When DA arrived the cynics [iin the know [/isaid he'd never coach us to a trophy. After Hull bullied us out of the CC in 2005 and a dour start to 2006 (including another loss to Hull) I was tempted to agree. However, the creases soon fell out of the side and we won 4 trophies in 3 years (not including LL shields).

Maybe its just taken a while for the side to settle into potter's plans, although I still can't find an excuse for our terrible last play execution/decision making last year.

So here's the BIG question.

Will his contract be extended this year?

Not sure he wants it extended. He was all set to return to Aus with the family after the Dragons.

The opportunity was one he couldn't really say no to so decided to give it a go IIRC.

No idea what the problem was although I became convinced it was Potter since our team was still made up of the same players from Anderson's day. Nothing has happened to change my mind on that because I have no idea why the change occurred between the Hull match and the Bradford match. For all I know the players could have simply refused to continue playing to the style Potter wanted or Potter could have had a change of mind or pressure from elsewhere could have been applied, etc, etc. Who knows? I don't care. All I care about is that Saints players themselves look more up for it these days, which is always good to see; we seem to have rediscovered our style of play, our attack and our defence (although our defence is probably still a bit patchy); we have managed to break the 20 point barrier a few times now; we have won at home (which I think was important from a confidence POV) and we appear to be playing as a unit even when injuries disrupt a match.

These days I'm neither for or against Potter, simply because I don't know the reason for what appeared to be a sudden change in style. So long as we continue to build on what we are at present - win or lose - that's all I care about. It's just great to see Saints playing with some flair and some enthusiasm again. Just great.

We won out first 13 matches of 2006 if I recall correctly, and lost only 4 matches all year. Not so dour if you ask me.

We were outstanding all the way threw 2006! There was no dour start as you rightly point out. Arguably the best Saints side ever imo!

All most fans wanted was to stop the boring 5 drives and a kick, no plan B stuff.
This he seems to have done, so i'm happy

I'm torn on this. Last season was dire and the start to this also was. But since my harsh statements on here about the situation he seems to have improved a lot. The team is playing a good style of rugby again and actually seems to want to win again. If that carried on to the end of the season I wouldn't have much to hold against him, despite his lack of charisma and connection to the fans.

fully agree. the only thing wrong was the dour style of play leading to not scoring points and terrible results as a consequence. If we carry on playing in the style we are now, we will be in with a shout at the end of the season and that is all that we can ask for.

Like others, I question what happened between the Hull game and the Bradford game to see such a sudden shift in playing style.

I think we all do !

Looking at the team who played yesterday i couldnt see a player who didnt join in the celebrations after a try and started slapping each other on the back before, through and after the game. Especially Jammer and Kyle. He is getting the best out of Leon at the moment and i havent seen him play this well in god knows how long.

Potter staying on through the rest of this year is the only option. I've been a Potter supporter and think he can do it this year for us. As for next season i'm not sure like someone said he did want to go back to Aus after Catalans so i'd expect him not to renew his contract.

Yep, the turn around in a week was shocking, in a good way, so why were we so poor against Hull?

Most of the explanations offered at the time still hold water. For the Bulls game we were a team not badly disrupted mid-match by injuries, we had a game under our belt, the conditions were not quite so atrocious.

People forget Hull FC has a far more strenuous pre-season than us, including a full flooded, full strength derby game. We were undercooked, and it showed against a team chock full of new signings desperate to impress. I remember saying at the time I wouldn't be surprised if we came out and mullered Bradford - it was just one of those nights against Hull.

What I could never understand was questioning the side's enthusiasm last year though. We had an awful run of injuries and were bang out of form for the play-offs and pure enthusiasm (evidenced in some brilliant defensive efforts) dragged us to the GF despite us struggling badly for points. Form we lacked, for sure. Enthusiasm? I must have been watching a different team.

You missed the point in your post. It's style that is being talked about. And we had next to no injuries for about the last six matches of last season plus the first of this. So injuries are no excuse for what was being served up. It was dire and I am very, very glad it has gone - hopefully, for good.

