Remains to be seen, you could equally say he can't coach defence judging by their last match. Who knows how McGuire will turn out? He could be great, he could flop - he wouldn't be the first.



Says who? Fat Feka losing 13 stone doesn't mean they'll be a fitter team than us.



Do players only grow older in Wigan?

We were pretty awful last year and still reached the GF and finished above Wigan.

Saints will finish above Warrington, no doubt. I think Leeds and maybe Huddersfield will finish above us.

I gather that you're probably fishing here, but Bradford? They sign a decent scrum half and that automatically turns them into a top 4 team? No chance.

Leeds
Saints
Warrington
Wigan

Would be my early prediction.

Warrington have always been strong against the better teams. It's their performances against the smaller sides that has always cost them. They lose to the likes of Cas and Wakey and Quins at home. They are stronger than us, there really is little doubt about that. Their pack is better and their backs are so much better it's not funny.

I think Saints will do one of two things. One is finish second, flying under the radar as mentioned with everyone creaming themselves about the likes of Warrington, Wigan and Bradford's improvements. OR Saints will continue to struggle and with the undoubted improvements shown by the likes of Warrington, Bradford, Hull and Wigan end up finishing about 6th or 7th. Don't underestimate the importance of Mr S Long to our success over the past decade. He is our organisation and our soul. We will find it very hard without him.

We have zero chance of winning Super League and will need a great draw (Like Warrington's last year) in order to win the Cup. For me it's about time the board showed they understand they need to rebuild and start doing it by announcing some mighty signings mid way through next year.

There is enormous doubt about that.





Losing Hock and signing Deacon?



We got pretty close last year despite you predicting a loss in every round of the play-offs, and we've a stronger squad this year IMO.



The board clearly recognise the need to rebuild - Eastmond has been re-signed and an ageing Long released, Soliola signed and an ageing Gilmour released, Moore brought back in etc.

We were inches and a mistake away from winning the GF last year, we topped the league for a period, we've strengthened the squad (IMO) but suddenly we're going to come 5th this year?

So you think that fact that we aren't signing every great player around is down to the board? Have you heard of the salary cap? Do you really think our board don't understand the need to keep improving/rebuilding etc? If it's all so blindingly simple and obvious to you I wonder why you're not in charge...

Bratfot are you on Crack?

I'll give you that they have stronger backs (although I think we have a spark they don't in Eastmond and Pryce can be brilliant on his day), but our forwards are very strong. Graham, Puletua, Cunningham, Roby, Moore, Soliola and Wilkin are all very good players and Fa'asavalu can be good on his day.

Every year people write Saints off, but with strong defence like ours, we'll be in the top 4 without a doubt.

As for Warrington, they seem a bit overhyped as usual, but I do think they'll be a strong side this year. I don't think they're ready to win Super League yet, but they may have another good run in the Cup if they get some good draws and avoid Saints or Leeds.

It's quite clear that the board has either:

1) - Cut the spending on player salaries in order to save much needed funds for the new ground (I'd have no problem with that if they admitted it)
2) - Overspent on underperforming players (We've got a wafer thin squad so the maths don't add up when you consider who has left the club)

We finished second and made the GF last season. Fine, we did. But did no one else see the turgid struggle each game had become by the end of the season? Every ounce of attacking flair was gone and without Long it'll be worse this coming season. People say we're stronger but I can't see how. Long was arguably our best player still, organising everything we did and Gilly was a massively underrated player who had a fantastic last couple of seasons for us. Eastmond is totally unproven and any games he misses have to have huge question marks over them, because of goal kicking if nothing else. Last season also saw Warrington, Wigan, Bradford, Hull and Catalans, all usually strong sides in SL struggle massively. Warrington have a new coach and several massive improvements player-wise, Wigan have a proper coach for the first time in years, Hull have signed some superb players and have a few exciting young prospects and Catalans would expect to be better. Hull KR will also be strong. If the majority of those sides do make the strides they should do over the close season we're in for one hell of a struggle.

