I am not sure what Saints have gotten to do with anything, but I am expecting us to be significantly better than we were last year (which is one of those years where nothing seemed to go right). Getting Dodd back on the pitch with a full preseason, lets Welsby get back to his best position at fullback, and those two (along with Bennison) being another year older will likely counteract this "theyre not getting any younger" drop off people seem to be hoping for. Theres only really Roby and LMS in the drop off range anyway, and the former is a machine (and covered by Lussick and Pemberton whom I expect to see a lot more of this year) and the latter I can see as not being first choice by the end of the year with Norman expected to have a big year (following the same timeframes as Bentley, Batchelor and Walmsley).

We could of course have the possibility of dealing with the same injury situation/worse than last year, however even if we do, everyone is now a year older to be better equipped to step in - I expect a lot less shuffling around and more like for like swaps, as people like Sambou, Moss, Baxter, Delaney and Royle are more ready to step up and step in, which means less playing Walmsley, Lomax, Percival through injuries like we did last year.

Now of course a new coach is a risk, and any Saints fan who says theyre not nervous about "another Cunningham" are lying, but by all accounts Wellens has been the best coach at the club for years, has ringing endorsements from everyone hes worked with, and is much less of an unknown quantity for the club compared to a Woolf or a Holbrook

Yep. Hoping for Saints to go backward is not the way to go forward.

Not saying or hoping they go backwards but I don’t think they will find things as easy as the past 3 or 4 seasons. Leeds have not made a sustained challenge for a few years but last season shows that with a good coach even players that previously looked average can be improved. With some strengthening who knows we might make a stronger challenge. Wigan are going to be there or thereabouts, Warrington will definitely be stronger and more of a threat. Huddersfield and Hull will pose a threat even if not sustained. Catalans might be more of an unknown but all round there should be more of a challenge next year. The other unknown for Saints is the WCC and warm up game. This could be disruptive especially if they suffer heavy defeats. Of course a good victory could set them up.
I just feel that next season could be the most open and competitive for sometime.

Bradford fans were being told that about Steve McNamara before his appointment... The only way to tell is to see how Wellens goes. IMO it is better for coaches to build up experience in more than one environment, and especially different environments to those they affiliated with as players. Not that it is automatically doomed to fail, but there is certainly more risk and pressure involved.

Quite, ditto Keiron Cunningham.

The reality is that Saints are a settled side in a poor league which makes them look lightyears ahead of other sides.

As for best SL side ever, the Saints side of the mid/late 00's would muller them, never mind the Bulls side from early 00's and the Leeds side from late 00's/early 10's.

And the Broughton Rangers team of 1901/02 would have surely smashed them all.

I don't think anyone really knew anything about KC as a coach before he came in full time, but his personality was always likely to ... make it difficult to be a coach. He never really served an apprenticeship and it ultimately cost him. As I say, its absolutely a risk, but no where near as big a risk as KC was.

Controversially, I have constantly said that in a time machine, the Woolf Saints team would nil the 2006 team. That doesn't mean they're better, it just means modern coaching methods (particularly around defensive structures), sports science and tactics have evolved. The 2006 team never took on a team as well organised in defence, is as fit, or focussed on the job in defence as the Woolf Saints team. I think what is fair to say is the gap between the Saints 2006 team (or any of the teams you mention really) and their peers was harder to bridge than the Woolf Saints teams and their peers though, which is really the only way to compare eras.

Leeming Is miles off. O’Connor should play majority of minutes, give Johnson a chance off the bench. Doubt Leeming will be offered a new contract unless major improvement. Not sure Rohan rates him either. Would be surprised if we don’t name a new captain before season starts…..
I’d go Martin, stupid idea to let players choose a Captain….

No, I appreciate your thoughts.

Conversely, I don't see any current Saints player getting in the mid 2000's Saints side (although Roby played for both).

How long has Johnson been at Leeds and he is not exactly a youth anymore yet still people go on about giving him a chance and that he is better than Leeming. If he is so good why is he rated third behind O’conner and Leeming (last year he was forth choice). I don’t get it, if he is so good why is he not first on the team sheet?