Aside from Ellis, who I think has been playing consistently well and to a high level this year, none of our other props were anywhere near good enough to seriously expect us to beat Saints at their best.
Byrne, Singleton, Mago and Hill is not a front row that will really trouble teams. They simply aren't good enough. We went into this season knowing Byrne hasn't put a consistent run of good form together but presumably the club just hoped he'd get better, which isn't the case. It takes some decent young forwards to reach the age of around 28 before they are playing consistently at their best to make them dependable starters. We could be waiting a long time.
Singleton and Mago aren't good enough. The club obviously knew that a while ago as they were trying to ship Mago out but inexplicably decided not to and Singleton isn't getting a contract next year but is going to Salford. Why don't we try to move these players on if they aren't good enough and try to recruit better? We just keep hold of average players until their contracts run down rather than trying to move them on and recruit better. There are clubs interested in these players - there are plenty of recruiting props. Have ambition. Take a risk or two.
Hill, I thought he showed up pretty well in his brief stint, looked much more impressive than Singleton and Mago but he's just not at the level where he can compete with the forwards Saints have.
Havard is a huge miss, because he's a top quality prop. We should improve when he returns. Isa or KPP should make a difference on the right edge meaning we are capable of better than we're showing currently, but I think our wins over Saints and Wire early in the year were at a time when lots of our players were in good form and Saints were out of form and Wire had key forwards missing for that game.
It's obvious how little we threaten teams down the middle right now. It's been a long term issue and it's hard to see how we fix it. We've got issues in the halves and issues at hooker but honestly I don't think they are the biggest of problems. Our halves are struggling because the pack is not performing. We're trying to over-play without laying the platform so moves are rushed, rash decisions are made. Give the halves a bit more time and they will play better.
We may have recruited two high value centres in the off season but that's like fitting an F1 spoiler to a Ford Fiesta. Without any power there's no benefit, even if what you've got is of a high standard.
We haven't got a pack that matches the best teams in the competition so we're always going to be hoping our players can all hit peak form at the same time and that our main competitors don't. The pack is capable of playing better than it has been but I'm not sure we can do it consistently.
