Re: Wigan v Sts discussion - THIS THREAD ONLY PLEASE : Wed Oct 25, 2023 8:01 pm  

I still look at Saints 17 and think ‘that’ll take some beating’ when they’re all fit. Luckily so will our 17 but there should be some great games next season. In an era where you can play teams 4 or 5+ times in a season, it was refreshing to play Saints only twice in 2023 but it does leave you eager for those games in 2024.

Re: Wigan v Sts discussion - THIS THREAD ONLY PLEASE : Wed Oct 25, 2023 8:26 pm  

Good Friday with Thompson playing is what next season will start with

Re: Wigan v Sts discussion - THIS THREAD ONLY PLEASE : Wed Oct 25, 2023 8:32 pm  

thesaint71 wrote:

I've been posting

Good lad keep them coming it is good to debate.

Re: Wigan v Sts discussion - THIS THREAD ONLY PLEASE : Wed Oct 25, 2023 11:04 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

I still look at Saints 17 and think ‘that’ll take some beating’ when they’re all fit. Luckily so will our 17 but there should be some great games next season. In an era where you can play teams 4 or 5+ times in a season, it was refreshing to play Saints only twice in 2023 but it does leave you eager for those games in 2024.

The problem is, they won't have their best 17 for any game next season. We may or may not but our strength in depth makes that less likely to be a problem. It would be interesting to see what the average number from the 'best 17' that each team managed to get out on to the field regularly last season was.

Re: Wigan v Sts discussion - THIS THREAD ONLY PLEASE : Wed Oct 25, 2023 11:47 pm  

Phuzzy wrote:

The problem is, they won't have their best 17 for any game next season. We may or may not but our strength in depth makes that less likely to be a problem. It would be interesting to see what the average number from the 'best 17' that each team managed to get out on to the field regularly last season was.

You are right. In effect we were missing Havard, Cooper and Byrne in the GF. Next season we could select Thompson, Ellis, Dupree, Mago, Hill, Chan, Eseh or Walters if a similar situation was to arise.

Re: Wigan v Sts discussion - THIS THREAD ONLY PLEASE : Thu Oct 26, 2023 10:46 am  

NickyKiss wrote:

I still look at Saints 17 and think ‘that’ll take some beating’ when they’re all fit. Luckily so will our 17 but there should be some great games next season. In an era where you can play teams 4 or 5+ times in a season, it was refreshing to play Saints only twice in 2023 but it does leave you eager for those games in 2024.

Should be a good season. It would be good if Leeds are back as well after their recruitment, and you’d like to think Warrington will be better too. Then hopefully KR and Cats can keep their momentum. I do think Leigh will drop off quite a bit, but could still make for a great season with a lot of teams challenging. This year was exciting on the whole but I think that was largely down to all the big teams being very inconsistent. Hopefully next year it will be tight and hard fought but with us all playing well

Re: Wigan v Sts discussion - THIS THREAD ONLY PLEASE : Thu Oct 26, 2023 11:14 am  

If both teams are reasonably healthy come Good Friday, 100% very rarely happens, it should be a fantastic occasion

Re: Wigan v Sts discussion - THIS THREAD ONLY PLEASE : Thu Oct 26, 2023 12:01 pm  

apollosghost wrote:

If both teams are reasonably healthy come Good Friday, 100% very rarely happens, it should be a fantastic occasion

It really should. With all the excitement about Saints' period of dominance coming to an end and our squad looking well set, it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that some of their players are already over the hill.

Last season will have hurt their pride, and with a proper pre-season I expect them to start next year pretty well.

Re: Wigan v Sts discussion - THIS THREAD ONLY PLEASE : Thu Oct 26, 2023 12:11 pm  

Cherry_&_White wrote:

It really should. With all the excitement about Saints' period of dominance coming to an end and our squad looking well set, it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that some of their players are already over the hill.

Last season will have hurt their pride, and with a proper pre-season I expect them to start next year pretty well.

Exactly how I see it. They’ll need some luck with injuries (something similar to that period of about 3 years when they hardly had a cold) but get that and their first choice side is a) extremely talented and b) will be hugely motivated. We’ll take them lightly at our peril.

Re: Wigan v Sts discussion - THIS THREAD ONLY PLEASE : Thu Oct 26, 2023 1:24 pm  

Write off St Helens at your peril. They came away with nothing this year but were about as close as you can get to winning all three. I don't doubt that if it weren't for the WCC they'd have finished top (which is why I'd prefer us to play Penrith in Wigan).

Quite a few of their big names are in their early 30s now but still have another season or two in them. They need Lewis Dodd to have a great off season and to come up with some new attacking ideas.

Ultimately they'll be in and around the top 2.