not think its that fun, but if you go back to '96, Saints were walking in 50 points against half the league at KR, which isn't exactly what we want either. I personally like a good arm wrestle.

I think we'll start to see a slow improvement as the higher number of clubmen get used to the SL standard, and more british youngsters are given a fair crack of the whip.

They were fun 50 pointers though, we did it with flair and a smile on our faces, some class tries, plus we were giddy at the thought of winning the league and CC so enjoyed every point.

We did then, it was a fresh change after watching the pies sweep all before them in previous years, now it'd just give the trolls from Leigh and Widnes ammo to say Salford and Celtic didn't deserve a francise



You can't all of a sudden have loads of class british players, we've cut the quota to give development a chance, so lets see where it takes us. I think in a years time the standard will have improved.