Percival wasn't available for selection.

I do think there is a certain amount of doom mongering amoungst Saints fans at present.

It's almost like we have got used to moaning season in season out.

This year we are doing far better than the previous 3 or 4 years and it seems as though the first thing to go wrong for us (losing to Wigan and we are all ready to relax and return to normal. ) Players get injured, sides have poor runs of form. In the end we just need to relax.

The league looks rather health and I don't hear Wigan fans pushing the panic button after losing 3 matches.

We are not even halfway through the season. But we are doing ok. We just need to stay a little cool and get used to the fact that there will be ups and downs.

I've heard a few times now he had a niggle, Percival is a cracking prospect who just needs some time and good coaching.

I think you make some good points but there is a slightly different way of looking at it. Wigan fans are quite chilled because they have just won the double and although they arnt playing brilliantly they still have the belief (correct or not) that when it matters their team will step up and at the very least compete. We've been pretty terrible for the best part of 3 years and we havent played much in the way of 'good rugby' since (for me the worst coach I've seen at Saints) Mick Plodder was recruited.

We have clearly made some progress under Brown but we are along way off yet for me. We look fragile in defence and our attack is at times a little predictable (which is to be expected if you only have 1 proper halfback), the worst thing though is that we seem to lack spirit and heart when the going gets tough. We dont have enough leaders in the team and we are carrying too many passengers who just go missing when you really need people to step up.

It'snot all doom and gloom , I dont think we'll win anything this year but alot will depend on recruitment and retention for next year, we need to get shut of a few and bring in a few , most notably a proper stand off a scrum half if Walsh goes early and at least 1 long minutes gutsy prop in the mould of Amor. I'd like to see us recruit some size in the back row too especially if we lose Soliola.

Another big question for me is Brown, he has put us on a path just as Eric Hughes did back in the 90's but is he the man to take us back to the trophy winning ways? or will we need a McCrae. I'm not sure tbh, he didnt manage it at Hudds or St George (happy to be corrected here). I hope he does it but I suspect the next coach we have will be the one.

I by no means think we are favourites to win SL.
But I do think we are in the running and I would be very surprised if we are not in the top 3 come end of the year.
I'd hedge my bets and say top 2, but some would just take me to town on that.

The 6 issue is a long standing issue and the worry for me is that once we fill it the 7 will be vacated.

We are lacking a prop, if we have a fully fit line up, then we are ok, but anything less and we struggle in the bigger games.

I hate predicting games weeks ahead as it smacks of arrogance. But I have a table position and a set of games in my own mind.

So far this year the games for Saints have gone pretty much as I have expected bar 2. We over achieved against Leeds in the league and under achieved against Wigan (not so much the win or loss but the performance).

We have a great set of fixtures between now and the end of the season. There is no reason we can't go on another run of wins.

Even if you take a loss against Wigan and Leeds ( which I don't take as a given) that's four losses in a season. more than enough to finish 2nd or 1st.

I do think we are living in the past and looking through rose tinted spectacles at times. I recall many a season going to Wakey and Salford with the golden generation expecting easy games only to get turned over.

It happens. We are still in the fight this year.

Why do we appear to have so many injuries? I know RL is a contact game but we are lucky if a bulk of our players manage to stay fit for more than one or two games at a time. Is this just bad luck or are we lacking in certain areas of the training structure?

Conditioning has been shocking since Apollo left

All teams get them but fans tend to think it's only their team. In truth it's a brutal sport and injuries are part of it.

The bulls beat Warrington today.

I'm sticking by my prediction that the bulls will beat us next week.

No chance.

Warrington have been more pants this year than they have been for a long time.

We will see.

That's Catalan and now Warrington in last few weeks.

Catalan aren't pants now though even taking into consideration their shakey away performances.

I'm concerned that our performance against London was not good enough to give us momentum going into a game against a potentially resurgent Bradford, especially bearing in mind that Magic Weekend follows that and Warrington are bound to up their game against us even if they are a little lacking in the halfback department this season. For my own personal peace of mind, we needed to have performed as we did in the first 20 minutes against London for at least 60 minutes in order for me to feel like we will turn Bradford over. As it is, Walsh's returning form aside, I don't feel any more comfortable with Saints this week as I did last week.

I reckon Bradford will get a try or two. But I think the scoreline against Wire shows there weakness is defensively.

