Quote ="Phuzzy"This is the big one I haven't yet mentioned, SFW, and I think you hit the nail squarely on the head. I've concentrated in the decline in playing staff but of course the biggest decline comes at the top. There was a good case for both Woolf and Holbrook being the best coaches in Superleague but if I asked what the pecking order was between Matt Peet, Willie Peters, Paul Rowley, Steve McNamara and Paul Wellens I doubt anyone would have Wellens in the top 3. Even Sam Burgess, only weeks into his head coach career, would finish above him on many lists. That's some fall from grace! And then we get the perceived unwillingness to splash the cash from the Saints board that many of your fans are complaining about (certainly in comparison to Mike Danson for example) and it doesn't paint a good picture.
I think Stu's point is a very valid one. The competition needs as many strong teams as possible and, like it or not, that's driven predominantly by Wigan, Saints, Leeds, Catalans and Warrington. Hull KR have joined that group recently and the likes of Leigh are starting to make strides in the right direction but a weakened Saints is not good for the competition. The youngsters coming through may reverse the trend but I think that's a few years away, if indeed it ever materializes. I don't think Wellens is the coach to speed that transition up either unless his hand is forced.'"
I don't think on the face of things it looks particularly bad, and it would be easy to explain away some of the more high-profile losses due to injuries. I've even mentioned elsewhere that I almost expected a drop in standards given the recent successes - the only way was down after 4 consecutive GF wins and a WCC in Australia. But there's an awful lot below the surface that concerns me.
I don't think any player has dramatically improved under Wellens which is the main measure of any coach (for me anyway). He has no problem getting the team playing to his particular tune, but tactically we don't have much versatility and if a team can exploit our mostly rigid defence then there is little to suggest we have the capacity to claw them back. Easy wins against the bottom half and low-scoring, tight games with mixed results against the top half is the general theme of the last 18 months, which I agree is a considerable drop in standards.
In terms of splashing the cash, transfer fees are so rare I wouldn't even consider one unless there was an outstanding player available for the right price - that not a point worthy of criticism IMO. If we were in a position to act then maybe that would be different, but we are up to the cap (or close enough) as of now. By all accounts they are actively looking at the market for next year but some of the cap space has been dependent on Mata'uita's situation, unfortunately it looks like he's leaving too so we should have a chunk to spend but only one quota space unless we choose to release Hurrell and/or Blake aswell. The market isn't great and internal retentions and promotions will take a bite out of what will be available, but there should be room for an established back and hooker/half depending on where the club see Mbye fitting in next year. The club clearly have long term faith in the most recent professionals and a few more below them who will become full-time next year. I would much rather invest in them and maintaining those pathways than on big fees for players and I'm glad the club see it that way too.
Whether the coach is the one to bring these through successfully remains to be seen, but even in our 'lean' years Saints have never missed the playoffs in the GF era and I've no doubt we will still be competing given the current standard of the rest of the competition. Obviously the kind of success we have recently enjoyed will be far more difficult to attain given Wigan's improvement but we are still going to be in contention and involved in the big games for a while yet.
Competing might be good enough for the club over the next couple of years why the squad transitions but it looks a massive job to balance the squad given we have 9 players out of contract this season (excluding Dodd and Makinson) and 13 as it stands in 2025. On top of that there are the likes of Lomax, Walmsley, Percival and Clark up in 26, all of whom you would expect to retire or move on, and then longer-term we have Welsby and Delaney who already have admirers in the NRL. Some very important short and long term issues at the club right now.
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I remember the Wakefield debacle with Pat not being awarded the try ,I also thought we were done after that but fairplay, things changed and our fans backed the team even more after that.
