I thought it was commonly accepted that Leon does not like to play on the wing from his time at Bradford.

If this is all down to Pryce refusing to give up his standoff position, then he needs to be dropped. I just cant see another explanation for this. Pryce's form has been aweful, he got run over a few time last night and offered nothing in attack, eastmond cant do it on his own. I'd seriously drop Pryce and put wheeler at 6, Lomax on the wing and see how it goes, it cant get much worse than that shambles.

decon been finished for 3 as well,any way wire are the team this year





so long as the pies dont do out that will do me

I'm afraid that Wigan lok the very opposite of Saints, fitter, leaner and well drilled with creative flair, it could be a long season

hang on a bit they have played the celtic at home so how can you say that ,you not even seen them yet

The only issue for Saints is that you are now a team in transition !!
your club made a bad statememnt to the fans when they brought back Fozz, as good a player as he is , he most definately is not a statement for the future is he!!
when the grounds firm up you will again show your class as you are no doubt a champion team but booing them will not make them play any better !!
Think what FC have been through this last two years !! too may old players, issues inside the squad, etc etc but the fans never gave up on them
Learn the lesson , back them dont slaughter them

That is part of the problem IMO.

Besides the lack of front rowers, which is evidently going to be a problem again (we have strengthened with Fozzard, but the fact that he is now our no. 2 prop when four years ago he was a better player and was our no. 5 says a lot), we are suffering from trying to share out the organisational responsibilities. As a result we are one of the most indecisive (and as a result ineffectual) teams on the last tackle that I've ever seen. This isn't just down to Long leaving; we were exactly the same last year. I'd like to see the stats, but I suspect we force fewer drop outs than most teams in SL, which is criminal given the personnel we have. As a result, we never get repeat sets, and we never build sustained pressure. We have to start from square one every time we get possession, which is why we get so little opportunity to play attacking rugby.

Perhaps the problem is that our most influential and respected player is at dummy half, and so can't dictate the play once the ball has left the ruck. Either way, we need to give total responsibility to one player on the last tackle, and it should be Eastmond.

Don't see the problem with this. Roby did a fine job on the wing and, given that we had three hookers in the 17, it was the least disruptive response to Gardner injury.

I'd agree with most of what you say but i think our back row is one of the worst in super league. Wilkin, flannery, clough, ashurst and dixon are not good enough.

Ashurst and Dixon are kids.

Wilkin, Clough and Flannery are all good enough (although whether Flannery is worth an overseas quota spot is another question), the problem is they are all too similar. We need some beef in the back row, which should come from Puletua IMO. However, that won't happen because we're still short in the front row. Soliola is the other option.

We have no 'off the cuff' play now and seem incapable of anything innovative or different. If Potter had been in charge of the 'Wide to West' game it would be known as 'Up the Middle with Maurie'.

For me tony p has to play prop. When he's giving the freedom of playing back row he goes missing. At prop he gives us good go forward.

Sia should be moved to 2nd row to add some beef and power to our 2nd row. Wheeler then can add some attack and pace outwide.

I agree ashurst and dixon are kids but IMO will not make super league level.

"It's up the middle, it's up the middle." It doesn't really have the same ring to it, does it?

We'd better get used to it though

Another well considered and constructed post. I said a similar thing to my father last night, the thing is we have to give the likes of Kyle and perhaps Wheeler time to stamp their unquestionable talent in that area to develop. Kyle is in a similar position to Longy was when he first came into the team and as a 7 that likes to take on the line he is a similar type of half back. The major difference is Sean had a ball playing 6 with an excellent tactical brain beside him in Tommy who complimented his style and helped/taught him how to become the player he later became, I cannot see Leon offering Kyle the same level of support.

Which is perhaps why Potter should consider moving Pryce and playing someone with more tactical skills alongside Eastmond. Scott Moore has that ability, even if he is a little raw. So does Wilkin, all be it he is inconsistent.

Spot on. I said same thing to my dad. Kyle is same as longy when he arrived but longy had a top class ball playing stand off in tommy. Kyle has got a lazy winger playing at 6 next to him!

They are far far from the worst in Super League Pete, but even if they were what would you have us do? replace them all in one swoop? Impossible for so many reasons, and who would you bring in to replace them? As Dux states, Ashurst & Dixon are young, and how you can judge them based on a handful of first team games escapes me. Another thing you, and several others here seemingly forget when talking about our player recruitment is that no-one in the comp going forward can afford to continually import foreign replacements in the way we used to thanks to a rule introduced in 2008.

The new ‘club trained player’ rule stipulates that each club had to have at least five players who were aged under 21 years or were graduates from their own academy system in their 25 man first team squad during 2008 and this continues over the following seasons. The table below shows how these figures will increase until 2011.

Year - Home-Grown Players - UK-trained players - Overseas trained players
2008 - 5 - 10 - 10
2009 - 6 - 11 - 8
2010 - 7 - 12 - 6
2011 - 8 - 12 - 5

Saints' player production has given us a fantastic footing in this and i'm sure it has had as much of an influence on recruitment as the lack of funds we have had to spend in that area.

Exactly, i'd tell Pryce he has to take one for the team and play him out in the wing/centres or maybe even at loose where he is big enough for and it still affords him a degree of creative influence similar to when Scully played there. Its a risk having two youngsters playing in the halves but i'd at least give Wheeler a go at 6 (i realize i am contradicting myself somewhat following the whole long/martyn post), at this early stage of the season.

There may be only one side with a better 17 than yourselves but there are plenty of sides with an equally capable 17.

The saints side has slowly deteriorated, and like for like hasn't been replenished. You went through a great spell just like we at Wigan did and Leeds are doing now, but as were all aware things come to an end even for the best.

The problem at St Helens is Leeds. You’ve lost to them three years on the trot at the grand final with no end in sight. St Helens will still have the consistency in them to be near the top of the table. I recon you’ll finish around 4th to 2nd.

Good luck and I hope it turns around for you soon!

Imo you need another prop alongside Graham and the rest of your pack needs to face up. we won the collision and controlled the floor too easy last night stiffling your backs from showing their ball skills, because as we all know when saints do control these areas they are the entertainer's.

Eastmond and Wheeler are at least accustomed to playing together in the reserves so there'd be less scope for confusion. There'd also be less scope for atrocious kicking. Ordinarily it would be risky to play too youngsters together in the halves, but to be honest I don't think they could lead the team round the park any worse than the current set up is doing.

Regarding Pryce, I think people are sometimes too quick to assume that he is lazy or a prima donna. I don't think he is - he just doesn't have the right skills to be a genuine 'go-to' man in a tight situation. When he steps in to control proceedings on the last tackle the result is generally a poorly executed kick. He is still at his best when running at a retreating defence, which was fine when we had the luxury of a giant pack and referees encouraging very quick play the balls, but isn't much use when your forwards are in a street fight and you need somebody to make cool headed decisions.

To be honest I don't think he has enough physical presence in defence to be a loose forward either. If he went into the three-quarters we'd be able to put Soliola in the forwards as well.

Leon to fullback then? Wello is effing useless these days, he stops nothing.

What about pryce to the centres, wilkin to stand off, siola (whatever his name is) to second row, just a thought, I just think that pryce did not take any pressure of eastmond (last night) and maybe wilkin would. only a thought.