Agreed, he looks like a player who hasn't had a pre season - similar to Walters last year, just looks really off the pace.

So where do you think you are now? HKR losing the last couple has opened up the race for the LLS again no doubt. 


There's just something about Wigan this season to me that seems a bit different. If pushed I still think they'll win the comp but they are heavily reliant on French. Hugely in fact. They are also picking up more injuries it seems now which is natural given the number of games some of the players have played and that fact that Peet doesn't rotate much. 


Wigan fans every week keep saying there is nothing to worry about and everything will be fine but then every week of late they have been struggling. I know they came back well against Hudds but am I right in thinking Hudds had no subs for the whole of the 2nd half and lost 2 players to HIA's?


HKR without Lewis have shown that they also suffer badly without their best player and in that sense I feel Saints have coped the best of the lot having lost their best player.


I get also that Wigan have played a number of away games and now have a lot of home games but I can't explain it- they seem well off compared to last season. Stupid in many ways given you may still win the LLS especially if you beat HKR but it seems a strange comp this season. 

Like you've said, we are still going to be in the mix, and if i was a betting man, i'd back us to win the big games when it matters

Just had a quick look to last season and we had lost 2 games at the same point, but then lost back to back against Hull away and Wire in July and again away to Leeds in August (where we looked shot at to be honest) as thats where we had that run of games to catch up for the WCC. 


so, we arent too far off points wise, but i think some of our results were more convincing last season


KR losing 2 games definitely gets us back in with a chance of LLS, whereas 2 weeks ago after losing to Leigh it looked like being 6 points behind


I think the playoffs this season could be very interesting with 5 sides going well (KR, Wigan, Leigh, Saints and Leeds), and all capable of beating each other on a given day.


re injuries we've had them in previous seasons, and have had spells with both French and Field out. The challenge for the rest of the team is to step up and ensure we dont miss them, although especially French we all know is capable of something special so difficult to replace that individual brilliance. It looks like we are managing Thompson's game time this year, and with Havard / O'Neill and Miski all coming back from long term injuries, they should all be fresh and fit come the business end of the season. The main concern at the minute is 2nd row where we have been heavily reliant on Faz and Junior, especially with Walters (albeit he's played prop mostly this season) being out, and could provide cover there


re Saints, they seem to have quietly crept up on the blind side, and from an outside perspective lots of the Wellens noise has quietened down and with Wigan and KR losing a couple of game probably feel they can have a shot at top 2, if not top spot. Sailor now seems to be producing, but will he retain the FB spot when Welsby is back? 

Thursday is huge for us. We haven't beaten Wigan, HKR or Leigh for a long time so with the players we will have missing on Thursday, if we manage a win then a tiny part of me will start to think that maybe we can do something with players back from injury. 

What I will say is that Friday's win was one of our best in a long time, our defence was like the days under Woolf especially with the adversity and disruption of losing two hookers to HIA's. Knowles and Lees were simply incredible, Lees playing 80 mins in the middle in that heat was ridiculous. 


I also feel that despite the mocking, the "golden generation" of young lads isn't as far fetched as what people think. Whitby, Dagnall, Robertson and Stephens have all showed class at different times. 


Dagnall hasn't even played 10 SL games yet and looks like he has been playing for years, his try on Friday was superb. Robertson for me is different gravy, I feel he may well go on to be better than Welsby. He's certainly showing a higher ceiling and Welsby wasn't this good at the same age. Welsby also came through as part of the best side in the comp winning games every week. Robertson didn't give Handley a sniff on Friday.


Re Sailor I think he will move back to 6 when Welsby returns but who knows who else may be injured by then and there will be very little of the season left when Welsby comes back. He's definitely stepped up in Welsby's absence though.

Dagnall has reminded me a bit of when Charnley came in at Wigan. Young but with a good physique, quick, strong and confident. 


In terms of the golden generation, I don't think there was mocking as such but just a cautionary note that it isn't always as simple as throwing them all in and hoping it works because there are many factors to it. I guess Wellens isn't getting as much personal abuse now? and rightfully so because he is doing a good job with these kids. He is dipping them in and out, isn't throwing them all in together and making sure they don't get over burdened too soon. He would've been called not fit to burn a few weeks ago for Whitby not playing but that looks a wise move and his time will come again pretty soon. There is still work needed on the Saints forward pack for next year and beyond but if they get that right, the backline looks like it will really come together and be as threatening as any across the league. 


Not aiming this at you at all but the almost bipolar like reactions of some of the Saints fanbase is amusing. During the 4 in a row, some had the Saints team as basically being the World 17 and then when Wigan starting winning things instead, it became toxic and a club legend in Wellens was getting terrorised and now after a few decent wins, it's all rosy again. Saints are doing what Saints always do currently and that is to find a way. It's unbelievable how it always comes together enough to get in the play offs and have a crack at making the Grand Fina, however bad things have got in the weekly rounds. Some of those Saints fans I mention above don't seem to realise what they've got sometimes. 

As usual a very level-headed reply from you NK..

However, I don't think things are rosy at all. I also don't personally know another Saints fan that wants Wellens to be the coach next season. 


Our attack hasn't got enough points in us at the moment to beat a Wigan or HKR in a play-off game. Defensively we have looked outstanding but one of Wellens faults has been his love of Mbye. Mbye was superb at 7 against Leeds at H when we played very well and deservedly kept his place the following week. Whitby had suffered a HIA and it was a good decision to take him out of the firing line for a couple of weeks. 


However since that Leeds game Mbye has been awful at 7 and we have had him and Lomax at halves offering very little in terms of creativity. Bar the 2 Salford games in this winning run of games we haven't scored a lot of points but defensively we have been superb 


Wellens will have to bring Whitby back in this week due to Clark and Burns out and Mbye having to go back to 9 but had Clark been fit there would be little chance of Whitby coming back in. Similarly his persevance with Paasi over Stephens was hard to fathom. Stephens had 8 mins of playing time in one game and still made more metres than Paasi. 


Where I will give Wellens some credit though is he has never once turned on the fans during the dark days as Cunningham did and he has played Dagnall over Bennison and has given Robertson a chance at 3 over the likes of Ben Davies or god forbid Hurrell. Robertson is never a centre in a million years but is gaining valuable experience and improving defensively. He will have no bigger test than Thursday up against Niu who is a monster. 


Apologies for de-railing a Wigan v Hudds thread but it's good to get the opinion of non-Saints fans.