If you don't watch Saints how can you judge whether they needed another pre-season game?

We were worse last season when we would go in at halftime nilled on more than one occasion and yet we had more pre-season friendlies last season.

I'm with Royce. He thought we needed a longer break because of the pressure of last season with injuries and the like. I think we have done well so far this season. We have scored in the first half, we have listened to the coach in the second, we have won our first two matches - when did we last do that? - and we are improving. Our big issue is the forwards and whether they are going to man up consistently or whether they are going to be lazy.

I think we have been "lucky" so far in our opening games in that we have not met any team with obvious form like Wigan, Warrington and London last year. Think our yardstick might be Catalans in a couple of weeks, we need Tony P, Perry, LMS and Franki to up there game by then.

Totally agree

At the match I thought he was average, but when I watched it again on sky I didnt think he did to bad. Give him time

I agree with that to a point, but also it's possible Royce looked at the fixture list, (potential at that point) and thought we can build up through the opening games rather than have a front loaded pre-season. I was worried after hearing about Widnes that we lacked pre-season. But after Salford we are not a million miles off and for me the front row is just a bit unfit at the moment, from lack of pre-season.

Had our first 4 games been Leeds, Wigan, Warrington, Catalan then Royce may have said we need to be 100% on day one. As it is fitness can be built up through our first 3 or 4 games.

Perry was blowing and moving slow, but he was still also offloading in heavy traffic and we need our backs and Roby to be ready to run off that. TP too had some good runs but could not get his arms loose.

I've read what Pete has said about Perry being an NRL SOO player when he came to us. There is one thing that is true quality lasts, so if its just about his fitness levels, they can be recovered with effort and game time. Would hope TP and Perry play week in and week out as they both need the games and the other props are rotated for now. TP and Perry can have a week off on rotation when they are running at max.

I know we don't need any more pre-season games because we already have to plough through 27 of the damn things every year... How many warm up games do you think we need exactly?

It's becoming a bit tiresome reading you write this on every single thread. Leeds winning from 5th was a freak occurrence that has happened once in the entirety of Super League. I'm also willing to say it won't happen again for a long time to come. If anything it's a good thing, showing our league has plenty of competition and is getting closer in terms of talent.

It's a hell of a lot less tiresome than having to sit through 27 hollow, meaningless friendlies every season now... [iYou [/imight not see it as an issue or a problem that our favourite sport is becoming a shallow, emotionless shell, or that the vast majority of games played by my beloved Saints are utterly, utterly meaningless and incapable of sparking any excitement in me (or apparently the many silent thousands at the wake on Friday) at all, but I flippin' well do pal...

And I can't be mythered arguing the ridiculous point [iagain[/i that Leeds winning from 5th was a one-off freak occurrence (it wasn't), that it will never possibly happen again in our lifetimes (it will, frequently), that finishing 1st/2nd grant teams a massive advantage in the playoffs anymore (it simply does no such thing, demonstrably), and that playing hard all season to try to achieve a high league placing is of any benefit (it clearly is not and is self defeating). The "entire history of superleague" is 2 seasons under the "It's a Knockout" system we now labour under as including results from the Top 5 era (when league position indeed did matter a very great deal to a team's playoff chances) in any analysis is a nonsense. A basic statistical analysis of representative "history" so far proves that teams finishing in the top 2 make the final only 50% of the time. Just read my other posts (as you already seem to have done) to put yourself straight on the subject and save me the bother, eh?

Anyway, I'm off to Stadium:MK to renew my season ticket there tomorrow and then off up to the smoke on Tuesday to see them play yet another meaningful, important, tense, exciting league game, the result of which will have a strong bearing on the outcome of their season. I mourn bitterly for the long lost days when I could regularly do the same at Saints games and never in a million years ever considered going to the inferior spectacle of football instead. Sadly I just can't self-delude to the same extent that you, Eddie and Stevo can... At least they get paid for doing it though...

It's true, games against Salford were a cacophony of noise before the play-offs were introduced, absolute pandemonium at KR when Salford came to town.

That's how I remember it.

What are you doing posting on here? You do know we won?

Oh, and I am moving to Prestwich soon. Want to watch the matches together? I think it would be amazing!

RoyceSimmons Twitter (fake or not this made me LOL)

Have been making perry run while eating. Its reduced his gravy intake dramatically #roycetastic

If you hate rugby league so much then why not go and watch your dull, boring, girls blouse game of soccer and leave us in peace to discuss rugby league, the best team sport humankind ever invented?

