I very much doubt you'll find any Saints fan who predicted higher than third (maybe second at a push) for us this season so you can have a go at us but we aren't biting because we didn't have high expectations to begin with.

Our full team that obviously doesn't normally have Sean O'loughlin, Harrison Hansen, Lee Mossop and Eamon O'carroll is that ?..

You still haven't explained why Saints have signed Perry, Soliola or Puletua instead of playing all this young talent like you say?

Puletua was signed in 2007, Soliola for this season (fat lot of good he's been) and Perry for 2011. That is not even one a season. All those men are big guys. With the exception of James Graham - a locally grown player, note - it generally takes many years for young players to grow that kind of size. Like all teams, we need bulk as well as everything else. As it is, we are using Jake Emmitt, who is a 20 year old prop that we have dual loaned to Leigh. We also use Ashurst (presently injured) and Dixon (who was injured against you) who are young second rowers (not yet 21) but not props (although they have played as props sometimes due to Maurie being injured for so long). We also have Magennis, who has so far played one first grade game this season after 18 months out injured, who is either a prop or second rower, I can't remember, and he is 20 years old, and we also have Johnson, who is 22 and who played in his second game for a few minutes against Wigan. We also use Hargreaves, lately of Wigan, who is in his very early 20s, sometimes as a prop although he too is a second rower. And then there is Clough, a locally grown product and either 22 or 23, who is a second rower but is frequently used as a prop due to injuries to our big men. We have had Maurie out for months now (again) and with Tony P out as well, the only big guys we have left are Fozzard (pretty useless due to his age, but British) and Graham. Perry is being brought in to complement that as this is now the second season where basically Graham has been left as our sole big guy.



Now, what was that you were saying?

So why do you have a problem with Greg Eastwood, the 22 year old world cup winner? Surely your little theory applies to both teams or does this justification for signing over seas players only work with St Helens?

We lost eastmond, pryce during the game which is our to halfbacks, we also had wilkin and cunningham out which are our other two ball players.



We had nobody to throw the ball around as our ball players was all out.

Because we have recruited fewer than one overseas player per season since 2007 and only then because young guys are not big guys and we needed big guys. All the rest of our recruitment has been either general British (Fozzard being our only new British recruit and he's hardly new) or locally British and young (Lomax, Eastmond, Dixon, Ashurst, etc) Instead of recruiting Eastwood, why didn't your club give one of your young players a chance? At Saints, we have opted for the young players. We are probably losing Maurie next year and/or Fozzard as both are out of contract. Hence Perry. A big guy, because our young big guys are not yet big enough. Emmitt is on his way though, which is good. I'm sure he'll be a regular feature over time.

Nah, to be fair, you lot have lost a lot of very close games this season which could've gone either way.



Looking at the run ins, you should easily secure third. I look forward to you battering Wire and us having a playoff game at our place against you after hopefully beating Leeds.

Your top? Great! Doesn't count for an awful lot in the Grand Final/even getting there, as we know all too well.

Were aiming not to make the same mistake, Well at least not 3 times in a row!





PS



I seem to remember everyone telling us when we were 4th/5th etc that finishing higher up in the league helps making the GF easier etc?

Plus Some people were even counting Hub Caps as Trophies when trying to extol Saints dominace in the SL Era ( Others even had bets on it!

)



Suddenly were Top and being Top doesn't matter anymore!





Go figure!

I actually wonder how some people keep a straight face when they try to claim that finishing top doesn't matter.



St Helensers saying it is totally laughable for all the reasons you mention. But Wiganers saying it - when in the last few seasons we've been languishing well down the league come the business end of the season - is amazing.



It may not mean much in the great sweep of world affairs. But as a measure of your team's ability, it's pretty damn comforting.

Is there any news yet on Pryce and Eastmond's injuries?