It was the first game of the season.
The first team had yet to play a full 80 minutes of rugby together since the Grand Final.
The dense fog that caused disruption to pre-match preperation.
The fact that of all the players on that pitch that night Sean Long was [uthe [/umost motivated to put in an outstanding performance that boosted the levels of the team around him.
The fact that Hull had several débutantes determined to show what they could do against one of the top 2 teams in the league.
The simple fact that Hull were the better team on the night and got in our faces from KO.
The dour support shown to the team building up to the game.

Take your pick.

None of the above.

Or perhaps all of them? Unless you know something we don't?

That would be telling, though, wouldn't it?

I didn't.



It's not easy to have so many injuries then for everything to click back into place immediately from day one and play with style. It's naive to expect the team to be able to find immediate form against the best sides in the competition in the play-offs when the team has been so disrupted for many many weeks and some players are barely fit.

As it turned out, the players slogged their guts out throughout the play-offs, overcoming obvious poor form through sheer commitment and enthusiasm, and very nearly won a championship for the booing hordes.

The style stopped before the injuries took hold though. That really isn't an excuse. There really isn't any excuse.

And I no longer care.

We're playing something like our old selves again and that, to me, is great.

Did it? When you actually look how we went through the season, Potter was doing a great job until we starting copping injuries:

Round 6 - Beat Leeds Rhinos 26-18.
Round 7 - Hammer Wakefield 42-18.

Form looks OK here

Round 8 - beat Wigan 19-12
Round 9 - Saints bounce Hull FC 44-22

Still looking OK

Round 10 - 68-22 at Castleford
Round 11 - second defeat of the season as Bradford come back to win 34-30

Not a great result, but scoring points

Round 12 - awful result at Millenium Magic
Round 13 - beat Catalans Dragons 32-28 to move back to the top of the table
Round 14 - beat Harlequins 22-12
Round 15 - hammer Hull FC, winning 30-6
Round 16 - thrash Castleford 50 points to 10

Still going strong

Round 17 - set a new record of 16 consecutive, cantering to a 44-18 success over Bradford
Round 18 - nil the Crusaders - 30-0 win

Great stuff

Round 19 - Terrible result at Salford - 20-10 loss. Starting to struggle with injuries now. Missing KC, Leon Pryce and Jon Wilkin (maybe more?) and Sean Long replaced in the second half having succumbed to a facial injury

Round 20 - bounce back with a weakened team winning 40-26 at Warrington
Round 21 - Weakened team again - outscored Wakefield 5 tries to four but Wello has a shocker with the boot - lose 22-20

Round 22 - bounce back 44-24 win at Harlequins to take us back two points clear at the top of the table
Round 23 - beat Wigan again, 10-6 victory

Round 24 - lose 26-10 at Hull KR. No KC or Long and understudy Eastmond also injured - young Jamie Ellis at 7

Round 25 - scrape past Huddersfield 12 points to 10. Awful performance - but still top of the table. Ashurst, Emmitt, Lomax in to cover injuries.

Round 26 - good performance, edged out by Leeds 18-10 in a brilliant game
Round 27 - last game of the season meaning nothing - beaten by Catalans

Then the play-offs where we played some extremely gutsy stuff.

I think there is a fair bit of history re-writing for last season - we were playing well until we copped a lot of injuries. We were knocked badly out of our stride and lost top spot in the end, but I think the criticism aimed at Potter was well OTT, as it was after the Hull game.

There you go. I disagree with you. End of.

As I say, I no longer care. We're playing much more like our old selves now and looking happy as a team with it. That's all I care about.

I think the slow PTB last year had a big impact on our style of play. Saints more than any other team had invested in a set up that relied on fast PTB, our personnel, our training, everything. So we were bound to be hit hardest. It took everyone all year to come up with something new.

Also, I think Longy was jus bored. He'd done it all and doing it all again with Saints just bored him. Well that's how it looked from the outside anyway.

Sean Long was a major problem for us last year being injured, out of form, and possibly throwing a strop after not being offered a contract.

We were underdone against Hull after not having a pre season game, lost a winger and a centre within the first 20 minutes and ended up with forwards playing in the outside backs. We've been getting better with Eastmond and Pryce learning each others game and steadily improving and we've now got a better passing game from scrum half and a threat with ball in hand which we didn't have last year.