I said on Twitter that it almost feels like Utd of 95/96 when Ince, Kanchelskis and Hughes left and the fans were in uproar. The Class of 92 came in and the rest is history. Of course I'm not suggesting for one minute the exact same thing will happen but the cub have either got some signings up their sleeve or they are putting their faith in the youth system. Owen Dagnall in particular is highly rated as a winger but I'm not sure how ready he will be next season.

This is the start of the transition where the 4 in a row team breaks up and although I've largely been disappointed in our recruitment of late I have to trust the club that they have processes in place to keep us competing.

I was under the impression Tom Davies was Hull KR bound but 3 or 4 different Saints fans have told me they have signed him. Good replacement for Makinson if true.

It seems from the outside looking in that the future planning looks a bit piecemeal. You are right though there could be a cunning plan. From what I hear Tommy wasn’t offered a suitable deal hence the reason he has decided to leave, that could be due to a number of reasons: the club has already recruited; they feel they need to create an opportunity for an upcoming player; they needed to create salary cap space to make signings; they feel that Tommy is way past his sell by date; or they are financially strapped. It will be interesting to see what the outcome is in 2025.

I'd be happy with that. Someone on redvee is claiming Swift is coming back. I'd be happy with either but would be amazed if Huddersfield let him go after 1 year of what I think is a 3 year deal.

He was definitely offered a new deal as McManus said he was disappointed he isn't going to finish his career at Saints. However as you say it may only be a one year deal or two years on heavily reduced terms.

This isn't sour grapes but we have had the best out of him. He's 32 now and lost some of his pace and is picking up injuries more regularly so from a business point of view I think its the right call. He would've been on a good wedge

Also if you look at Makinson now his profile is quite big for a RL player. He is a brand ambassador for Castore, him and his girlfriend are good friends with Georgina Stanway and the Lionesses and he works on a project with Tony Bellew - Knives Down, Gloves Up. He probably loves the idea of 2 years in the sunshine in the South of France and I don't blame him. He will be on a good wage there too.

Of course if the club go into next season with Bennison as his replacement then there will be serious questions asked.

Hi Stu. Saints seem to be pinning a lot of hope on the "golden generation" as it's being called. I know you watch a lot of academy. What's your take on it? Risky or a good calculated bet? Are they as good as, say Nsemba, was last year? We all know that for every Nsemba that goes on to transfer dominant Academy form into the first team, there's a Kibula that falls by the wayside to some degree. It would be unusual, indeed almost unheard of, to get as many as Saints seem to be banking on all make the grade at the same time.

It's a difficult one as the physical differences in RL compared to football is a big factor. The likes of Giggs/Foden/Palmer all came through as skinny lads (or in Foden's case small) but their lack of physicality wasn't as important.

Everyone in RL knew Nsemba was going to be special and I posted on here two years ago after watching Farrimond play against Saints in an U16 Scholars game to say that he looks a once in a generational talent. However that leads me onto the answer to your question- in that same game Harry Robertson played for us and was also outstanding. Him and Farrimond were the best two players on the pitch.

I've seen Robertson a few times to know he will come through but when is the issue, he's tall but still looks gangly and if he played first team could easily get swatted aside. He has a gait similar to Ponga and switches between 1 and 6.

The two half backs George Whitby and Will Roberts are highly rated but Roberts is just back from a 12 month ACL. I saw the highlights from Cas last week and Robertson and Whitby ran the show, literally everything went through them. I would think that these two are the next "cabs off the rank" so to speak. I believe the plan is for Whitby to train full time from July after his studies are finished.

The other one who has come through and has a first team number this season is Noah Stephens. He's a giant of a lad and made his debut at Cas in the game where Makinson was sent off. He had a great cameo however its hard to judge in a game where we were so dominant. He does have the physical size though and was literally a man against boys when he played at Academy level. I know Zig has some reservations about him.

The other one I mentioned earlier- Owen Dagnall plays on the wing and played for Lancashire and England Academy scoring a few tries. He looks quick and knows where the line is.

We'll need some good lads coming through as unfortunately for us Wigan look very strong. I turned off after 20 mins on Saturday and went to the gym even in the heat we had

My final point though is that Rush when interviewed a couple of months or so ago did say that 4-5 of these lads will be "game changers" and won't just have solid SL careers.

EDIT- The other one is Vaughan, the England Academy captain and a real competitor. He has played a lot of dual-reg at Swinton and not looked out of place. He is in the first team squad but hasn't played any mninutes yet for the first team. He was outstanding at Academy but played backrow whereas he is playing dual-reg at centre.

Obviously I can't comment on them as individuals as I haven't seen enough of them. I think the point I was asking about was the sheer volume that Saints apparently seem to be counting on making the grade, not only at SL level, but at first team level for Saints. Rush's comments seem to confirm this.

I literally can't think of a single instance of this happening in over 30 years watching the game. Even the so-called Leeds "golden generation" only had maybe a couple from the same age group. The rest was made up of the likes of Peacock and Kyle Leuluai who, although they all played together, were from completely different age groups. Even Sinfield was a couple of years ahead of Maguire and Burrow.

You mention Jack Farrimond and he's a good case in point. Wigan/Saints academies are probably as similar as it's possible to get yet he's really the only one from the Wigan Academy spoken about in the same breath as the 6 or so from Saints. Even then we've just tied down two of the best halves in the comp in French and Smith to long term contracts so we're certainly not banking on him in the way Rush seems to be with the Saints youngsters.

I hear a lot of "stop gap signings and retentions until the golden generation come through" type comments from Saints fans. I can't help thinking that that's a risky strategy for a team aiming to stay at the top.

Equally, it could all work out perfectly I guess. Historically that just seems unlikely.

Yeah I agree. I don't think we will have 4-5 that will be playing first team next year at the same time. The successes we've had has been when they have been drip-fed into the first team. Welsby was a good example of this and how he had more appearances each season in different positions. Dodd was used cleverly by Woolf when he came through, he got 10-15 mins a game at 9 to get him up to speed to SL and tackling the bigger bodies in the middle.

If someone gave me £100 to make a charity bet with I'd say Robertson and Vaughan would be my two bankers. This isn't counting Stephens who has already made his debut and in the 21 man squad most weeks.

To be fair to Wigan though- the likes of Eckersely and Forber are mentioned a lot and rated highly so I don't think anyone from Saints is being held up the same as Farrimond.

Those are all fair points Stu, sentiment has no part to play when running a sports club. Good luck to Tommy as you say he can enjoy the sunshine, vino and pay less tax.