At Saints it might be but in general, I can’t see it.

I liken your situation currently to that of Celtic in the Scottish Premiership a couple of years back. I have a Cousin in Ireland who loves them. He goes over for every home game and was buzzing around the time of them winning the treble treble, going for ten titles in a row etc. Similar comments about being the best of all time, being history makes was being thrown around but the truth? They were dominating a dreadful competition. They could win 50 titles on the trot if the quality stayed as it is currently (or was at that time) and they still wouldn’t be the best ever. The Celtic side of the current day and from that time they did the treble treble would lose against the Celtic side of the early 2000’s (containing a prime Henrick Larsson) and co by 4 or 5 goals every week and the Lisbon Lions team wouldn’t break a sweat, so it might be a statistical best in the superleague era but the reality is it just isn’t as valuable because of the standards being so low across the board.

I'm not sure why Stu is so keen for accreditation of the current team from elsewhere, he should just enjoy the moment



The game is very different and I can see from the evidence of my own eyes that previous Saints teams would struggle to break this one down. It certainly wouldn't be the cakewalk some are suggesting - I've seen enough superstar Saints teams destroyed by NRL teams to know that they weren't up against that much in terms of week to week intensity at the time.

For sure we have had better individuals since 1996 but that isn't everything. And in any event, winning 4 will be a tremendous achievement - whether or not this is the best team SL has seen (I'd say not), winning 4 is something nobody has ever managed and would be, as a matter of fact, the longest winning run in fully professional RL history.

Behave.

Amazing achievement, but its a sub-standard competition.

Everyone is playing under the same rules, so yeah 4 on the trot would be a great achievement and is something to celebrate. Unfortunately for Morgan Knowles (whose comments this debate stems from) and anyone associated with Saints, if they expect the game to recognise it as making Saints the best side of the superleague era, they’ll be in for a disappointment IMO.

The biggest games that would give this Saints side kudos would be World Club challenges but they’ve unfortunately been shelved. If you had beat Melbourne or Penrith this last two years I think it would’ve added huge weight. I suspect you’d have been disposed of pretty comfortably but we’ll never know.

Saints won both competitions last season and played 27 games. Just in Super League and the playoffs alone they played less games than five other teams.

Wigan won f*** all, didn't make either semi final and played 28.

In a standard season when you win the double, you usually end up playing 5 or 6 more than most teams and play every week from February to October. That didn't happen last year. We played 35 as a comparison in 2013.

The issues that happened last season (and maybe even the one before) were of a benefit to that Saints side no doubt. Had every team played the same number of matches to qualify as happened in football then fair enough.

Four in a row is a great achievement BTW, but I would say the current three-peat isn't as good as the Leeds one was. They had to beat Saints three years in a row (as well as a good Wigan and a good Wire), and there simply isn't a team as good as that Saints one in the league at the moment.

saints 06 team would murder this team, also could easily see them nil them too

I've just got home after a few days touring the Yorkshire Wolds with my daughter and son in law. With nothing much to do sat in the back of the car for mile after mile my mind went back to the previous say's news of Saints defeat in France. As I am known to do from time to time I was inspired to go into composing mode. What follows is the result.

TO LOSE TO TOULOUSE

On Billinge Hill the beacon’s lit
They’re sending out the news
That Saints have had a massive hit
It’s to lose to Toulouse

In Scholes they’re dancing in the street
They’re rolling out the booze
And all you hear when people meet
Is to lose to Toulouse..

The Wires have cast aside their woes
And laughed away the blues
Our losing streak just grows and grows
But, to lose to Toulouse.

Paul Sculthorpe’s face has gone quite red
His hair to greyish hues
We’ll never lose again he said
Then to lose to Toulouse.

Poor Alex Murphy’s lost for words
Ray French has blown a fuse
In the Church Square the feral birds
Tweet to lose to Toulouse

When all is said and all is done
Which ever you may choose
You must admit it’s been great fun
Has to lose to Toulouse

And so my friends this ode I send
And with it too-del-oos
As words I blend, this verse I’ll end
With to lose to Toulouse.

Awww bless you,
I never mentioned Walmsley,you lost to a better team.that is all.
We will see Good friday,if Wigan lose to better team so be it,but if Stains lose your brain cells will implode trying to figure out why you lost and then you and the rest of your kind will come up with tons of excuses.

A well balanced debate in which i can understand and agree to a degree both sides of the argument.

Not sure I’d say the best team in SL history but defensively wise I’ve not seen a better British team in over 50 years of watching the game. The line speed is phenomenal with even some of Wigan’s great defensive efforts for me, not even close to matching the current Saints team. I agree with the argument that current overall standards are lower than previous years but with such a great defence the current Saints team would give any team from any era a real game.

