Last time I was on here was straight after the CC Final, and said I was going to give this place a swerve for a bit because it would become a crapfest. Thought I'd pop back to air some thoughts.
This forum
A quick skim through the posts and I can see it got as bad as I imagined. What I can't understand is why Mods/Admin have allowed so many gobshites from other clubs to troll with impunity. Some have been more subtle than others but, at a time when we're all hurting bad, I'd advocate just deleting all posts from fans of other clubs. None of us want it rubbed-in, or sneering dressed up as 'serious' questions. F*** 'em. This is a Saints fans site, not a democracy.
CC Final
That performance just screamed 'bottled it'. Too many players - key players we rely on - had stinkers and collectively they seemed to let that disgraceful decision to 'no try' Knowles' try play on their minds. Wire defended ridiculously well, but we were the architects of our own downfall. We didn't look to have consistent shape in attack, few dummy runners or other moves to bamboozle the defence, and fell into the trap of attacking individually. I couldn't be there (stupidly never thought about dates when booking a holiday at the start of 2019) but watched it on TV and that hurt probably more than Murrayfield did (and I was at Murrayfield!). Probably because the Murrayfield loss came amidst a period when we were overall top dogs and silverware wasn't a problem. We're now in a desperate position regarding trophies in recent years - 1 in eleven years for a giant of the game is pathetic, especially when inferior teams like Leeds (several times!) and the piescum have been racking up SL titles, and even Wire have 3 CC's.
Aftermath & Run-In
I avoided all things RL for nearly a fortnight after the final - newspapers, tv, internet. I couldn't face it. I also missed the Cas game (travelling home that evening). Other than clocking the score, I never bothered to read a report on it but I can imagine how it went. So my first tentative step back to the game came on Friday at TTWS. I wasn't filled with enthusiasm but hoped being there would rekindle the spirit. It didn't. I've never been so disinterested in a game. At half time, I was actually pondering going home and spent half the game on my phone. It wasn't a great game, sure, but that wasn't the issue. I hope the play-offs & GF get me going, or next year will be me not bothering to go more often than not.
Holbrook
He's been instrumental in turning the club around and for that he'll always have our thinks. But perhaps the question marks about his ability to deliver trophies are valid. That team, and squad is head and shoulders above any other in the British game, so to lose like that against a pretty ordinary Wire side is poor. A GF win would help rid him of a growing tag of not quite having it. But perhaps a change in coach is what we need and him swanning back to Aus is a good thing for us.