Originally Posted by
DD
Whilst I'm thoroughly in agreement that the best team should be rewarded with the Championship for finishing at the top of the league, the reality is that it is never going to happen again. The system is what it is, and therefore we must do what we have to do to win the big trophies in the formats presented to us.
I think we can all say that it has been marvellous to watch us for the last two years, and after a decade of pretty dreadful fare, we are all extremely grateful for it. However, there comes a point when you go beyond that and seek tangible success as a reward, and a plate for the ham sandwiches doesn't really fulfil those ambitions for the club, its players and its fans.
You look back at what I see as the best Saints side that I ever saw, and that was the one that Ian Millward had at the turn of this century. This was a team that wasn't particularly bothered about consistency, it just targeted the big games and made sure it was primed and ready to win them. How many really big games did that team lose? Yet, they'd be capable of getting turfed to an extraordinary level at times too.
What kind of summed that team up was losing 56-22 at Warrington, winning the Cup against Bradford 13-6 the next week and then losing 74-16 at Leeds. They weren't bothered about flogging themselves for games that could be rescued further down the line, simply in winning the ones that mattered.
A real key in that side was leadership and game management and that's something that I've flagged up on many occasions over the last two years.
There are no real leaders in our team at the moment. Much as the masses love Lomax and Fages, as a combination, in the big game, there's something missing. Neither is the kind of player to talk to the others, guide them round the park, tell the props where to go, and generally organise the troops. They struggle for ideas on the last tackle. They look great together in games against lesser opposition, and we get by as a team because we're generally better all over the park. However, when we need to come up with that big game mentality, when the troops are a bit wary, a bit worried and a bit uncertain of themselves, we don't seem to have anybody to pick them up and inspire them onwards and upwards. Then, rather than keeping the collective chin up and just carrying on what we are doing best, we start to panic, we have doubts and then go completely to pieces. The team has a multitude of followers and no real leaders. Even James Roby just isn't a natural talker. Without a general at half back, an orchestrater and a on-field coach, we will continue to struggle when it matters.
Back to 2000 and we had Sculthorpe, Cunningham, Martyn, Long, Joynt and an emerging Wellens. All these people were leaders, who their team mates believed would drag them out of a hole. They were all captains really.
Without that leadership and game management, it's very likely that we'll once again come a cropper when it matters in the play-offs, and once a losing culture in big games is ingrained on the psyche of a set of players, it becomes even harder to shake off.