Judder Man:
We're rightly very positive about last night. In all fairness though, I think you guys are going to be the ones to catch this season and it's down to Holbrook; He seems to have gained an extra 25% from your players.
That said, individually bar a few players, I would rather have our 1-17 than yours. That's not a criticism at all, but I reckon if we match your fluidity, and there's plenty of time to the middle 8s, we can at least match you come Autumn (hopefully).

If we get in to the Top 4 this season it will be a superb achievement after 2017. Price has quietly gone about his business and the team spirit looks really good. That Livett try following the Clarke break was champagne rugby.

I don't Gaz. We saw on Thurs night. They are a one trick team. They gained that extra...25% from Holbrook and Barba collectively.

I think Barba's an excellent player, but I think Saints could operate perfectly well without him.(While Barba is good, I think that Chris Sandow was a level above Barba at present)
Holbrook is the key to saints, like Klopp is to Liverpool. They're missing Walmsley at the mo but their pack is still functioning perfectly well. I'm beginning to think that Price could be our key man.

I’ve read some of your nonsense before but I think you’ve just outdone yourself. You really think that Ben Westwood or Atkins would be able to keep up with Barba? As for shutting down the Roby go forward, I’d love to know how you plan on doing that. You kept Barba pretty quiet at the HJ, we still won 12-30, you’re delusional if you think you could thrash us.

Cast your mind back. TS DID such an act to success with both Westwood and Atkins. It's nothing new.

I'll scratch my head to try and recall who it was they did targeted numbers on.

Well I for one is glad you won against Leeds and the ref, for us it could be one less team to worry about coming up on the rails. I think it will be Castleford, Warrington, Wigan and Saints in the top 4 after the 8's, we've not won any silverware for a while, Holbrook no doubt will have a sticky patch but the team have a lot of togetherness which I hope gives us a top 2 but anything can happen, still a lot of games to go.

What you saw on Thursday night was saints pack getting the upper hand on the catalans big pack. Saints never got into top gear as Holbrook mentioned you can't play vintage rugby every game and its just a win and 2 points.
That was our first game for a while without Barba, but without meaning to be arrogant, all Barba influence is how many points we will win by at the moment, and we will lose games with or without him.

You played a team with a 4 day turn around that had a tough game vs Hull while St's got 6 following an easy game.

Ok clever bottom, I'll bite.
My plea, should really be common sense to any coach assembling a team. You MUST have a goalkicker, not just someone who can do it to a fashion.
Let's look at successful sides over the last 20-30 years, and they ALL have kickers who can "back heel them over". Botica, Farrell Richards at Wigan, Sinfield at Leeds, Saints and Bradford had them, too.

It's no coincidence, that when we've sniffed around for trophies since I've watched, we had Hesford, Woods, Davies, Hodgson etc. When we've not had one of their calibre, we've been now-where near trophies.

Let's not forget that 92-93 season. We lost a silly amount of games by 6-8 points, when we had Chris Rudd and Bob Jackson kicking. Change that, and we'd be challenging for a title. We finished 8th. 2 months later, we signed Davies, and we ALMOST won the league

Come November, we MUST buy a PROPER kicker. Otherwise, it'll bite us on the ar5e. Go looking in the NRL (so sorry I can't name one, as the thought of watching an NRL game, fills me with the same joy as doing my tax returns)

The problem is that it's not quite so simple to find one. Sneyd stands out in my mind.

But have a rant if it makes you feel better.

I heard it said by John Monie after he left Wigan, that they carried Botica because he was so prolific at kicking.
I heard him predict that a kick that was just within his range for Botica at Wembley and he was spot on as it cleared the black dot by a gnats....

Frano Botica was a superb player. I'd like to "carry" a player like him now. Brilliant kicker.

could that be because it was lashing down and dummy half running is safe play in those conditions.

does Roby running 15 times mean you absolutely battered us off the park or does it mean your halves were devoid of ideas and Roby took it on himself to get your team on the front foot....?

does it mean when Roby runs from dummy half lots Saints win...? I mean you've put 60 on two teams yet he apparently didn't run from dummy half much then...???

either way you have been lauded as the best team on the planet and we are just four points behind you and our hooker leads they way in dummy half runs .....

Ratchford has been kicking at 75%+, that’s good enough. Livett is also a very good kicker, Charnley would be behind Ratchford, Roberts, Goodwin, Livett and Patton in the kicking stakes.

Charnley was first choice kicker at Wigan for quite a lengthy period.

Who's ranting?
I'm just making a point where we have a crucial deficiency. If you want to bury your head in the sand, and hope for the best with adequate kickers, good for you. I want my team to win matches. If you win matches, you win leagues or cups. Not many teams win these with competent kickers. They win them with great ones.

The kick missed for one of our early tries last night, was borderline atrocious. It was a "shoe in" for a proper kicker. We have a side that possesses a few that "can" kick, but none that can REALLY do it.

I'm of a certain vintage, where I can remember the touring Kiwis of 85. 1-1 in tests, and we're 6-4 down with 10 mins to go in the decider. We get a penalty ON THE TOUCHLINE, and Lee Crooks said give me the ball, I'm kicking it.. IT NEVER LOOKED LIKE MISSING..

Leeds, the current champions have lost a few games buy VERY small margins, because Watkins is kicking. Did you see one of his ""attempts" last night? I could have done better with my boots on the wrong feet. No wonder they are outside the top 4.
Go ahead, and avoid an obvious problem. You know best.

Still haven't got a single suggestion yet. I can't think of one (apart from Sneyd) and I don't think we'll be getting him. I'd like a better kicker, you'd like a better kicker ... we'd all like a better kicker.

At least we have several options for kickers should one be out injured. Maybe it would be worth employing a specialist kicking coach a la Wigan?

Could we lure Liam Finn across the Pennines I wonder?

Bryson Goodwin kicked at 80% last year in the NRL which is clearly why he's kicking for us right now. I think his early season leg injury is why he passed the baton to Ratch, who is good but not at that level. I don't think there is an obvious 'super kicker' in the Hesford/Botica mode out there right now in any case.

We must have more goal kickers than any club. Ratchford, Charnley, Roberts, Patton, Livett ... Goodwin & more. Goodwin looked good at the start of the season. Ratchford has been OK and was brilliant at Castleford.
What we all want is one that doesn't have off days. But there ain't many about.

Only when Matty Smith was out.

Against Huuddersfield Goodwin missed a couple of goals from his wrong side so Ratchford took over & he missed a couple from his wrong side. Perhaps using the right footed Ratch on the left half of the field & vice versa with Goodwin could have given us a better success rate.

Tyrone Roberts kicked goal for Newcastle & Gold Coast.