We could make an educated guess, though.
Except for you....
Of course.

Guilt and shame can do that to people.


I thought he was an incompetent coach? Not that I don't agree with your statement; I definitely do. But you don't seem to, judging by your other posts.

They aren't going to come out and call him a clueless idiot though are they?

I don't understand? I have always been completely behind Royce. Check my posts.

I agree with all that but I fear for what state we'll be left in in a couple of months' time if KC and Rush are eventually revealed to not be up to the job and the players all start to pull their bottom lips over their heads and take their balls home with them again. Royce was clearly no genius (the unused back on the bench and utter inability of any of our halves to ever pass to their right maddened the hell out of me every single game), but he was good enough to get basically the same set of players as we currently have to both a Wembley final and a Grand Final win last season (in [iincredibly[/i difficult circumstances let's not forget), a couple of unluckily timed injuries excepted. He would have been good enough to give us a decent chance of the same again this year if the players had done the jobs they were paid to do. Now instead we're in limbo for the rest of the year and our season could go either way. I know which situation would make me happier right now.

I agree that player power has to be stomped out, and for that reason the next coach has to have an authoritarian streak backed up 100% by the board. We cannot afford to end up in a Chelsea situation where the players decide they no longer care for the manager and have him removed.

Sorry. My bad. I'm used to the abuse and so I just reacted as I would to more abuse!

I agree with the authoritarian streak thing. My only concern about Royce was that he was just too nice and sympathetic. Some characters will just walk all over that. Also, I think there were a few bruised egos as a result of his rotation policy.

I think it's interesting, for example, that Meli played on the wing again having been shifted to centre actually during Potter's time. I wonder whether that was Meli saying he wanted to play on the wing and getting his way? My guess is probably it is. He managed to let Leeds cross on his side again I notice. Fortunately luck was with us this time though and the try was ruled out for a knock on. It wasn't a Grand Final either!

Meli asked to play wing and got his way





What a silly post!

Interesting. I don't know what position Brad Dwyer plays in but according to League Weekly, he sat on the bench for the full 80 minutes for Warrington on Friday night. I guess Tony Smith is no genius either?

Nor is Phil Veivers. He used only 16 players when Salford played us at Langtree Park. The back stayed on the bench, as did ours.

Why is it silly? Meli has never been any good on the wing. Oh, he pulled out a performance on Sunday night, just as we all know he can against the big teams (except at Grand Finals). But then he disappears again. That's been the way with him since Anderson's time. I can very much see a whole bunch of egos directing play actually. Did Jon Wilkin play loose forward?

one of so many, i think she's trying to be a satarical poster like Saddened, but its not working

Mike rush and KC are no easy touch and will not be told what to do by any player.

They have worked with the players this week and both parties have had input but the last call is rush and KC.

All (senior) parties had an input into the job lot according to Mike Rush's interview in this week's League Weekly.

Like I said, let's see how well that goes if things get sticky!

Well, everyone has an opinion don't they? For me playing a back on the bench is playing a man light in the modern game particularly in tough games, but some coaches might indeed prefer to have a back available to do a 1-for-1 swap if there's an injury. Each to their own. That still doesn't explain why we had Wheeler and Clough on the bench for the CC semi last year when they'd both only just come back from serious injury and couldn't have played (and indeed didn't play) more than 10 minutes of the game between them. I can appreciate the back on the bench as a tactical move to minimise disruption in the forwards if there's an injury (although I don't agree with it personally), but a coach that picks someone completely unfit and in no state to be able to play more than 10 minutes in that role is a coach that needs to be severely questioned in their methods.

I think it was injury which drove Royce to be honest and I don't blame him, especially this season after last.


Did he have much choice at that time? We were seriously hard pushed for troops all through the season. I honestly can't remember.

I've not read any rugby paper but isn't that what I just said?

Just for the record, not all players are over the moon at Royce losing his job, the was a few that was disappointed but not many.

One played in the u20s before the game and stormed off the pitch without doing the walk around with his team mates after the game.

No, he was just our best and most consistent player in that position over the whole of the 2009 and 2010 seasons (2009 GF brain explosion excepted) and our only threat out wide since Gidley's decline, that's all. But he made a lot of mistakes and was a bit pants in 2007 and 2008 which fits in nicely with our pre-formed opinions, so he must have been pants ever since, right?

God give me strength....

Time for a change of signature????

He was our ONLY player in that position over the whole of 2009 and 2010 (left wing, just before you get y). Although he did play in centre for a bit during Potter's reign and most people on here were relieved when he did because he was a defensive nightmare and will continue to be so until the day he retires.

OK..... I'll rephrase around your pedantry/denseness, whichever it is in this case.



He was our most consistent game-in, game-out performer [iincluding all other players in all other positions in the team[/i, being fairly solid defensively and our only attacking threat in the 3/4s, over the whole of the 2009 and 2010 seasons. He also [icoincidentally[/i played left wing most of the time in that period.

Do you see now, or should I buy a lump hammer to bang the point home further?

Dont you know by now that there is, and always will be, a section of spectators who watch Saints, who need to have a scapegoat ....Meli fits the bill and before him it was Gardner.....and so it goes forward. Stats show that the lad wasnt as bad as is painted but to the few, wooden head wooden leg comes to mind.
You can talk to a man with a wooden leg all day but a wooden head,mmmm ( just to clarify, I am not advocating the purchase of a lump hammer ..... but )

I think Meli has suffered by leaving his howlers for the most high profile of games.

If he had done that at a CC cup draw at Barrow away then no-one would even have noticed it.

Sadly when the game boils down to 80 minutes at the end of the year, any mistakes in the GF are amplified as at that point the other 20+ rounds count for next to nothing due to the set up of the league.

Do you remeber the try he scored against Leeds in the CC semi at huddersfield? He scored from our own 20, I think from a tap restart. Magic.

You may just need to

The game at Widnes against Wire last year typified the way these clueless fools think - Meli was our best player on the night by a mile, tackling and working like a demon, stopping a certain goalline try and generally being the only Saints player to take the fight to them in any remote way, shape or form. And yet, because he made one bad pass the whole night and ran the ball into touch once he was practically run out of town and blamed for costing us the game single-handedly on the wretched "other site"'s forums the day after. You can see them at games practically coiled waiting for every single mistake that their designated scapegoat is going to make and pouncing on every single one with vitriolic glee, conveniently ignoring all the good stuff on the way... I bet they're all grooming Foster as his long term replacement even as we speak.