St Helens Star / Ben Barba sorry he left Saints
RFL Championship / Super League (17) - 193132, 195253, 195859, 196566, 196970, 197071, 197475, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2014, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022
Challenge Cup (13) - 195556, 196061, 196566, 197172, 197576, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2021
World Club Challenge (3) - 2001, 2007, 2023
League Leader's Shield (9) - 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2014, 2018, 2019, 2022
It's a sad story with a big human cost. It's his wife and kids I feel most sorry for. Here was the ideal setting for them as a family, and the squad at Saints is a particularly decent and mature set of guys that kept him on the straight and narrow. But the pull of going back to Australia for both the NRL 'unfinished business' and his extended family/friends was too much. Unfortunately, he went back to the bad influences and his demons reawakened.
I mean we know he was using super league as a shop window for an NRL contract and hindsight is a wonderful thing. Its a shame really cos if he had been fully committed and stayed here he could have had 4 or 5 seasons on marquee money establishing himself as a club legend on a par with Jamie Lyon. Whether hed have had the mental ability to stick it out or whether being over here would have actually made things better for him who knows. He left, we got Coote and back to back super leagues.
Forwards win games. The backs decide by how much.
Yup. Much as some of his plays were simply breathtaking, on a par with Lyon for being able to conjure a break out of nothing, Coote has been phenomenal in terms of his all-round game and offers us more generally.
With the benefit of hindsight, Barba was really important to us. We'd had a prolonged period of not being top dog in SL. Some of the Sky team (including Hemmings) seemed pleased that we were out of the picture, and were pretty disregarding of us (despite us finishing league leaders in 2014, Sky presented the GF as little more than a coronation for the scum). The Cunningham reign sank us further, and we had become just another also-ran. We'd lost our mantle as 'The Entertainers' and had some really mediocre players on our books.
Whilst Holbrook joining helped put us back on the road to our 'perch', it was the signing of Barba and his performances in that early 2018 season that had us elbowing our way back into the limelight as an exciting team to watch. He brought a buzz of excitement to us fans. He made us relevant again to fans of other clubs, we once more began to fear us. They expressed that fear with songs and jibes about Barba going home. They were right... but the last laugh was on them.
Last edited by Webbo Again; 9th February 2021 at 14:27.
No why would they? It's a weird one because normally when a world class player leaves, you feel it. Not once since he left have I thought, we are missing Barba. That's credit to Coote too.
I hope someone does give him a chance though. He is a human being with a family to feed regardless of his past misdemeanors. It would be nice for him to find peace with the sport before it's too late, but it won't be at saints. We've done our bit for him, and he'll be remembered for some outstanding displays in the red vee. I'm grateful to have been able to meet and watch such a talented player grace the fields of the TWS.
Good luck to him and his family.
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RFL Championship / Super League (17) - 193132, 195253, 195859, 196566, 196970, 197071, 197475, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2014, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022
Challenge Cup (13) - 195556, 196061, 196566, 197172, 197576, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2021
World Club Challenge (3) - 2001, 2007, 2023
League Leader's Shield (9) - 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2014, 2018, 2019, 2022
When it comes down to it, he was a great solo player who for 2018 became the whole attacking focal point of the team and won a MOS and a LLS, missing tackles and ending the season crying into the turf, then sashaying back to Australia at the earliest opportunity.......
Coote replaced him, and made the whole team better, brought other players on instead of being the centre of everything. Won a LLS and back to back GF....
As a matter of interest Jackson Hastings has been the centre of everything at Salford and Wigan and has also won MOS and a LLS
Coincidence?
Can't stop the spirits when they need you.
This life is more than just a read through.
pretty much agree with this. We had a great half season out of him, but we improved when he left. we are far better off now than when he played. I don't know how long Coote will stay, but he is younger than Barba and his game is not as reliant on speed, Potentially he could go on at a good level longer than we ever would have got from Barba.
You're right.
Barba appeared to be unplayable at the start of the season due to his undoubted natural ability, he's probably the most gifted player I've ever seen with ball in hand.
However, we were a one trick pony team and when the better teams cottoned on to that, combined with a dip in form or interest from Barba, we came unstuck.
Coote came in as more of a team player and the rest is history.
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Barba playing on one leg, grieving on the other side of the world and the interest from the NRL was his eventual downfall with us.
I’m still fuming that he was playing, clearly injured for weeks leading up the Catalans semi-final at Bolton. We had Wigan and Warrington prior to that game and he played both, in what were, despite who the opponents are and what games against them stand for, dead rubber games. Even Holbrook said at half-time at Bolton that Barba had a knock but persisted with him for the second half, when we had Fages, Lomax and Richardson in the side that day, making it a fairly easy switch to make.
I sympathise with him losing a relative and deciding not to go back home. It’s probably missed by us fans really but the fact he put the team first and stayed rather than going home to attend the funeral was a huge decision to make. In hindsight, he wasn’t at his best physically or mentally but it shouldn’t be understated what he did then, even if it didn’t work.
Ultimately, Barba remains one of the most exciting players I’ve ever seen play for the club and his ability, when he was on his game, was right up there with the best. His try at Cas, left me stood with my mouth open. It was simply sublime. Ultimately though, it’s all turned out alright for us. Coote come in and while less exciting in terms of flair, he’s a key component in our squad both defensively and in the attack and when it comes, he’ll be a huge miss.
St Helens Rugby League Football Club