In previous years we've been so good and the rest so bad that there has usually been us and one other side (Bradford and lately Leeds) who competed for first place. Then there was a group of two or three sides we were prone to struggling against (Hull KR, Wakefield etc) and 7 or 8 easy beats that we would beat easily. What has happened with the salary cap/our decline has been that the group of two or three sides we found it tough against, particularly away, has become 7 or 8 teams and suddenly there is only Celtic, Quins and Salford we'd expect to beat.

think you've been living up the hype in warrington saddened.

I was at Wakefield yesterday and for those who like fast open rugby it was exciting and close.
However, IMO it was a poor game, the majority of tries came from penalties conceded by the defending side gifting field position to the opposition. I can't remember one really hard tackle.

However, my son in law plays Union for Leigh and on Saturday they were training at LSV and Wigan were training on the all weather pitch.
He was very complimentary on the physical size and shape that Wigan were in, as he himself is 6 foot 4" and almost 18 stone, so I was interested to hear his observations.
Apparently everything was being done at real pace and with great accuracy.

I'll reserve my judgment on how teams will go until I have seen then in action. I expect us to go o.k. but would just like a player who could provide that killer pass that can win the close games.

a great draw in the cup like warrington we beat kr in the 1/4 final form team wigan in the semi and hudd in the final whom i believe beat you in the other semi so behave yourself

Be honest, how do you think you would have got on had Leeds made the final, or Saints? Cup draws that avoid the two best sides are pretty rare, by default the top 2 usually has at least 1 member in the final.

You also played Featherstione and York when you were up the sh*t creek early doors.

gone into my sig! even with our massive injury crisis and carrying longy when he was pap most of the year we barely missed out on 1st! this year we have an actual centre, and a young star in Kyle. Top 3 minimum for us

hudd beat you,you beat leeds we beat hudd thats the way it goes we were the best team in that particular comp fact

Idiot.

How can an international scrum half who has played well against Australia and New Zealand be unproven?
Smith inst a new coach he was at wire for most of last season, please tell me what position they finished in the league?

Since when has our squad been wafer thin, when we have umpteen internationals in it, infact 12 out of the first 13 according to squad numbers are internationals, with the 13th man being a state of origin player. Our bench can also call on 3 full internationals.
This also blows away your theory of us cutting back on salary spend.

Eastmond is still unproven. The proof of the pudding is now, with Long gone, can Kyle direct the team around the park? I remember an old guy I used to sit near at Saints who said a top quality scrum half could have a major influence on a game without ever touching the ball or making a tackle. Does Kyle have those sort of attributes or is he all about his pace and footwork, which will be closely watched next year?

The internationals thing is all well and good, but how many genuinely top class players do Saints currently have? Wello is a shadow of his former self, same with Leon and even KC. Jammer is our 'best' player, followed probably by Eastmond, which is ridiculous given he's about 15 games into his career.

Losing Hock is a loss no doubt, but we actually picked up some form after the Hock scandal and the Celtic loss last season, he can be a liability as much as a benefit as you probably know

Whatever the reason for the pickup in form, we didnt look as though we missed him a great deal, until maybe the Saints semi where a bit more quality in our 13 could have turned that game IMO

Looking at the squads on paper I think Catalans could easily make the top four aswell as the usual suspects of Leeds Saints Wigan and Warrington, Bradford have no chance theyll be fighting for a place in the 8

Take the bet then!

Me and FearTheVee want to bet you £10 we finish higher than 5th

It's not just the Warrington fans that are hyping up their chances, the players are at it too. Today, Myler has come out, after Atkins a few days ago actually said that they would win the treble. Let them do so while all the other clubs quietly go about their business preparing for the season, I haven't yet seen another club in SL yet to predict and set targets for this year other than the Wire. We shall see.

I'd like to bet £500 but £10 will do for now.

Say no to drugs, kids