What they don’t have are real top class players such as a Sculthorpe, Farrell, Manninga, Murphy, Hanley or an Offiah but what they have got is a willingness to play at a very high intensity, at pace with great regularity.

If they do win 4 in a row, which I think is inevitable unless they have a series of major injuries, maybe in a few years time people may well look back and reflect upon a great and once in a lifetime team.
For me they are a bit away from that at the moment. Currently they are on a crest of a wave and their recent recruitment is light years ahead of every other team and if that continues when say Roby retires I can see their dominance continuing unless there is a general stepped improvement across the competition.

For me what does detract the overall quality of their success is that they don’t have a an ongoing formidable foe in the vein of say Saints/Wigan, Leeds/Bradford, saints/Leeds or a Wigan/Wire battles for top team dominance that were ongoing throughout the last 2 decades. Catalans had a decent 2021 but I for one just couldn’t see see them winning the gf that year nor can I see them changing that in 2022.

For all that nobody laughed longer or louder than me on Saturday night.

Wigan fans in this thread lol

Wire fan.....

Don't feed him
Hes a saints troll

It is very difficult to compare teams in different eras but it is not difficult to compare the number of trophies each club has won and in this regard Wigan are way out in front.

Yay your back, been noticeable by your absence since the weekend. Did something happen ?

Ah well! You managed a full 2 posts that weren't trolling. I guess that qualifies as a good run for you hey Steph?

Winning 4 in a row will wipe the slate clean a bit as you[u lost five in a row.[/u

Wigan fans of the most successful Rugby League club in history.
Stains fans fans of the 3rd most successful club in history LOL

Juke, your spelling needs attention! I am sure you meant tool.

Just had a flick through of a topic about Wigan on Red Vee and the line now seems to be that we think they’re rubbish and that Good Friday will be easy for us!

Talk about missing the point!! They don’t seem to understand that by stating how they’re comfortably the best of a bad bunch, it’s ourselves we’re criticising, along with the other 10 superleague clubs. It’ll take one hell of a shock not to get beaten on Good Friday but you never know.

I’m not sure I’ve seen a club or fan base as desperate for adulation before. Maybe it stems from the old entertainers tag they were given but it’s now just methodical and a bit robotic (but clearly very effective). I suppose it’s driving them on via this ‘us against the game’ attitude they’re developing, so fair play.

Yep, they just can't grasp it, no matter how many times it's painfully admitted on here they're the best team in the league even the slightest dig at them brings them out in a fit of the vapours.
Smashing teams up the middle and then putting on "the move" is what we were constantly criticised for, "boring, robotic" take your pick. When it's done well it's almost impossible to stop and they're doing it better than anyone.
Only way we're going to win on GF is if we can go round them, we really need French to have a couple of games under is belt before then, a centre/wing combo of K P-P/Zak fills me with dread, especially if Grace is back for them in time for the game.

And the game is still weeks away - you gotta love the derby!

Who is you? I’m a Wigan fan?

I’m saying if Saints win 4 in a row they still won’t be the greatest team in Super League history…

Interesting. I'd say Saints have c22 relatively experienced/SL quality players (Welsby, Makinson, Hopoate, Percival, Grace, Lomax, Dodd, Walmsley, Roby, Lees, Matautia, Bachelor, Knowles, Lussick, LMS, Sironen, Paasi as first XVII plus Hurrell, Amor, Bell, Wingfield, Simm

For Wigan its' probably about the same: French, Bibby, Hardaker, Pearce-Paul, Marshall, Field, Cust, Ellis, Powell, Mago, Farrell, Bateman, Smithies, Leuluai, Singleton, Partington, Havard as first XVII plus Byrne, Shorrocks, Thornley, Isa, Smith

So to me both squads have about 22 then kids/projects and Wigan's quaity outside the first XIII is a fair bit weaker (comparing benches of Lussick/LMS/Sironen/Paasi to Singleton/Havard/Partington/Leuluai.

I don’t disagree with much of that but that bench isn’t, hasn’t been and won’t be our bench with a full team out. Without going over old ground, it’s easy for Saints to choose a first choice team and a first choice bench because you get to put it out there pretty often and other sides don’t.

If we had everyone available on Good Friday (which we won’t with Ellis already banned) I’d expect the bench to be along the lines of Mago, Havard, Smithies and French. There’s clearly more quality in the Saints 17 but I’m looking forward to us (hopefully) being able to field a bench like that. I’m not going to compare it to the Saints bench because it contains totally different styles of players but I’m more than happy with ours. Unfortunately as with most games against you guys recently, our starting front row will cripple us.