Stop bloody panicking : Sat Feb 27, 2016 10:23 pm  

We've played four games.

The NRL premiers, a fully-fit Warrington with a point to prove and two aways where lots of top sides come acropper.

We're also missing 8 players, including our captain and lead playmaker.

And dealing with the retirement of two of our key leaders and handing over of the stand off's shirt to someone barely out of the academy, who is himself coming back from a long term injury.

While results are disappointing they should not be surprising. We have been in much worse situations - such as 2010, where we started with a better team than won the double the previous year and had an appalling start. That year we still made the CC final and the playoff semis.

And we have a coach who has 7 trophies in 5 seasons at the club, and has a track record of turning bad early seasons into trophies.

Finally, though we haven't won the last two games have seen vast improvements in performance.

So keep calm, we will turn the corner but it will take time to climb up the table to where we should be. In the meantime, we're developing a squad and allowing the likes of Sutcliffe, Lilley, Singleton and Walters time to get used to being the main men in the team - something they'll need for years to come.

Re: Stop bloody panicking : Sun Feb 28, 2016 1:10 am  

I reckon post Easter we'll be fine, we might just have to suffer a bit between then though which might leave us too much catching up to do and we might end up 5th/6th

I'll say right here right now we'll be the team to beat when the 2017 season starts. For all the planning you can do for the loss of those 3 legends, it's near impossible to plan to respond to that PLUS winning a treble in such emotional circumstances......ALL other teams have much more motivation for upping their games in 2016 than we do. (We had that motivation in 2015 because of the poor way 2014 finished)

Re: Stop bloody panicking : Sun Feb 28, 2016 1:38 am  

Maybe panicking is the wrong word, but I think its more annoyance

2014 saints had a load of players injured but were winning games like the ones weve lost because of dogged defence
Our defence, fitness, and mental attitude have to vastly improve imo
If some of the forward dont start stepping up then Baldwinson and some of the under 19 players have to play

Re: Stop bloody panicking : Sun Feb 28, 2016 1:50 am  

leedsnsouths wrote:

Maybe panicking is the wrong word, but I think its more annoyance

2014 saints had a load of players injured but were winning games like the ones weve lost because of dogged defence
Our defence, fitness, and mental attitude have to vastly improve imo
If some of the forward dont start stepping up then Baldwinson and some of the under 19 players have to play

A lot of difference between Saints 2014 version though as that took place late in the year under a different format, we are talking about 3 rounds in here.

Re: Stop bloody panicking : Sun Feb 28, 2016 7:25 am  

I don't think anyone is panicking - sometimes you have to take a step backwards to go forwards. The injuries have been particularly brutal this season and by the time some of them return it could be too late to save the season. Next four fixtures: Huddersfield, Wigan, St Helens and Castleford - if things don't improve standard wise that could realistically be seven loses on the bounce

The concern for me is the lack of quality coming through the juniors and the further ageing of some key players. In that respect I don't agree with printer that 2017 will be a great year. Add to that the emotional damage of this year and 2017 could be even worse.

However this is a very well run club and they will get it right at some point - it is just a question of how quickly. With considerable management energy required regarding the stadium transformation perhaps the playing side will have to take a back seat until its conclusion.

Re: Stop bloody panicking : Sun Feb 28, 2016 7:48 am  

You seem to be in a similar position as to what we were at the start of the 2014 season. Prior to that season we lost Morley, Hodgson, Briers & Carvell and didn't replace them with anybody who could match them. Its taken us 2 poor seasons to start to look like one of the top teams again.

However in 2014 we were one play away from the Grand Final. It was the final semi and we were 12-10 up at the Piedome. We were on the Pies line with 5 tackles to go and they were rocking. Gareth O'Brien had ball in hand with options all over the place instead of using them he went behind Asotasi and the Ref gave a penalty and Wigan went to the other end and scored the wining try. Thats how small winning and losing margins can be. I include this because thats where you guys are right now. You lost to us by 2 points, Widnes the week before the WCC & not many teams will win in Perpignan. I know its all ifs and buts, but you are not a bad team and you will be in the top 4 come the end of the season.

Re: Stop bloody panicking : Sun Feb 28, 2016 8:12 am  

The likes of Leeds, Wigan and Saints are coming back into the pack, for Leeds the retirement of Peacock and Sinfield with the injured McGuire is enormous, once you get some bodies back and the form teams at the moment start to experience an injury crisis of there own I,m sure it will be balanced out. I do think the dominance of Superleague by 1 or 2 clubs is now over and expect a new name on the Superleague Trophy this year.

Re: Stop bloody panicking : Sun Feb 28, 2016 8:29 am  

We are going through a transition. We have a pair of new young halfbacks so cohesion going forwards will be lacking at times

I'm not sure that applies to defense which seems too soft a lot of the time

Re: Stop bloody panicking : Sun Feb 28, 2016 8:45 am  

Judder Man wrote:

The likes of Leeds, Wigan and Saints are coming back into the pack, for Leeds the retirement of Peacock and Sinfield with the injured McGuire is enormous, once you get some bodies back and the form teams at the moment start to experience an injury crisis of there own I,m sure it will be balanced out. I do think the dominance of Superleague by 1 or 2 clubs is now over and expect a new name on the Superleague Trophy this year.

I have heard that since 2005

top 4 will still be Leeds,Saints,Wigan,Warrington as only possible winners.Huddersfield or maybe Cas or Hull as a surprise top 4 entrant but none of those can win the trophy.Forget the rest, whipping boy SL rabble as William would say .

sounds cocky, but still stands true.feel free to bring this back up if Salford or Widnes make top 4

Re: Stop bloody panicking : Sun Feb 28, 2016 11:41 am  

no way will we make top 4 and you can bookmark that , yes we have injuries , but lets not mistake Catalans are bloody awful . This is now a true test of the coach and so far he is not coming up with the answers . discipline is shocking , Ferres and Moon gave away ridiculous penalties last night , the half backs regularly take wrong options and Burrow as captain is another glaring error . We are constantly just hoping that offloads or magic from our centres are going to get us out of trouble as we appear to have no structure to our attack . Greater tests than Widnes and Catalan away lay ahead and if we do not beat the Giants (which i think we will by the way i reckon that the first win would then be Wakey at home