Whoever is doing that comes out with some genius lines at times.

I get excited for friendlies. Maybe you're just not a very good supporter anymore.

Goodbye then, don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Oohhhh.... The pithy irony... It burns, it burns.....



Good to see that the knee-jerk reactionaries have some presence on these boards and aren't all just confined to RedVee. It's nice to have a balance...

Who says I hate Rugby League? Don't be so patently bloody ridiculous. I love Rugby League more than any other sport. Even given the tedious 5 barge/kick/repeat debacle we have most of the time these days. I love Saints 1000 times more than I ever could any other team in any other sport. Come the playoffs and Challenge Cup I'll be jumping up and down, singing and shouting abuse at officials in a way that I'll never be able to generate the degree of passion required to at Diamonds or MK or wherever else. I've happily sat on delayed trains for 6 hours to get to Saints games in the past. I've done 300 mile journeys through 6 inch deep snow to get to games and never regretted it. I've waded half-way across the country through horizontal wind and rain to see 15 minutes of a cancelled game and been happy to have done so. How dare anyone ever question my passion and fan credentials frankly... But those games all mattered and were worth the effort to be a part of. SL games now don't and aren't. I can't on any level justify 5 hour round-trips through Friday afternoon/evening rush-hour traffic to watch some soulless dead rubber against the likes of Salford (or anyone else, frankly), new stadium or otherwise. I will however still fight through hell and high water to be there just like in days of old come the games that still do matter. Sadly there are so precious few of them these days...

Again, whatever... If you good folks want to delude yourselves that being near the top of the league right now is important in setting us up for the rest of the season then you go right on ahead and be excited about it - I'm not stopping you, honestly. Just don't shout abuse my way in such a distastefully "Other Saints Board"-like fashion for the heresy of daring to reveal and challenge the RL's New Clothes and we'll all be happy.

Just don't come crying to me the next time someone from 5th or 6th becomes "Champions" and makes us look a laughing stock again. Or when Sky's next brilliant idea has SL teams all playing in giant foam rubber boots and clown costumes for added "entertainment" value...



See above. Try RedVee - you'd love it there, really...

I really don't get it Northampton, the playoffs have been with us for some years now. I'm not a fan of the playoffs but it makes a game no less meaning full.

A league system has it's flaws in that once half the season is gone those further down than 4th cannot make top spot and so alot of the meaning in their games also goes. Lets face it no team has 5th spot as their glory target.

Not even MK dons. I'm sure it's more a means to an end for MK dons, ie for them to get into the playoffs, but then that would make the rest of the season meaningless wouldn't it???????

Exactly. Complete and utter myth that the competition was packed with meaningful games under first past the post.

These posts are way way to long! You need a a full day to read them.

Oh, I'm bored of debating the same points now frankly... In precis: Top 5 system rewarded top teams significantly, made league games worthwhile... Top 8 does neither.... Only 3 or 4 mediocre mid-table teams pushing for 8th have anything to play for for 27 games anymore, completely -about from what should by any form of reasonable logic be the case... Yadda, yadda, yadda etc.

And if you think it's a good idea to completely wipe out and ignore all achievements made by all teams in the competition over the previous 85% of the season up to that point to then artificially bring all the mediocre teams back to the party to keep them and their fans interested and forking out for their Sky subscriptions, then I just can't debate with you anyway as my mind will just not stretch to seeing any kind of debatable sense in that kind of logic, sorry.

Anyway as I say - wait until the next time (it won't be long I promise you) we have laughing stock "champions" lucking out on the timing of their fitness/form and stealing it all at O/T and then come back to me with whether you think it's still a good idea, eh?

Sorry - my bad...

Me no like playoffs - make league boring, innit?

That better for you?

Much better thank you.

I can see where you are coming from in the above, the worst scenario some team much closer to the bottom of the league in league points still managing to finish 8th, going in to the play offs and finishing champions.
But we,ve got to accept it we have 2 phases of Superleague, the first phase being 27 rounds to qualification and the 2nd phase the play off themselves.
The RFL have accepted fewer intensity games for commercial gain with sky, again we,ve got to accept it to maintain full time professionalism.
Enjoy your rugby with Saints, win or lose, most supporters on here do, in whatever disguise it is presented.

I think Perry needs to be more angry at the point of collision, he is a big lad who could easily dominate some other props in the league with his size and power.

That said, last year was a write off, give him a chance thought its only been 2 games!

My thoughts are this time last year many were saying the exact same things about soliola following his best part of a season missed.

He adds a lot of bulk to the back