Sad but true. Priority has to be a 6 & 7 though

Wow, this is a bit strong isn't it?

The guy has propped up a loss-making club in a small town in an unfashionable sport for years including delivering a new stadium. Do you presume there is a queue of oil Sheiks and Russian oligarchs waiting to take his place?

Not really. He said himself some years ago that he would leave when the stadium was delivered as the club would be self sufficient.

The club is in real danger of not being able to properly capitalise on the stadium asset by not having a competitive side. We should be looking at 14,000 crowds but they are already down to around 11,000 and it will only get worse the longer we are continuing to decline on the field.

Maybe he should get some of these "cashed up" board members to put their hands in their pockets and buy a halfback.

Wigan lost finch and lulu last season and lenaghan splashed the cash on green and smith, that's a ambition to well on the pitch .

At the risk of turning this into another half-back thread, which scrum halfs could we have bought (money no object) in the last 2 years?

11,000+ isnt a bad crowd for a game against Catalans considering the team we had on the park last night.

Off the top of my head

Brough
Dobson
Chase
Smith
Green

On TV though it looks really empty even with 11,000!

I'm not of the mind of Saddened (not many are). The chairman deserves more respect than being told by a nobody to step down, after bankrolling all our losses.

But I would say that recruitment needs to have a good review. In the end no one knows who has the say over recruitment. But it needs reviewing as to the process over the last 5 years.

If someone came out and said, actually we have been opperating below cap and it was to save money. Then I think fans would adjust expectations. But with big name signings for wrong positions or positions not needed. That's the crux of the issue.

I still maintain that you throw our best pack out there, then tight games like last night would have a different result.

It's hard to stop every thread turning into a halfback thread as that is where recruitment and retention errors are majorly exposed. No other SL club opperates with a 2nd rower and fullback at half.

Seriously stones and glasshouses really spring to mind.

Me and saddened have been banging on about poor recruitment and retention for years yet people bagged us. All we got was how good are youth is, we don't need to sign players as we have ready made replacements in the youth.

Not many have lived up to those fans expectations

There were freebies in the East Stand though.

I'm not going to argue that. But I would also say that the major issue in the halfbacks is not down to expansion in youth (which to be fair has to happen because of the squad rules), it's buying the wrong players for the wrong position.

Perry - good purchase, but shocking result
Laffranchi - good 2nd rower, but no intention to play 2nd row??
Lance - utility fb, in a critical half role.

Whilst Lomax may not be the 7, he could have done a better job at 6 with a dobson alongside him. Same goes for Gaskell, Wheeler etc. None of them got a chance to develop as they where either played with each other, or with Lance which was just as bad as none of them had experience.

I truely thought Lance was coming to replace Wello at FB. It just seams slightly crazy, none of those are poor signings in themselves, just in that they where not needed or played out of position.

Most of our youth products have been wingers and 2nd rowers and we've always had that factory churning out those type of players who fill gaps for a few years.

I said from the day we was rumoured to sign lance that he's coming to play stand off. He said in the Aussie press he was playing stand off and had played at 6 early in his career. Royce said he was playing in the halves and we gave him the 6 shirt!

That was a truly shocking signing and like I said at the time, it will set us back 3/4 years.

I can't disagree.

On the plus side, apart from Sia and Walmsley who we've mentioned, Swift looks very good.

Do you think I'm happy with our attendances? No! as I said last week our chairman Hughes has pumped that much money into the club, until a club has it's own ground it will always be a problem, but land in London is not cheap.

The statement about last night that even with 11,000 attendance the ground looked half empty, that is just fact! not criticism, but no for the second time a snide response! I was one who thought 18,000 was too small and would have gone for 20,000/22,000 but it shows the right choice was made for now.

The stadium is the right size and felt great last night in normal weather

Beaten by a better team. I thought once our team got going they were their match. Just too late.

Calatans are a top team in SL, not sure what people think really, we definately need better players in certain positions but knee jerk reactions are the downfall of poor card players.

I think you summed up the problem in your first paragraph, which had nothing to do with 'knee jerk reactions' but much more to do with honest appraisals.

We were lethargic in the first half, for whatever reason. In the second we got going. So why did we not get going in the first half? We tend not to get going in first halves, have you not noticed? That is a problem, and a recurring one, no matter who is the personnel. It is a coaching issue because it keeps happening. Until it stops happening and we actually play with commitment and enthusiasm for the full 80 minutes then the performance will be unacceptable to some, regardless of whether we field a full first choice team or 17 under 20s.

I would agree that Saints don't seem to play for the full eighty. With regard to not playing in the first half, there has been quite a number of games when the points have been on the board in the first forty minutes and the second half has been spent in trying to save the game.
Yes , could be a coaching issue?

No physicality and no creativity is the problem, we're lacking in two major areas.

The thing is every game is going to have a similar reaction, which will be 'IF'.

It's just unknown for any SL side to have no half's. So win, lose or draw, the question will always be what would have happened if??

I think in the cold light of day, the scoreline from Friday people may look at who is out and say hey it's not that bad. If it had been an away match then certainly that would not be a bad result. I think the issue is most fans watch Saints at LP and when most of our losses are at home, it sets a feeling with the majority of supporters.

I think we should not just shout about an individual adding to the millions he has thrown at the club you cant call it investing. Many think we should be averaging fourteen thousand crowds, I wonder if we would achieve that even if the 2006 team where the class of 2013. We have only been in profit on a handful of occasions since 1970 and I think only Leeds and Batley have had consistant balance sheets since the summer era. Half back is becoming more of an issue Wilko looks tired now. Friday was not actually that bad except for the starting props. Charnock looks to have a touch of mongrel about him and I would like to see him given a run with Lance at scrum half

I think the fitness of certain individuals is a key issue - Howarth and Laffranchi were f****d within 20 minutes on Friday. The main difference between the two sides was in the halves for me. In Leon Pryce and Thomas Bosc, Catalan had a Half Back combination who knew exactly what they were doing, and both played superbly well.

I don't think we are as bad a team as people seem to be making out, and the likes of Roby, Lomax, TP and Manu will all make a huge difference for us. Personally, I would play Wilkin at 7, Lomax at 6 and Makinson at 1 once everyone is fit, but the fact of the matter is that we will struggle until we sign at Half Back.

On the plus side, the likes of Swift and Walmsley were superb, but I think Sia Soliola deserves a mention. In all the negativity and critism, it's easy to forget those who have played well, and I think Sia has been superb all year round. He could comfortably slot into any side in the world IMO, and as I say, I think he deserves a bit of credit for what he is doing.