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.

I don't think the play-offs help, although I know there is no chance of getting rid of this system because of the money it provides. But as long as you finish top three, it doesn't really matter where you finish really, which doesn't make things any more exciting.

I really like a game between two sides who are completing their sets well though. In those games you really have to earn the right to put pressure on your opponent. It doesn't necessarily mean that flair has to go out of the window, but it does make the game more of a chess game.

Contrast that with the Leeds v Hull game that Eddie and Stevo were waxing lyrical over the other day. One side makes a mistake or gives away a penalty, the other side scores. Repeat pattern for 80 mins. I find those kind of games boring, and there were a lot more of them ten years ago than there are now.

If you want greater flair and more flair players you need to increase the level of specialisation. It's as simple as that.

I agree partly with what he has said but he has been unfair to single out Hull KR as a poor side. The Celtic game was dire.

What I find though is that a 40 points win ten years ago was not boring because they were littered with great individual and team tries, scintillating passing movements and lots of flair rugby.

Now a 40 points win will largely consist of six or seven tries earned not by any of the above but bar the sheer weight of pressure forcing the team over the line with the move generally starting just a few metres from the try line.

Closeness is exciting in terms of not knowing who is going to win but a 0-0 football draw is close, however it can be largely as dull as dishwater to watch.

What we are getting is more excitement in terms of the unpredictability of the result but significantly less excitement in terms of the brand of rugby played by the teams involved.

I can enjoy a 60 or 70 points win if the team is throwing the ball about and looking to score great tries. I can't enjoy it if it's simply six drives and a kick to simply score by the tide being too strong to repel.

The British Lions tests against South Africa were the best grouping of 3 rugby matches I have seen in 10 years!

Sums RL up at the moment.

Steady!

Only because of the nasty biff attitude the south africanos have towards the lions.

Truth hurts chief!