At the moment I imagine they are quite entertaining to watch, I'd hope we are doing training drills on defense this week, as if we need to keep improving this through the season. If we are to be contenders, I would expect our point against average to start dropping.

I haven't checked this but apparently us and Wire are equal 5th on defence.

Let's not get carried away with the 48 we scored against London. Our attack is nothing special in recent weeks, we are struggling to get any go forward and often stuck in our own half.

To sum up our recent form, we are woeful in defence and very average in attack which doesn't bode well going to a team that just beat Warrington and Catalan.

Don't get me wrong, the wolves and cats ain't the greatest so far this year but we are currently in shocking form.

If we play how we can, we will win and pretty easy but on current form, I think the bulls will win. That defeat at the DW was a wake up call and they have reacted how a team who's been bagged off should react, unlike the mighty allstars at saints.

It's not the 48 points against London, it's the 18 points we put in against Leeds that makes me think we have the attacking qualities.

I really do see the Easter period as a falling off the horse.

We should have been better than that, not saying enough to win, but enough to do better.

How tough was our Easter in reality ?

Not very really in terms of being tired. We rested nearly the whole team for Widnes and went to Leeds fresh. We might have scored 18 points but let's be honest we was awful with the ball.

It was tougher than Wigan's and Leeds if you look at the lead up.

We should have been better no doubt, but I'm not going to dismiss all other games and just look at Easter and say we are hopeless.

We are in the fight more this year than last year and the year before. We have better quality across most if not all positions.

I still reckon top 2 is the aim

Yes but Bradford have shipped in double what Saints and Wire have. Hence my point about Bradford having a leaky defense.

We'll do ok.

I agree it was tougher in the build up and post Easter but the players had a rest at Widnes and went into the Leeds game fresh and some might say battle hardned.

Lomax, swift, Turner, Percy, Walsh, Amor, Roby, walmsley etc off the top of my head was rested at Widnes so they had 7 days off to rest and prepare which is more than enough.

Swift had 3 weeks rest, turner played 1 game in 3 weeks, Percy month off, Walsh had 3 weeks off this year, Amor had 3/4 weeks off this year, Wilkin had 3 game ban, Lms 2 game ban so it's not like we have been flogged, in fact most the team should be fresh.

Add that to some close intense games, we actually could say we had a very good prep for the Leeds game. It's not great going into a big game without being in deep water, it's not the best going into the Leeds game smashing Eveyone and it's not great going in tired which we couldn't have been.

We are making excuses up and the isn't any. It's simple, if the other team puts 100% effort in and we put 70% effort in and with Wigan and Leeds ability they will win.


So basically -


Was we too tired ? No!

Was we battle hardened for the game ? Yes!


Did we play to our ability ? No!

Was we committed ? No!

Like I say we should have been better no doubt, but these 3 games don't have to pan out to be a reader for the rest of the season.

I'm a glass half full kinda guy.

We are nearly half the way through the season and league wise regards to wins and losses there is one point between us and Leeds and we where the ones to take those 2 points off them.

Aye, if have took two games lost at the half way point and one game we fielded at weakened team (still good enough to win that day). I think if we went to Widnes with full team we'd prob win.

Can't knock the position in the table. Second is very good but it's the performances we've been putting in which is the worry. I know you'll say it's about peaking in September and not May and I agree but the way Leeds and Wigan beat us has left me worried. I don't think we can win then type of ganes, if you can't win them games, you can't win the grand final.

We won't finish in the top 2 and I highly doubt a old Trafford appearance .

If we lose to Wigan in the same manner come the return leg, I may start to worry.

But I still remember the season at Widnes were we lost against all the big guns in every game that year.

We drew Wigan twice in the playoffs and we beat them twice.

I'd be happy if our defense tightens up as that is what will win a final. But it only needs to improve slowly. We won't fix it all by Millenium weekend.

Our league position is very strong at his stage. Leeds are the stand out team so far this season so to be in their sights is a good place to be. If we can finish top 2 (and that should be our aim) then we should all be very happy.

The worry for me is our recent performances especially defensively. Compare our points against to Leeds and it is miles apart. Our points for is slightly behind them so I'm not too concerned about that but we're shipping in far too many points and this has to be the focus or the rest of the season. Come the play offs,you simpl cannot afford to be shipping in so many points, the defence has to be at it's best.

I agree I remember them too but invariably we would raise our game on the big occasion , I'm not sure we have the people to do that these days.